Advances in online media in the past decade have seen an increase in the historically limited presence of Asian faces in American entertainment. The documentary “UPLOADED: The Asian American Movement” aims to uncover the extent to which Asian Americans have utilized new media such as YouTube to infiltrate American popular culture and where this momentum will lead. The documentary will focus on the current struggles and successes of important Asian Americans in entertainment, from both online celebrities and industry professionals.

Five years ago, we couldn’t name more than 10 recognizable Asian entertainers in mainstream America and the few that we could name only played stereotypical roles like the nerd or the martial artist. Even more problematic was the lack of acknowledgement of this problem by the general public. However, in the past few years, we have noticed groups of young Asian American artists emerging in entertainment with roots in new media, specifically YouTube. They are taking action into their own hands and redefining how Asian Americans are perceived and valued in society. We wanted to document this important era as a reference point for the future.

The film features a list of who’s who in Asian American entertainment including AJ Rafael, Cathy Nguyen, Clara C, David Choi, Feats in Inches, George Shaw, Jennifer Chung, Jesse Barrera, Michael Carreon, Paul J Kim, Scott Yoshimoto, Jane Lui, Paul Dateh, Wong Fu Productions, Victor Kim, and more.

UPLOADED: The Asian American Movement trailer