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A hub for cultural diversity, Southeast Asia is home to over 1,000 languages, numerous religions and traditions, and over 600 million people all converging on 11 countries. The countries in Southeast Asia include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam as well as the Philippines, which my heart also thinks of as my family’s homeland.
While Asian and Asian American stories in American media are beginning to proliferate, we need to intentionally consider representation beyond East Asian actors and stories — especially ones that do not center American politics and imperialism such as the Vietnam War, which writer, director, and producer Tony Bui talks about. As a population over a half-billion large, Southeast Asia’s immense and vast wealth of experience and nuance of showcasing people and the lands where multiplicity abounds is a good reminder that people of different beliefs, backgrounds, and cultures can and do co-exist.
At a panel titled “Southeast Asia on The Rise” hosted by The Sunrise Collective at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, I heard from producer and writer Geena Rocero (“Caretakers” and her memoir “Horse Barbie”); Tony Bui (“Three Seasons”); and Grace Moss, vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Warner Brothers Discovery.
Beyond Representation – Southeast Asian Style
The panel was moderated by Pat Ratulangi, the vice president of global communications, diversity, equity, and inclusion at Nielsen, who introduced the audience to the region by sharing about the diversity of Southeast Asia. Ratulangi also warned about the impacts of global climate change causing displacement in several SEA countries, adding that “there is a lot of migration that happens not just across borders and internationally, but within the region itself….
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