Films by Masahiro Sugano

In the summer of 2017, at Feast Arts Center in Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood, Masahiro Sugano presented a retrospective filmography titled “Perpetual Irrelevance” without having to screen a single film. One year later, this is the follow up to that visual art show in the form of moving images. 

At 46 years old, Sugano’s filmmaking career covers his residency across three different countries, several genres and the creation of over 25 independent films. This screening features a curated selection of short films — some rarely seen before and others never seen before! Stay after the program for a Q&A and reception.

The evening includes the debut preview screening of “Deadlock” the much-anticipated short film set in the Pacific Northwest that follows two men, literally bound to one another, as one man holds the other in a headlock. 

From animations to magic realism, mundane moments to the sublime, viewers should expect the unexpected as Sugano delivers cinematic works of art.

Free to the public and presented by Red Scarf Revolution, Tacoma Arts Commission and Studio Revolt. Tickets will be available day-of, first come first serve.

Masahiro Sugano, a Sundance Film Fest alumnus, is an award-winning filmmaker whose accolades stretch from a Student Academy Award nomination in 1997 to the 2016 Documentary Award given by the National Asian American Journalists Association, and his most recent 2017 Art Matters Foundation Award. Through his media lab Studio Revolt, Sugano has created short films on the issue of deportation as well as a pioneering force in the art of spoken word videos. Sugano received the 2013 Center for Asian American Media’s Innovation Fund for his series “Verses in Exile” which is on view at PBS online. Sugano’s second feature CAMBODIAN SON is the winner of several international awards including 2016 Best Documentary Award given by the National Asian American Journalists Association, Golden Hanoman Prize at the Jogja Asian Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at Cultural Resistance Film Fest of Lebanon 2014. He earned a BA in philosophy from Cal State Northridge and an MFA in film/animation from the University of Illinois-Chicago. His film’s screen internationally, in cinemas, museums, schools and prisons. Sugano currently lives in Tacoma and is the Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington Bothell where he teaches courses in art, filmmaking, and global studies.