May is AAPI Heritage Month: Shows and Movies To Watch Right Now to Celebrate

TV shows and movies that celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander representation

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, and it is a great opportunity to honor stories and creators that shed light on the AAPI experience in popular culture through TV shows and movies. While this list is far from complete, we wanted to highlight some movies and TV shows to watch in celebration of AAPI stories and creators. We are adding these movies and TV shows to our watch list, and we want to hear what you’re loving too!

AAPI Heritage In Film

In recent years, AAPI stories have been more represented than ever before at the box office. In 2023, everyone was talking about Everything Everywhere All At Once with all of its Oscar buzz and win for Best Picture. In 2020, the same was true for Parasite, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Crazy Rich Asians, based on the bestselling novel trilogy by Kevin Kwan was a mega hit in 2018 and a sequel is in the works. While these are buzzy films, there are many more stories from the AAPI spectrum worth checking out if you’ve already seen them. Here are a few we love:

The Namesake

Based on author Jhumpa Lahiri’s bestselling novel of the same name, The Namesake follows an Indian family that immigrates from Calcutta to New York in the United States. The Namesake illuminates the tension between a parent’s pride and sacrifices made for one’s children in a new country and their offspring’s struggle to balance finding their own identity in a new cultural landscape while honoring their own heritage.

Raya and the Last Dragon

Inspired by traditional Southeast Asian cultures and well-researched for proper representation, Raya and the Last Dragon is an animated fantasy film about Kumandra, a fictional land where once humans and dragons lived together in perfect harmony. That is, until evil spirits called the Druun threatened the land and the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Hundreds of years have passed, and the Druun are back. It’s up to the princess Raya, a lone warrior, to find the last dragon to save humanity once and for all.

Past Lives

Nominated for Best Picture at the 2024 Academy Awards, among other accolades, Past Lives is an independent film that made an impact on critics and audiences alike. South Korean classmates Na Young and Hae Sung meet at age 12 and go on a date, developing feelings for one another. But soon after, Na Young’s family emigrates to Toronto, Canada and they lose touch. Twelve years later, they reconnect online and lose touch again. Another twelve years pass and they finally reconnect. 

Always Be My Maybe

The Netflix film, Always Be My Maybe is a smart, touching romantic comedy written by Ali Wong and Randall Park (who also star in the movie). Sasha Tran is a Vietnamese-American with immigrant/refugee parents and Marcus Kim is a Korean-American and as children, they become friends living in San Francisco. Marcus’s mother teaches Sasha to cook as a child, which serves her well later in life when she becomes a celebrity chef. As adults they reconnect, and the complications of adult life challenge their pre-pubescent connection and feelings for one another.

The Farewell

In this highly acclaimed and award-winning film, family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to say goodbye to their beloved matriarch who is dying. There’s only one catch: the only person who doesn’t know she has a few weeks to live is her. (In Chinese, the title of the movie translates to “Don’t Tell Her.”) The film is based on a true story that occurred in filmmaker Lulu Wang’s own family.

AAPI Heritage In TV Shows

There are many acclaimed shows of late that feature Asian and South Asian actors, creators, and stories like The Mindy Project, Fresh Off the Boat, and the multi-award-winning 2023 show, Beef. If you’re a Bridgerton fan, chances are you’re excited about Season 3 which just dropped on Netflix. But it’s also a great time to rewatch Season 2, which features a South Asian lead character. It’s refreshing to see Indian culture represented not just by the actors but in the costuming and blending of themes in the world of the show (one which any historian would expect to overwhelmingly feature white actors). We put together a list of more shows you should check out if you haven’t already!

Never Have I Ever

Never Have I Ever is a teen romcom, and the brainchild of Mindy Kaling. Devi Vishwakumar is a first-generation Indian-American teenager living in southern California. After a particularly traumatic year, she returns for her sophomore year of high school with two goals in mind: to become popular, and get a boyfriend. Meanwhile her mother is struggling to mourn a great loss and contemplating moving the family back to India, her cousin is attending grad school while getting pushed into an arranged marriage, and Devi herself keeps making all the wrong moves. As funny as it is heartwarming, the series tackles the many realities of immigrant identity struggles as well as typical teen angst.

The Chair

In the Netflix series, The Chair, Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (played by Sandra Oh) is the first woman of color to become head of the English Department at a prestigious university. Despite this progressive move, Kim soon learns that her appointment will come with a lot of politics regarding how progressive one can be in academia. The series delves into issues of cancel culture, ageism, representation and free speech. 

Pachinko

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko is a saga following four generations of a Korean family. The story follows the life and descendants of Sunja, born in Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1920s and what happens when she moves to Osaka, Japan. The series illuminates the tension between Korean immigrants and Japanese society, and sheds light on individuals’ quest for identity in their pursuit of survival.

Awkwafina is Nora From Queens

A comedy starring Awkwafina, Nora From Queens is a sitcom about Nora and her cousin as they struggle as twenty-somethings in the Flushing, Queens part of New York City. While a hilarious take on young adulthood, the show gives viewers a taste of the very real multicultural landscape of Flushing, Queens, including the neighborhood tensions between Chinese- and Korean-Americans that live and work there.

Pen15

From creators and best friends Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle comes Pen15, a comedy where these comedians play versions of their teenage selves. It’s the year 2000, and Maya and Anna are struggling their way through middle school with all of its awkwardness and precious girlhood moments. It’s cringeworthy, relatable, and touching even while hilarious. Since the characters are based on their real former teenage selves, viewers get to see some of the real-life happenings that they lived through growing up, including Maya’s experience as a first generation child of an immigrant. Maya is Japanese-American, and her own mother, Mutsuko Erskine, plays her mom on the show. Her parents met in Japan, despite her father–musician Peter Erskine–being American. Pen15 offers a look at one teen’s experience of being Japanese-American in the early 2000s, with a side of comedic relief.

What shows and movies are you loving this AAPI month? How are you celebrating? We’d love to hear more recommendations in the comments!

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