Pieces of a Dream

Immigrant farm laborers — Chinese, Japanese, and the Filipino manongs — came to America through Angel Island to work the land. PIECES OF A DREAM tells the story of Asian Pacific American life and history on the Sacramento River delta. The stories of Asian Americn immigrant laborers are told through a montage of voices from the past, adapted from Victor Nee and Brett de Bary’s classic tome Longtime Californ’. Delta life is captured in lush, pastel colors representative of the Visual Communications style and augmented with the music of famed jazz-fusion band Hiroshima. A visit to the Locke Historic District, a town founded by Chinese immigrants shows viewers the sharp realities of the present: The crumbled wooden Chinatown looks like a quaint tourist landmark, but is revealed as low-income housing for the Delta’s poor; a Japanese American farmer talks about the pressures of the large agribusiness on small farmers.

PIECES OF A DREAM is written and directed by Visual Communications co-founder Eddie Wong (WONG SINSAANG, CHINATOWN 2-STEP), and is one of four productions that are regarded as “Visual Communications Classics”for their incisive, comprehensive portraits of the Asian Pacific American experience.