Mom, Dad... I Want to Be a Porn Star contains discussions of sexuality. Viewer discretion is advised.

There is no way around it. Sometimes, work is just really hard. In this set, filmmakers show us labor and all of the personal complications it brings.The documentary Black Hat, White Hat: the Legendary Hacker Hieu PC gives us Hieu’s perspective as he goes from an identity thief in Vietnam to a prison in the U.S. When Mary decides she wants to tell her parents she wants to be a pornographic actress, it results in amusing and serious conversations in Mom, Dad…I Want to Be a Porn Star.

Temporary Living and Tailor Made are two documentaries of men who work as diasporic subjects. In Temporary Living, we learn Thao’s story of moving to East Germany as a contract laborer, and, in Tailor Made, Tam Nguyen moved from Vietnam to Canada and now has forty-three years of experience as a tailor under his belt.  Woodshed and You Will be Fine brim with tension, as we see the pressure of being on the job. In Woodshed, Ben wants to be a professional saxophonist despite his asthma, making it physically difficult for him to perform. In You Will Be Fine, a chef feels the emotional burdens and the historical weight of the recipes he is making in the kitchen. Through this set, we see what people will do to achieve their dreams, pursue their passions, or even just survive.

By Chenglin Lee