2003 Asian American Film Series
Wednesday, April 30
KELLY LOVES TONY
(Spencer Nakasako/1998/55 min/VHS)
Seventeen
year-old Kelly Saeteurn has a dream—she calls it her "American
dream." As a fresh high school graduate on her way to college, she
envisions a rosy future for herself, full of exciting opportunities granted
by a college education. Kelly is the first in her family of Iu Mien refugees
from Laos to have accomplished as much as she already has, but her dreams
exist in sharp contrast to her reality. She is also pregnant. Her boyfriend
Tony is a junior high drop out and ex-con whom she had met three months
earlier at a shopping mall in Oakland, California.
The honesty of this film's footage and dialogue offers viewers a rare glimpse into the lives of two young people struggling to make their relationship work in the face of overwhelming obstacles like parenthood, gender, culture, and education.