Arthur Dong

Arthur Dong didn't intend to play as prominent a role in his new documentary, "Licensed to Kill," which opened Friday. His plan was to visit prisons around the country, sit off-camera and simply observe dispassionately as men explained what personal demons drove them, not just to murder, but to murder homosexuals. Were these men sociopaths or the product of parental and societal brainwashing?

If the 1960 drama "The World of Suzie Wong" -- about the relationship between an American painter and a Hong Kong prostitute -- had been made five years earlier, Hong Kong native Nancy Kwan would never have been cast in the lead role. Hollywood's Motion Picture Production Code didn't allow portrayals of interracial romance, stating that "miscegenation is forbidden. " Miscegenation laws were on the books in some states until the late 1960s. That hadn't been the case before the code was written in 1930.

If the 1960 drama "The World of Suzie Wong" -- about the relationship between an American painter and a Hong Kong prostitute -- had been made five years earlier, Hong Kong native Nancy Kwan would never have been cast in the lead role. Hollywood's Motion Picture Production Code didn't allow portrayals of interracial romance, stating that "miscegenation is forbidden. " Miscegenation laws were on the books in some states until the late 1960s. That hadn't been the case before the code was written in 1930.

Growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown, Arthur Dong loved going to the movies and began collecting movie fliers when only 7. The first one, like first love, is imprinted in memory — "Flower Drum Song" (1961), based on a hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Chinese American generation gap. "It was really something because it was the first English-language film shown at the Great Star Theatre," he recalls, "and also because it was a Hollywood film with all Asian actors."

By his own admission, documentary director Arthur Dong has devoted his last three films (including the exceptional "Licensed to Kill") to "the destruction caused by America's war against homosexuality." He calls his new film, "Hollywood Chinese," "a welcome break from a decade of tense reportage, and a chance to delve back into my love for cinema." It is all of that and a fascinating journey for audiences as well.

"My films aren't for everybody," says Arthur Dong from his Silver Lake home office. "I don't get the 'Star Wars' type of crowds." While the 48-year-old Sundance award-winning documentarian doesn't expect blockbuster box office, the films he makes about real-life battles are arguably more compelling than any effects-laden spectacle you're likely to see all summer.

Growing up in San Francisco's Chinatown, Arthur Dong loved going to the movies and began collecting movie fliers when only 7. The first one, like first love, is imprinted in memory — "Flower Drum Song" (1961), based on a hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Chinese American generation gap. "It was really something because it was the first English-language film shown at the Great Star Theatre," he recalls, "and also because it was a Hollywood film with all Asian actors."

Following are reviews for the American Film Institute Film Festival. All screenings are at the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Cinemas . 'U.S. Short Fiction' U.S.A., 1987, 105 minutes , noon A program of four shorts highlighted by Arthur Dong's exquisite, suspenseful "Lotus," which takes us inside the heart and mind of a dutiful, rural young Chinese mother, circa 1914.

The Long Beach Police Department and a local gay activist group are scheduled to be featured in KCET-TV's "Life and Times" series Oct. 29. Filmmaker Arthur Dong filmed an undercover police sting operation against gay bashers for the documentary "Straight Hate," but he concentrates on Long Beach residents Jack Castiglione and Jeff Ziegler.

The conditions detailed in Arthur Dong's Sept. 24 letter ("Racial Covenants in Silver Lake") will probably be seen by many as an aberration. However, it brought back my own experiences in Los Angeles during the 1960s when I was the vice chairman of the L.A. CORE [Congress of Racial Equality] chapter and purchased a house in the Glassell Park area of Mount Washington, also known for being tolerant. In 1960, there were no people of "color" in my immediate neighborhood, and a neighbor tried to convince the owner not to sell me the house, telling her that it was a "restricted area."

By his own admission, documentary director Arthur Dong has devoted his last three films (including the exceptional "Licensed to Kill") to "the destruction caused by America's war against homosexuality." He calls his new film, "Hollywood Chinese," "a welcome break from a decade of tense reportage, and a chance to delve back into my love for cinema." It is all of that and a fascinating journey for audiences as well.

"My films aren't for everybody," says Arthur Dong from his Silver Lake home office. "I don't get the 'Star Wars' type of crowds." While the 48-year-old Sundance award-winning documentarian doesn't expect blockbuster box office, the films he makes about real-life battles are arguably more compelling than any effects-laden spectacle you're likely to see all summer.

Arthur Dong didn't intend to play as prominent a role in his new documentary, "Licensed to Kill," which opened Friday. His plan was to visit prisons around the country, sit off-camera and simply observe dispassionately as men explained what personal demons drove them, not just to murder, but to murder homosexuals. Were these men sociopaths or the product of parental and societal brainwashing?

What happens when fundamentalist Christians have gay children? Filmmaker Arthur Dong, who has explored conflicts faced by American homosexuals in the documentaries "Licensed to Kill" and "Coming Out Under Fire," addresses that explosive question in the latest variation on the theme, "Family Fundamentals," a "P.O.V." presentation at 10 p.m. on KCET.

What is most surprising--and most provocative--about "Licensed to Kill," Arthur Dong's strong and disturbing documentary on men who kill homosexuals, is the way it overturns our expectations. Nothing you've heard about the plague of violence against gay men will lessen the shock value of this chilling look at the real face of evil.