Bad Axe
Director: David Siev Run Time: 102 min. Rating: Unrated Release Year: 2022
Starring: Austin Turmell, Chun Siev, Jaclyn Siev, Michael Meinhold, Skyler Janssen
Tagline: BAD AXE captures a closely knit Cambodian Mexican American family living in a rural Michigan community as they now fight to keep their American dream alive. As owners of a local prominent restaurant, they reckon with a global pandemic, racial tensions, and generational scars from Cambodia’s “killing fields.”
Synopsis: After leaving NYC for his rural hometown of Bad Axe, Michigan, at the start of the pandemic, Asian American filmmaker David Siev documents his family’s struggles to keep their restaurant afloat. As fears of the virus grow, deep generational scars dating back to Cambodia’s bloody “killing fields” come to the fore, straining the relationship between the family’s patriarch, Chun, and his daughter, Jaclyn. When the BLM movement takes center stage in America, the family uses its collective voice to speak out in their conservative community. What unfolds is a real-time portrait of 2020 through the lens of one multicultural family’s fight stay in business, stay involved, and stay alive.
Critic Quotes:
“A deeply personal film that feels essential when we tell the story of how 2020 shaped this country.” – RogerEbert.com
*WINNER – AUDIENCE AWARD – SXSW*
Showtimes:
TBA
Ticket Prices: $12 Regular / $10 Students & Seniors / $9 Members
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t49CW-lZ25Y