AsiaLENS Film Series: "Try Harder!" (2021)

• Event Date: Friday, November 3, 2023
• Time: 6:00 pm–8:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free

• Film

This family friendly event is free and open to the public. Students, families, counselors, and teachers from area high schools are especially welcome. Pizza will be provided at 5:30 pm in the lobby. There is an optional RSVP (external link) for this event. RSVPing is not required, but appreciated.

Event Schedule

• 5:30 pm: pizza in the lobby
• 6:00 pm: film screening
• 7:30 pm: post-screening discussion with director/producer Debbie Lum and subject Ian Wang; moderated by David Chih, Director of Asian American Cultural Center

About the Film

Lowell High School is the top-ranked public high school in San Francisco—and the seniors are stressed out. At this majority Asian American high school, the students know that they’re often seen as robots and AP machines by college admissions officers. “Try Harder!” reveals the alarming reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity as experienced by high school seniors living through it. With humor and heart, director Debbie Lum captures the hopes, dreams, and anxieties of the most diverse American generation ever as they navigate a quintessential rite of passage and make it their own. Alongside its wide release from Sundance to public television, the film’s Impact Campaign centers student voices at the heart of the college admissions process by promoting mental health and BIPOC perspectives, and especially raising the visibility of AAPI stories.

Film Details

• Debbie Lum
• 2021
• USA
• 85 minutes

Please note that if you are bringing children, there is a health class scene where sex is discussed and some cursing.

This event is hosted by Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and co-sponsored by Asian American Cultural Center, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, Humanities Research Institute, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Yellow Peril Redux Project at UIUC.