Short film guide

Centuries and Still, and the films around it

This is an independent guide to a short film. It is not the filmmakers' site and is not connected to them. About this site.

Centuries and Still is a short documentary by the New York-based director Sally Tran. It traces anti-Asian racism in the United States from the Gold Rush to the attacks on Asian elders in 2021. It premiered on Vimeo on 14 July 2021 and was picked for a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere.

What the film is

The film mixes archival audio, voiceover, illustrated paper cut-outs and miniatures. Each era is shot on a format from its own period, including 16mm, Super 8, VHS and digital. It links the fetishisation of Asian women in the Gold Rush era to the violence against Asian elders that made the news in early 2021. One line from the narration sums up the argument: anti-Asian hate "is as old as American history". The film covers exclusion laws, massacres and stereotypes along the way.

It follows the structure of Tran's earlier 60 Years and Still (2020), which traced police violence against Black Americans from the 1960s to the present. Both were made quickly, with large volunteer teams of artists. For Centuries and Still those were mostly Asian women, each contributing one or two scenes. Details and credits are on the film page.

Where it was written about

NextShark wrote about the film in October 2021. Film Shortage made it a Daily Short Pick on 30 July 2021, and Lester Banks covered its technique in August 2021. The Italian design magazine Frizzifrizzi reviewed both films together in July 2021, and Muse by Clio interviewed Tran about her work that summer. In May 2023 the beauty brand Milk Makeup featured the film in an interview series for APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) Heritage Month. Links to all of these are on the film page.

Watching it

The film is on Vimeo. This site does not host or re-upload it. Search for "Centuries and Still" on Vimeo to watch it on the page the filmmakers published.