You Don’t Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story

Award-winning director Jeff Adachi (The Slanted Screen) marks his sophomore effort with a new documentary on Jack Soo, a Japanese American who paved the way for Asian Americans in the entertainment industry.

Soo was one of the first Asian American actors cast as a lead and a regular on 1960’s and 1970’s television. Adachi’s film offers an intimate look into Soo’s life through interviews with fellow co-stars, friends and industry professionals. Adachi also examines Soo’s career as a singer, comedian and actor while mixing in rare footage of his breakthrough role as Sammy Fong in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway musical “Flower Drum Song.”

In the end, we learn of Soo’s tenacity and integrity as a professional, his role in shaping positive Asian American images and the impact his work had on future generations of Asian American actors. —Christian Oh

Preceded by:

Tracy Takahashi Toryaldsen is a background performer—in other words, a movie extra. Erroneously labeled a geisha by passersby because of her kimono costume, Tracy takes this mistaken identity and ultimately uses it for personal gain. — Grace Choi