Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2008

Martial artist and veteran stunt performer Diana Lee Inosanto (daughter of martial arts legend Dan Inosanto and goddaughter to Bruce Lee) delivers a swift kick to prejudice and stereotypes in THE SENSEI, her powerful debut as director and writer.

Gay teen McClain Evans (Michael O’Laskey), lonely and ostracized in his conservative Colorado town during the AIDS panic of the mid-1980s, is constantly harassed and bullied. Even the local martial arts dojo refuses to accept him as a student. After a brutal attack lands McClain in the hospital, Karen, the black-sheep daughter of the Filipino-Japanese family that runs the dojo (played by Inosanto herself), secretly teaches him how to defend himself, sparking an intimate friendship that changes many lives. Family secrets are laid bare, punctuated by fast-paced martial arts sequences and dramatic flashbacks into Karen’s and McClain’s pasts. In the best tradition of martial arts movies, the town’s AIDS hysteria, religious intolerance, racism, and homophobia come face to face with fairness, leadership, honor, and family values. Inspired by Matthew Shepard and Inosanto’s family and friends (and featuring Seattle actor Bryan Frank), this personal story resonates with today’s headlines.