On July 25, the California premiere of Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health filled the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Main Library.

The room was full. For 75 minutes, the audience watched Asian American individuals and families speak openly about experiences that are often much harder to name at home: mental illness, migration-related stress, family expectations, intergenerational conflict, stigma, and the long hesitation before asking for help.

After the screening, one moment stayed with us.

“We wish we could have seen this film years ago.”

A couple in the audience approached us with tears in their eyes. “It would have helped us understand that we were not alone while finding our way through the darkness.”

California premiere of Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health at the San Francisco Main Library.

More Than a Film Screening

The free California premiere was jointly presented by the San Francisco Public Library, the Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities (MHACC), and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), with support from the Asian American Journalists Association Bay Area Chapter. The event took place during Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.

Directed by Professor Changfu Chang and developed over five years, Silent War documents Asian American individuals and families confronting mental illness and the cultural forces that shape how distress is understood, hidden, and eventually spoken about.

In many immigrant families, mental illness is rarely experienced as an individual issue alone. It can become entangled with parental responsibility, a child’s future, family reputation, sacrifice, and the belief that difficult matters should remain inside the family.

Silence does not necessarily come from a lack of love. Sometimes people simply do not have the language to describe what is happening. Sometimes they do not know where culturally and linguistically responsive help can be found. Sometimes everyone is trying to protect everyone else. But when silence becomes the way a family maintains stability, the person struggling most may also become the most isolated.

From Private Experience to Public Conversation

The conversation continued after the film with a post-screening panel. The discussion explored a question that reaches beyond any single diagnosis: how do language, culture, family expectations, and community relationships influence whether someone feels able to ask for help?

Post-screening panelists included Professor Changfu Chang, director of Silent War ; Dawn Brown, NAMI National Director of Cross-Cultural Innovation and Engagement; Peggy Rahman, President of NAMI Alameda County; artist Irene Wei; and MHACC founder and Executive Director Elaine Peng. The discussion was moderated by The San Francisco Standard journalist and Asian American Journalists Association board member Kevin V. Nguyen.

Public officials and community leaders also joined the premiere, including San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu and California Deputy State Treasurer Stephanie Tom, along with representatives from the library, media, mental health organizations, and community groups.

MHACC founder Elaine Peng’s own family experience is part of the story told in Silent War. Years before founding MHACC, she was a family caregiver trying to understand a severe mental health crisis while searching for services that could respond in her family’s language and cultural context. That experience eventually led her from caregiving into community advocacy and the creation of MHACC.

Audience members continued the conversation through questions and personal reflections.

Recognition for the Film and the Community Behind It

At the event, California Deputy State Treasurer Stephanie Tom, representing State Treasurer Fiona Ma, presented Certificates of Recognition to Silent War director Changfu Chang and MHACC.

The recognition honored the film’s contribution to opening conversations around Asian American mental health, as well as MHACC’s leadership in bringing the California premiere to the community and its longstanding work supporting Chinese American individuals and families.

California Deputy State Treasurer Stephanie Tom presents Certificates of Recognition to Silent War director Changfu Chang and MHACC on behalf of State Treasurer Fiona Ma.

Certificate of Recognition presented to MHACC by the Office of California State Treasurer Fiona Ma.

The Conversation Reaches Beyond the Auditorium

The premiere also received coverage from major Chinese-language media, extending the conversation beyond the auditorium and into the broader community.

Sing Tao Daily , Metro News B1, July 26, 2026

What Happens After the Film Ends?

A documentary cannot undo years of family pain. It cannot eliminate stigma, solve the shortage of culturally responsive mental health services, or make a difficult conversation suddenly easy.

But it can change one thing.

A person who has spent years believing that what happened in their family was theirs alone may look across a crowded room and realize that other families have lived through something similar.

The couple who approached us after the screening wished they had seen Silent War years earlier.

We cannot give families those years back. What we can do is make sure fewer people have to wait that long to discover that they are not alone.

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中文版

《無聲之戰》加州首映：讓沉默多年的故事終於被聽見

7月25日，紀錄片《Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health》 （《無聲之戰》）在三藩市總圖書館 Koret Auditorium 舉行加州首映。

放映廳座無虛席。

75分鐘裡，觀眾安靜地看著一個個亞裔家庭說出那些在家中往往最難開口的事： 精神疾病、移民壓力、家庭期待、代際衝突、文化污名，以及一個人在真正求助之前， 可能經歷的漫長猶豫。

電影結束後，有一個瞬間讓我們一直難以忘懷。

「真希望我們幾年前就能看到這部電影。它能讓我們明白，在黑暗中前行時，我們並不孤單。」

一對在放映結束後與 MHACC 分享感受的觀眾夫婦

不只是一場電影放映

這場免費的加州首映由三藩市公共圖書館、美國華裔精神健康聯盟（MHACC） 與全美精神疾病聯盟（NAMI）共同舉辦，並獲亞裔記者協會灣區分會支持。

《無聲之戰》由 Changfu Chang 教授 執導，歷時五年製作。 影片記錄亞裔個人與家庭面對精神疾病的真實經歷，也讓我們看見，文化如何影響 一個人理解痛苦、隱藏痛苦，最後又如何嘗試把它說出來。

在許多移民家庭中，精神疾病很少只是「一個人的問題」。它可能同時牽涉父母的責任、 孩子的前途、家庭的聲譽、上一代的犧牲，以及「家裡的事情不要讓外人知道」的觀念。

沉默不一定來自不關心。有時候，是家人沒有足夠的語言去理解正在發生的事； 有時候，是不知道哪裡可以找到真正理解自己語言和文化背景的服務； 也有時候，每個人都以為自己是在保護另一個人。 可是，當沉默逐漸成為一個家庭維持穩定的方法，最需要支持的人，也可能變得最孤單。

當家庭裡的故事走進公共空間

電影結束後，映後座談繼續這場對話。座談從不同角度追問： 語言、文化、家庭期待和社區關係，究竟如何影響一個人是否願意承認自己需要幫助， 又是否知道可以向誰求助？

座談嘉賓包括《無聲之戰》導演 Changfu Chang 教授、NAMI 全國總部跨文化創新與參與主任 Dawn Brown、NAMI Alameda County 主席 Peggy Rahman、藝術工作者 Irene Wei， 以及 MHACC 創辦人兼執行長彭一玲；由《The San Francisco Standard》記者、 亞裔記者協會理事 Kevin V. Nguyen 主持。

三藩市市府律師邱信福（David Chiu）、加州副州財長 Stephanie Tom， 以及來自政府、圖書館、媒體與社區機構的代表亦到場支持。

彭一玲自己的家庭經歷，也是《無聲之戰》記錄的故事之一。多年以前，她首先是一名面對家人 嚴重精神健康危機的照護者。這段經歷後來把她從家庭照護帶進社區倡導，最終創立 MHACC。

電影與社區共同獲得肯定

活動當日，加州副州財長 Stephanie Tom 代表州財長 Fiona Ma， 分別向《無聲之戰》導演 Changfu Chang 與 MHACC 頒發表揚狀。

這份肯定不只表揚影片推動亞裔精神健康對話的影響，也肯定 MHACC 籌辦此次加州首映， 以及多年來支持華裔個人與家庭、推動精神健康教育與減少污名的工作。

電影結束之後呢？

一部紀錄片無法消除一個家庭多年累積的傷痛，也無法立即消除精神疾病的污名、 填補文化與語言服務的不足，或讓一場困難的家庭對話突然變得容易。

但它可能改變一件事。

一個多年以為「只有我們家是這樣」的人，可能第一次在一個坐滿陌生人的禮堂裡發現， 原來其他家庭也走過相似的路。

我們無法把那些年還給曾經孤單前行的家庭。 但我們可以努力讓下一個家庭，不必等那麼久，才知道自己並不孤單。