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On Wednesday evening, Schine Underground featured an origami craft station and a buffet of foods like cold noodle salad, tteok, popcorn chicken, fish balls, BBQ pork bao buns and mochi. Alongside the foods and stations, the historic, award-winning film “Parasite” was being screened.

“We’re highlighting people who are successful in this industry and are a part of those (AANHPI) communities, and it’s about kind of inviting people into that culture,” UU president Kate McKenna said.

On Wednesday, University Union hosted a movie celebration, screening the South Korean film “Parasite” for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

A dark-comedic thriller, “Parasite” follows the low-class Kim family as they pose as highly qualified house servants for the Park family as a way to enter their wealthy, glamorous lifestyle. The movie was the first non-English film to win Best Picture at the Oscars, which is one reason why UU wanted to show the film for AANHPI Heritage Month, co-cinema director Jordan Burda said.

“‘Parasite’ is definitely groundbreaking for Asian cinema and just Asians in general being the Best Picture and Best International Picture winner,” Burda said. “And I know a lot of people that love it.”

Alongside the screening of “Parasite,” origami stations were featured and buffet foods like tteok, BBQ pork bao buns and mochi. Eli Schwartz | Asst. Photo Editor

McKenna said the organization had done other heritage month events in the past, but never through film. Last year, UU invited Disney actress Brenda Song to speak to students, touching on her experience of being Asian-American in the entertainment industry.

UU had a smaller budget for AANHPI this year, so McKenna reached out to the cinema directors to see if they could host a film screening to celebrate the month. They agreed and started working to plan the event.

Junior Bernice Martinez said she and her friends often attend UU events, especially the movie screenings. They allow the group to unwind, she said.

“That’s one of the things that we love about the school, is that they make events like these, where we can get merch or food and snacks,” Martinez said. “It’s really fun and you get to meet a lot of people too.”

Junior Ashley Lopez was already a fan of “Parasite,” so she knew she had to attend the event. She really appreciated the break in an otherwise hectic time in the semester.

“It’s definitely such a fun activity to go with a friend too, and just relax a little bit, especially now that things are kind of amping up a bit. It’s just a great way to de-stress,” Lopez said.

In recent years, McKenna said UU has increased the amount of programming they have done surrounding cultural heritage months, not just AANHPI. McKenna said this was made possible for UU through a budget given by the Student Government Association, allowing them to work on cultural heritage month programming.

At a predominantly white institution like SU, it’s crucial to find ways to make sure all students from different cultural backgrounds are represented in the campus organizations, co-PR director Charlotte Wall said.

“Since we are such a big programming organization, and one of the biggest ones on campus, it’s important to host events that showcase the students that go to school here and the students who are represented,” Wall said.

The film screening was meant to feel inclusive to all communities at Syracuse and bring the student body together, Burda said. UU intends to do similar events for heritage month celebrations in the future.

“It’s not just their event for people who are part of the AANHPI community, but people who want to learn more about that community and some love for that culture, that goes along with it,” McKenna said.

Published on April 9, 2026 at 1:08 am