“Emotional” and “intimate” is an understatement when describing the documentary, Bad Axe by David Siev, which recently appeared at Emerson College’s Bright Family Screening Room as part of the Boston Asian American Film Festival. As a fellow Cambodian filmmaker myself, the film depicts experiences I relate to in a way that I have never seen captured on screen before. The documentary follows the Siev family throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Black Lives Matter rallies, and the ups and downs of owning a family restaurant in Bad Axe, Michigan. Siev’s work is touching, inspirational, and his family’s story speaks to the aspiration of attaining the American Dream.