The 'Last Year' of Fred Ho '79

There were tears in the eyes of many audience members by the end of the screening of “Fred Ho’s Last Year” at this year’s Boston Asian American Film Festival. Many of the people watching had known Fred Ho ’79 or had their lives touched by him in some way. He was a jazz musician (though he thought that the term “jazz” degraded the genre) who played baritone saxophone, an author, a clothing designer, and a major face in Asian American radical activism. Through all these avenues, he was a leader and mentor who left many mourning when he died of the colorectal cancer that he had been fighting for years.

The film’s director, Steven De Castro, who is a lawyer by day, was one of the many people that Ho had met and brought opportunities to. They first met in 1990 at a New York City rally against the Gulf War. Ho helped De Castro publish a chapter in an anthology of essays about the Asian American experience that is still taught in classes today. Their paths did not collide again until 2012, when De Castro saw Ho’s book “Diary of a Radical Cancer Warrior.” De Castro thought Ho had already passed away given the severity of the illness described in the book, but after doing some research online, De Castro was sitting in Ho’s apartment weeks later recording the first interview.

This is De Castro’s first movie. He was never formally taught filmmaking, but he sees writing, being a lawyer, and making movies as different ways to tell a story. For a first try by someone with no education in the subject, “Fred Ho’s Last Year” was well-received by audience members. “I’m a great editor,” De Castro told the audience bluntly. However, for many of the film’s technical aspects, he hired experienced professionals. The result is a cinematographically beautiful movie.

Fred Ho, a Harvard alumnus, was one of the most eccentric and interesting people in the jazz world, and “Fred Ho’s Last Year” showcased this. “He’s the kind of person [who], when you meet him, you think, ‘I really haven’t met anyone like him before,’” De Castro said. Though the film was centered around his illness, explaining all the surgeries, treatments, and diet changes he tried, it also examined all the other parts of his life. Ho was a Marxist as well a racial activist supporting Asian-African alliance, and he chose to view his disease as connected to his work in activism. “Cancer is a manifestation of capitalism in the individual,” he said. Though Ho’s cancer gave him lung problems, he continued to play his saxophone as long as he could. De Castro included long segments of many of Ho’s last performances, in which he demonstrated his characteristic blend of Chinese opera and traditional African American music. “I wanted to let the music speak for itself,” De Castro explained. Many of the young musicians Ho had worked with were very inspired by his work. “He teaches me how to just do something, like not even thinking about it,” explained a vocalist who sang in a piece Ho conducted.

Many of the people in the audience were people with whom Ho had worked, whether in music or in activism. “Fred had a way of keeping a catalog in his head of all the activists,” De Castro said. The screening felt almost like a commemoration service for Ho. After the movie, Royal Hartigan, a drummer who knew Ho from the age of 15 and continued to collaborate with him throughout their lives, performed a mourning ritual from the Asante people of Ghana. He played the drums and chanted words of remembrance in a moving tribute. In the question-and-answer section afterwards, one audience member with a tearful voice told De Castro, “I want to commend you for making this film…. It’s a beautiful tribute.” She explained that she hadn’t known Ho well but was part of an organization, the Asian American Resource Center, that he had helped found. Many others shared this sentiment and expressed that Fred Ho had touched their lives.

Ho survived to see the completion of the film, which he apparently liked quite a lot. “He gave me the best compliment I ever saw him give anyone: he didn’t say anything,” De Castro said. Given Ho’s tendency to critique, De Castro took this as high praise.

—Contributing writer Sonya A. Karabel can be reached at skarabel@college.harvard.edu.