AAIFF40

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AAIFF.ORG

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THE 40TH ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

July 2017 Dear Friends, Welcome to the 2017 Asian American International Film Festival!

The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is like no other festival experience in the City.

Celebrating its landmark 40th anniversary this year, AAIFF is the longest-running festival in the country devoted to films by and about Asians and Asian Americans. AAIFF attendees will have the opportunity to view and experience films from some of New York City’s most diverse filmmakers and talent.

The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment supports filmed media in its many forms through our Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, a one-stop shop for all production needs in New York City, and through NYC Media, the official TV, radio, and online network of the City of New York.

Each year, our office works with hundreds of film, television, digital, and commercial projects that film on location throughout the five boroughs. We provide these productions with a number of useful resources, including the “Made in NY” Discount Card, which provides special offers for film industry professionals at more than 1,200 local businesses. We also offer educational and workforce development programs, such as our ongoing “Made in NY” Talks series, which welcomes leaders from a variety of media and entertainment sectors to share expertise about their industries with interested New Yorkers.

Additionally, our “Made in NY” Marketing Credit program offers promotional support for projects in which at least 75% was produced in New York City.

Our agency’s newest initiatives to ensure greater representation in the film and TV industry include the Made in NY Writers Room, a mentorship program for TV writers from diverse backgrounds, launched in collaboration with the Writers Guild of America East and the NYC Department of Small Business Services; funding of over $8 million enabling the creation of the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, the first public graduate school of cinema in New York City, and a school committed to cultivating new and emerging voices in film; a $1 million grant to CUNY J-School’s Center for Community and Ethnic Media to bring a key sector of New York City’s media landscape into the digital age; and the Made in NY PA Training Program, which has trained more than 600 low income New Yorkers, many of whom were unemployed, for entry level jobs on film and television sets.

Please visit our website, www.nyc.gov/film, and follow us on Twitter at @MadeinNY to learn more about our office and discover everything New York City has to offer the creative community. Enjoy the show!

Sincerely,

Julie Menin, Commissioner Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment

contents 4| festival schedule 6| ticket info & faq 8| welcome letters 20| still here , not going away 23| cinevue 40| award nominations & jurors 45| spotlight 52| asians in america: stories from the front

62| world cinema 76| class of 1997

:

the asian american new wave

81| shorts programs 96| special presentations 102| festival staff 104| thank you

FESTIVAL WED JULY 26

SAT JULY 29

AAIFF40 OPENING VIP RECEPTION

THE 2017 72-HOUR SHOOTOUT WORLD PREMIERE

6:00PM | AS

OPENING NIGHT: GOOK 7:00PM | AS

THU JULY 27 LOVE LETTERS TO NY SHORTS PROGRAM 9:00PM | AS

1:30PM | CVE

CHANGING CHINATOWN SHORTS PROGRAM 2:00PM | AS

BACHELOR GIRLS 2:00PM | CVE

CUNY ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASE 2:00PM | AS

MIXED MATCH 4:00PM | CVE

FRI JULY 28

WITH THIS RING

HOW WE WORK: CAREER CHOICES SHORTS PROGRAM 6:30PM | CVE

SIGNATURE MOVE 4:30PM | CVE

NIHONGO: STORIES OF JAPAN SHORTS PROGRAM

CENTERPIECE: SMALL TALK

7:00PM | CVE

SAVE MY SEOUL 9:30PM | CVE

4:30PM | AS

7:00PM | AS

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS SHORTS PROGRAM 7:00PM | CVE

NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED SHORTS PROGRAM 9:00PM | CVE

ALL OUR FATHER’S RELATIONS 9:45PM | CVE

VENUES AS - ASIA SOCIETY CVE - VILLAGE EAST CINEMA

4

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

*Please visit aaiff.org for more information regarding this year’s program and events

SCHEDULE SUN JULY 30

FRI AUGUST 4

FOR YOUTH BY YOUTH SHORTS PROGRAM

CLASS OF 97: SHOPPING FOR FANGS

1985

LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE...SHORTS PROGRAM

1:00PM | AS

1:30PM | CVE

THE LOCKPICKER 2:00PM | CVE

STILL HERE, NOT GOING AWAY SHORTS PROGRAM 2:00PM | AS

WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD 4:15PM | CVE

THE SURROUNDING GAME 4:30PM | CVE

SINGING WITH ANGRY BIRD 6:30PM | CVE

I CAN I WILL I DID 7:00PM | AS

THE RECEPTIONIST 7:30PM | CVE

THU AUGUST 3 ABSURD ACCIDENT 7:00PM | AS

A FOLEY ARTIST 7:00PM | CVE

HALF TICKET 7:00PM | CVE

MAD MAD WORLD SHORTS PROGRAM

6:30PM | AS

6:30PM | CVE

HONG KONG: TAXI STORIES 7:00PM | CVE

GOOK

9:00PM | CVE

CLASS OF 97: YELLOW 9:30PM | AS

CLASS OF 97: SUNSET 9:30PM | CVE

SAT AUGUST 5 DEFENDER

12:00PM | AS

THE VALLEY 2:00PM | CVE

CLASS OF 97: STRAWBERRY FIELDS 2:00PM | AS

PLASTIC CHINA 4:30PM | AS

AFTER THE SEWOL 4:30PM | CVE

CLOSING NIGHT: FREE AND EASY 7:00PM | AS

9:15PM | CVE

COLUMBUS

9:30PM | CVE

PROOF OF LOYALTY 9:45PM | AS

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

5

TICKET INFO GENERAL INFORMATION: All programs are subject to change and/or cancellation without prior notice. For updated program and event information, please check our lineup at: http://aaiff.org/2017/schedule/ NOTE: Please arrive 20 minutes before the scheduled program. Seating cannot be guaranteed for ticket holders who arrive after the program begins. Empty seats may be resold; no refunds will be issued.

If a screening is sold out by the time you submit the ticket request, you may wait in the “Rush Line,” which forms one hour before showtime.

ADMISSION:

SPECIAL PROGRAM PRICES:

$15 General Admission $11 Students and seniors with I.D., disabled, and Community Partners.

OPENING NIGHT at Asia Society (includes film, Q+A, reception)

TICKET PACKAGES AND GROUP SALES:

CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION at Asia Society (includes film, Q+A, reception)

$60 (member) / $65 (non-member) Festival 6-pack $100 (member) / $110 (non-member) Festival 10-pack 6 or 10-pack vouchers can be redeemed for all ticketed programs EXCEPT for Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night. No limit per program. Ticket packages must be redeemed in advance. Ticket package sales end MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017.

Contact boxoffice@asiancinevision.org for more information about ticket packages and group sales.

6

FESTIVAL TICKET INFO

VIP Reception: $200, $150 discount* General admission: $80, $60 discount*

General admission: $30, $22.50 discount* CLOSING NIGHT at Asia Society (includes film, Q+A, reception) General admission: $40, $30 discount* FREE to the Public. No tickets required. First come, first served: MINY, panels & workships, For-Youth-ByYouth, CUNY Shorts, Screenplay reading, SAG-AFTRA Filmmakers Lunch (invite only), Flushing. *members, seniors, students, disabled, community partners, groupsales over 10.

FAQ I FORGOT TO BRING MY PRINT-AT-HOME TICKET. WHAT DO I DO?

HOW DO I BUY TICKETS? Buy your tickets online from the schedule page of our website. You’ll receive a confirmation email from boxoffice@asiancinevision.org titled “Your order with 40th Asian American International Film Festival.” You will need the link from this email to retrieve your purchased tickets at a later date.

The only alternative to online ticket purchase is to visit our guest services table at Asia Society or Village East Cinema during festival hours, at least a half hour before the screening. Some sessions may be sold out. Admission is not guaranteed.

Tickets are not available by phone or fax.

Box Office opens one (1) hour prior to the first show of the day. Please purchase tickets early as programs may sell out.

WHAT DO I DO IF A SCREENING IS SOLD OUT? There will be a rush line, which forms one hour before showtime, for sold-out screenings.

Bringing your print-at-home ticket is the most efficient way to get to your screening. If you forget or misplace it and cannot print another one, show your ticket on your smartphone.

Lost the confirmation email? Come to guest services at Asia Society or Village East Cinema and we’ll resend the email.

CAN I GET A REFUND? There are no refunds or exchanges. If you have made a significant purchase in error, please email boxoffice@asiancinevision.org.

HOW DO I LOOK UP TICKETS I PURCHASED SO I CAN PRINT THEM OUT AT A LATER DATE? Search your email inbox for the email titled, “Your order with 40th Asian American International Film Festival.” Click “Print Tickets,” and your tickets will appear in a new tab or window for you to print.

Arrive early and line up at guest services.

Admission is NOT guaranteed.

SOCIAL MEDIA facebook.com/aaiff

@AsianCineVision

@asiancinevision #aaiff40 TICKET FAQ

7

THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE MAYOR NEW YORK, NY 10007

July 26, 2017

Dear Friends: I am delighted to join Asian CineVision in welcoming everyone to the 40th Annual Asian American International Film Festival.

New York would not be the global hub of creativity it is today without the tremendous contributions of Asian American artists. Since 1978, AAIFF has enriched our city’s status as an incubator for the arts by providing opportunities for filmmakers of Asian descent to present their works to New Yorkers of all backgrounds. This year’s edition will once again feature panel discussions with emerging and established artists and a variety of films with engaging stories and differing perspectives from Asian Americans and the global Asian diaspora. On the occasion of its milestone anniversary, I applaud everyone associated with this wonderful festival for their efforts to foster diversity in media and entertainment, unite and empower Asian New Yorkers, and enrich the cultural dynamism of the five boroughs.

On behalf of the City of New York, congratulations on 40 terrific years. Please accept my best wishes for an exciting festival and continued success.

Sincerely,

Bill de Blasio Mayor

DANIEL SQUADRON

SENATOR, 26TH DISTRICT

THE SENATE STATE OF NEW YORK

CHAIR CITIES COMMITTEE VICE-CHAIR SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEES CODES CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES & COMMISSIONS EDUCATION HTRANSPORTATION VETERANS

June 26, 2017 Asian Cinevision, Inc. 30 John Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Dear Friends, I am honored to extend my congratulations to Asian CineVision on the occasion of the 40th Annual Asian American International Film Festival. I commend this organization for its efforts in putting on this wonderful event.

Since 1978, the Annual Asian American International Film Festival has strived to provide artistic and cultural enrichment to our community through the presentation of innovative new film and cinema. This year, the Asian American International Film Festival will continue to bring its programs to neighborhoods throughout the city, such as Chinatown, Manhattan, in order to expand and encourage greater access to the arts.

Tonight, we celebrate Asian CineVision for their hard work in organizing this event.

Sincerely,

Daniel Squadron State Senator 26th Senate District

ALBANY OFFICE: 515 LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING, ALBANY, NY 12247, (518) 455-2625 MANHATTAN OFFICE: 250 BROADWAY, SUITE 2011, NEW YORK, NY 10007, (212) 298-5565 BROOKLYN OFFICE: BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL ROOM 310, 209 JORALEMON ST., BROOKLYN, NY 11201

ALBANY OFFICE ROOM 706 LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING ALBANY, NY 12247 PHONE 518-455-3461 FAX 518-426-6857

RANKING MEMBER COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

VICE CHAIRWOMAN DEMOCRATIC CONFERENCE

COMMITTEE MEMBER AGING EDUCATION FINANCE

DISTRICT OFFICE 142-29 37th AVENUE FLUSHING, NY 11354 PHONE 718-445-0004 FAX 518-445-3461

INSURANCE JUDICIARY TRANSPORTATION

STAVISKY@NYSENATE.GOV

July 26, 2017 Asian Cinevision, Inc. Asian American International Film Festival 30 John Street Brooklyn, New York 11201 Dear Friends: I am delighted to congratulate you as you celebrate the 40th Annual Asian American International Film Festival at Flushing Town Hall from July 26th-August 5th, 2017. I know that everyone who attends will enjoy the festival.

We appreciate the fact that the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is the first and longest running festival in the United States to focus on films by, for, or about Asians/Asian Americans. AAIFF highlights the artistry of Asians/Asian Americans in cinema by featuring one hundred films from over 25 countries, with screenings in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The festival also supports the art of film through panels, workshops, screenplay readings, talkbacks, networking mixers, receptions, live performances, and more. Through its screenings and presentations, the Asian American International Film Festival displays the diversity of the Asian American experience.

Throughout its history, AAIFF has supported the careers of many distinguished directors. Thank you for bringing this exciting event to Flushing – home of the fastest-growing Asian community in the country. I wish you every measure of success as you continue your important work and showcase the film work of the Asian American community.

With all good wishes, I am,

Sincerely yours,

NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ 7TH DISTRICT, NEW YORK

July 26, 2017 It is my honor to extend my sincerest wishes to participants and honorees at this year’s historic 40th Annual Asian American International Film Festival.

As the first and longest running festival in the United States to showcase the cinematic work featuring or produced by Asians and Asian Americans, AAIFF is a monumental event. In the coming days, the festival will screen over 100 films from upwards of 25 countries. The festival runs in three of the five New York City boroughs; Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Throughout its history, AAIFF has been a pioneer in showcasing the groundbreaking work of Asian and Asian American film talent. AAIFF is a wonderful tribute to and celebration of the over 1 million Asian Americans who live in New York City.

Whether hosting panel discussions, receptions, workshops or live performances, AAIFF is a world-class event. I applaud everyone involved for providing such a valuable service and helping to bolster New York’s cinema industry.

As you continue your commitment to enrich the arts and culture of the city, please know that I will champion your efforts. Again, my congratulations for 40 incredible years, here’s to many more to come.

Sincerely,

Nydia M. Velázquez Member of Congress

DISTRICT OFFICE: 165 PARK ROW, SUITE 11 NEW YORK, NY 10038 212-587-3159 FAX: (212) 587-3158 CITY HALL OFFICE: 250 BROADWAY, SUITE 1882 NEW YORK, NY 10007 (212) 788-7259 chin@council.nyc.gov

CHAIR AGING

THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

MARGARET S. CHIN

COMMITTEES EDUCATION RECOVERY AND RESILIENCY RULES, PRIVILEGES, AND ELECTIONS TRANSPORTATION YOUTH SERVICES

COUNCIL MEMBER, 1 DISTRICT, MANHATTAN ST

June 26, 2017 John Woo, Asian Cinevision Asian American International Film Festival 30 John Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Dear Friends, I am excited to extend my congratulations to the Asian American International Film Festival on its 40th Anniversary.

As the first Chinese American to represent Chinatown on New York City Council, I know how important it is to fight for more AAPI representation in government, media and film. This past year, we have seen the emergence of incredible campaigns that highlight the need for Asian Americans to tell their own narratives in film. As the first and longest running festival in the U.S. dedicated to showcasing films made by, for and about Asian Americans, the Asian American International Film Festival has been a true trailblazer in shaping the conversation on AAPI representation. I thank AAIFF for creating a space, when there was none that existed, to celebrate the work of innovative directors, actors and writers in our community.

AAPIs across the country have spoken, and our demand is loud and clear: we need to tell our own stories. I send my best wishes to the Asian American International Film Festival for its continued success in making this mission a reality.

Sincerely,

Margaret S. Chin Council Member, District 1 New York City Council

July 26, 2017 Dear Friends: It is with great pleasure that I extend my warmest greetings and congratulations on the occasion of the 40th Asian American International Film Festival.

As a leading showcase for Asian American and Asian independent cinema, the Asian American International Film Festival provides a unique venue for the public to view a myriad of perspectives relating to the Asian experience. This year’s festival will highlight feature and short film programs of all genres and visual styles, industry networking mixers, music video showcase with live performances, exclusive interviews, screenplay readings, press meets with filmmakers, post-screening receptions, after-parties and more.

I commend the board and members of Asian American International Film Festival for its dedication and commitment to bringing us together to celebrate the diverse heritage and culture here in New York City and for providing important services to our community. Thank you for your tremendous contributions to the City of New York.

Please accept my best wishes for a successful event.

Sincerely,

Peter Koo Council Member 20th District, Queens

June 23, 2017 Asian American International Film Festival Asian Cinevision 30 John Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Dear Friends, It is with great pleasure that I extend to you my warmest welcome to the 40th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

As the nation’s first and longest-running film festival dedicated to Asian and Asian American independent cinema, the AAIFF has been essential in discovering and nurturing such talented filmmakers as Academy Award winner Ang Lee and Academy Award nominee Zhang Yimou. Through decades of showcasing the work of artists of Asian descent, the AAIFF has created a dynamic forum for understanding the diverse array of Asian cultures and the Asian American experience.

On behalf of the New York State Assembly, I offer my best wishes for an enjoyable festival in celebration of the creativity and passion of this year’s filmmakers as they share their stories with the world.

Sincerely,

Ron Kim Member of Assembly District 40, Queens

THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY

YUH-LINE NIOU Assemblymember 65th District

DISTRICT OFFICE: 250 Broadway, Suite 2212, New York, New York 10007 212-312-1420 ďż˝ FAX: 212-312-1479 ALBANY OFFICE: Room 818, Legislative Office Building, Albany, New York 12248 518-455-3640 ďż˝ FAX: 518-455-7092 EMAIL: niouy@nyassembly.gov

July 26, 2017 Asian Cinevision 115 W 30th St New York, NY 10001 Dear Friends of the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), I am honored to extend my congratulations to the Asian American International Film Festival and Asian CineVision on the occasion of their 40th annual gathering to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of Asian Americans in the world of film. I wish to thank Asian CineVision for its continuous commitment to preserving, developing, exhibiting, and promoting Asian American culture in the United States and all of the actors, actresses, directors, and producers whose enthusiasm has brought the stories of Asian Americans to life.

For 40 years, the Asian American International Film Festival has provided a platform for distinguished Asian American actors and directors to exhibit their films and tell their stories. AAIFF is not only the first festival in the country devoted to films about Asian and Asian Americans, but it is also the longest running festival in the U.S. This festival has captured the attention of both the Asian and non-Asian American communities of New York and inspired and entertained New Yorkers from an array of diverse backgrounds.

Once again, I congratulate the Asian American International Film Festival for 40-years of work in the Asian American and arts communities. I thank them for their contributions to the Asian American community, and I wish them success in the years the come.

Sincerely,

Yuh-Line Niou Assemblymember, 65th District

from the executive director John Woo

Still Here: Not Going Away G

reetings and welcome to your AAIFF40. Thoughts on turning 40:

It’s been a year of APIA historical milestones: Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: 135 years, Executive Order 9066: 75 years, Vincent Chin: 35 years; the L.A. Riots: 25 years.

It was a year when Asian Americans in the media stoodup: #oscarsowhite, #notyourmascot, #whitesavior. And it was the year that Asian American storytellers brought forth differing cultural and social impulses in history, among others: Nadine Truong’s I CAN I WILL I DID, Konrad Aderer’s RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE, Jeff Adachi’s DEFENDER, Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang’s MASTER OF NONE, Nanfu Wang’s HOOLIGAN SPARROW, and Justin Chon’s GOOK AAIFF40 is proud to present 23 feature films, 63 short films in 7 shorts programs representing 18 countries with a broad range of themes. The 10-day program over three weeks, is rounded out by a series of panels & workshops, networking mixers, live performances, exclusive talk-backs, parties and more.

We are excited to be back at Asia Society for the run of the Festival. Thank you Boo-Hui Tan, Rachel Cooper, Rachel Rosado and the entire Asia Society staff for helping to make AAIFF40 happen. And we will be back in Flushing for two nights of free community screenings, food trucks, local vendors, and even Yoga!

AAIFF40 TRIBUTES take a look back 20 years when four features, bring new meaning to Asian American identity politics, were making the rounds on the filmfestival circuit—Michael Idemoto and Eric Nakamura’s SUNSETS, Chris Chan Lee’s YELLOW, Quentin Lee and Justin Lin’s SHOPPING FOR FANGS, and Rea Tajiri’s STRAWBERRY FIELDS. All four features found their own

20

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

way to theatrical distribution, and taken together, are emblematic of the state of Asian American cinema in the late Nineties.

We also spotlight Hong Kong Cinema: 20 Years, a section of six Hong Kong films made since the 1997 return of Hong Kong, a British Colony, to Chinese sovereignty including the 4k restoration of Fruit Chan’s rarely seen classic MADE IN HONG KONG and Doris Yeung’s 2017 TAXI STORIES. Thank you to all the AAIFF40 sponsors and supporters for your hard work and generosity: to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hong Kong Economic Trade Office, the Taipei Cultural Center in New York, and to our Community Partners and the many Friends of ACV. Much respect to the AAIFF40 staff and volunteers, your energy, creativity, and drive all comes together right now.

As you know, this has been a strange, tumultuous year, a new normal as they say. As we closed the 2017 submission process with 640 entries–twice as many as from the previous year–from 48 countries, a common theme emerged: STILL HERE: NOT GOING AWAY, a reminder to stay vigilant, keep creating, stay positive.

As we go forward we are reminded that we've been here before–that it’s not about Trumpism, its about us. For 60 years Asian American activists have made spectacular progress in civil rights, immigrant services, education, health care, housing, voter rights, poverty, dismantling discrimination and stereotypes. However, as you know, we still have a ways to go.

Thank you kindly and I will see you at the movies, John

from the festival director Judy Lei

4

0 is the new 20. That's what kids throw around these days, right?

For AAIFF, 40 is the new 100, because we really are a century old (or at least it feels this way). We've been in this country for a few centuries, but yet, our history is buried, our stories are often untold. We have so many stories to tell, and that's what filmmakers have been doing for the past 40 years. They make films-films that are personal and films that spark conversation. By us, for us, and about us. That's what AAIFF is about.

The question that's always on my mind now is: with technology advancing this fast, will film festivals be relevant anymore? Why should I pay and submit to a festival? Why can't I just post this film on the internet and say "Mommy, I'm on the internet!!!!!!" (shoutout to Justin Chon) The short answer I have for this very complicated question is: I think film festivals breed a community: filmmakers, producers, actors, writers, industry folks who come and find like-minded people to collaborate with. And that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

For the last few years, the golden age of television has hit, and now, more people are watching tv instead of movies. Young people are creating YouTube webseries, Instagram stories, Snapchats, and it's harder and harder to get those booties in the theater. That makes me wonder if independent film and cinema still has relevance; and how will or how can it go along with the times. I don't have an answer to this question, so if you do, pull me aside and we'll have a chat.

With that said, this is my last year as the festival director. I started out as an AAIFF volunteer in 2009 (break in 2010/2014, so it's been seven beautiful years with this amazing organization). When I discovered AAIFF in 2009, it changed my life. It made me believe that it IS possible to have Asian American leads telling Asian American stories. It's a festival that gave Asian Pacific Americans a space to share a part of themselves with the world. And it gave me hope and planted a seed. I told myself: someday, I'll make a film. And now, it's time. Time for me to step down from this role, and time for me to step up and make an independent film. Someday, my film will show at AAIFF. Wait for it.

For now, I'll keep hustling and working until I get there. Create. (shoutout to Justin Chon) #iloveAAIFF

FROM THE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

21

from the program director Haisong Li

F

ive years ago, I came to the U.S. for graduate school. Three years ago, I moved to New York and involved in the Asian American International Film Festival for the first time. Without knowing much about Asian American history and culture back then, I joined the festival out of love for cinema and curiosity for humanities. Three years of watching Asian and Asian American stories told by filmmakers from all around the world are extremely educational and humbling experience. Now knowing much better about the Asian American history, I have the opportunity to exercise perspectives and see things through various lenses.

And now more than ever, I realize the importance of cinematic storytelling, not only as a weapon to fight, but also as a solution to transcend and inspire.

40 years ago, AAIFF was launched by a group of pioneering moviemakers to bring greater social and cultural awareness of Asian American experience and history to both Asian American communities and to the public at large.

Today, in a more globalized world, the festival extends its mission to promoting film and video by, for, and about Asians and Asian Americans. Programming a festival as such is a constant balancing act. More than once I ponder the questions of What AAIFF is about, what it means to be Asians, and what it means to be Asian Americans. When I get confused, I go general, like many of our films inspired me to do, and ask, what it means to be human beings.

And only when I think from this standpoint, I gain clarity, strength, and intelligence to face specific situations and realities.

Entering the 40th year of AAIFF, the festival programming team is presenting a truly diverse lineup. You may feel understood, inspired, or even challenged at our screenings. No matter what you feel, I appreciate your presence, and I encourage you to see more. I hope you see through your past, your pain, your struggles, and eventually see love, hope, and unity.

22 FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

CINEVUE

23

THE STATE OF ASIAN AMERICAN CINEMA: IN SEARCH OF COMMUNITY

by Peter X. Feng

I

wrote a series of essays on Asian American cinema for Cineaste Magazine in the 1990s, starting with “In Search of Asian American Cinema” in 1995. A number of Asian American filmmakers had debuted – among them: Shirley Sun, Mira Nair, Ang Lee, and Kayo Hatta – but there was a huge gap between the way that mainstream film critics and Asian American festival audiences were discussing these films. In a nutshell: there was no Asian American cinema “scene” and no critical consensus about how to talk about these films. Absent an ongoing discussion between critics, audiences, and filmmakers, every new film had to start from scratch, and it felt like no one was talking about the films themselves, but rather about what the filmmakers were

24

THE STATE OF ASIAN AMERICAN CINEMA: IN SEARCH OF COMMUNITY

“trying to say.” We all hoped that the four “Class of ‘97” films would change all that. I tried to capture that optimism in the 1999 article reprinted here, although the L.A. Riots, the Wen Ho Lee trial, and the 1996 DNC campaign finance controversy all loom large in the background. But in looking back, I am reminded most of all of my great affection for these filmmakers—I was writing my book at the same time that they were producing these films, and we were committed to working together to promote Asian American cinema—so I am very happy to participate in celebrating these movies twenty years later.

In the mid-1990s, the vast majority of Asian American film and video productions were documentaries, experimental works,

and student-made narrative shorts. The number of Asian American feature films that had seen theatrical release could be counted on the fingers of both hands. At the time, a legitimate question arose as to whether the label “Asian American Cinema” even made sense. Filmmakers in interviews at the time took particular pains to distinguish their work from films from Asia, with which they were often lumped (see my article, “In Search of Asian American Cinema,” in Cineaste, Vol. XXI, No. 4).

As the decade ends, the waters are muddier still. Wayne Wang, director of The Joy Luck Club (1993) and the breakthrough Chan is Missing (1981), proved he could direct a prestigious, nonAsian cast (including William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, Forrest Whitaker, and Ashley Judd) in Smoke (1995); his adaptation of Mona Simpson’s Anywhere But Here, starring Susan Sarandon, is due shortly. Ang Lee followed up The Wedding Banquet (1993, a U.S.-Taiwan coproduction) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1995, Taiwan) with Emma Thompson’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1995) and The Ice Storm (1997). Wang’s and Lee’s successes hopefully prove that their abilities are not limited to Asian American themes. It is notable, however, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences implicitly recognized Thompson as the auteur of Sense and Sensibility, awarding her an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay while failing even to nominate Lee for his direction.

Hollywood has also benefited from the Hong Kong brain drain—not only has John Woo adapted his style to the Hollywood system (Face/Off, 1997), but the influence of Hong Kong action cinema can be detected in Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s The Matrix (1999). Hong Kong directors have also helmed diverse mainstream productions, including Stanley Tong’s Mr. Magoo (1997), Ronnie Yu’s Bride of Chucky (1998), and Peter Chan’s The Love Letter (1999). Jackie Chan has repackaged his Hong Kong movies for the U.S. market and in 1998 teamed with Chris Tucker for

Rush Hour. While these films represent a marriage of Hong Kong and Hollywood production styles, none of them tells a story about Asian Americans.

They are not Asian American films any more than Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936) was a German American film.

Have prospects improved for Asian American feature filmmakers? Since 1995, over a dozen Asian American filmmakers have completed their first features, but very few of them have had significant theatrical runs. 1997 was a banner year, with four debut features making the rounds on the film-festival circuit—Michael Idemoto and Eric Nakamura’s Sunsets, Chris Chan Lee’s Yellow, Quentin Lee and Justin Lin’s Shopping for Fangs, and Rea Tajiri’s what happened to her? and the Strawberry Fields, along with veteran documentarian Renee Tajima-Peña’s My America… or Honk if You Love Buddha. All four narrative features have found their own way to theatrical distribution, and the five films, taken together, are emblematic of the state of Asian American cinema in the late nineties. Each of these movies grapples with questions of Asian American identity in widely divergent ways, and the different paths they have taken to distribution reveal much about the way independent films are released in the U.S.

Before approaching these films, it is important to note that the label “Asian American Cinema” does not imply that there is such a thing as “Asian American culture,” given the diversity of Asian cultures and the different patterns of acculturation that have greeted the immigrants from various Asian countries. In a sense, the label ‘Asian American’ is a political category: the name of a coalition of Americans who have come to realize that their political situation—determined in part by how Asians are seen by outsiders—requires them to act together.

Mainstream America continually conflates Asian Americans and Asians, 240 years after the first Asians arrived on these shores. The 1996

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campaign finance scandal and the 1999 Chinese nuclear spy scandal are chilling reminders that Asian Americans are still seen as foreigners. In cinematic terms, this conflation became apparent in 1993 when Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, Wang’s The Joy Luck Club, and David Cronenberg’s adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s Tony-award-winning M. Butterfly were all labeled “Asian cinema.”

While no filmmaker welcomes pigeonholing, most Asian American filmmakers acknowledge that a variety of institutions have helped them complete their films and find audiences, ranging from National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA) grants to Asian American Film Festivals in L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and elsewhere.

If Asian Americans generally experience a crisis of identity—a crisis fostered by continuing American racism—it is not surprising that Asian American cinema continues to thematize that identity crisis, and that Asian American filmmakers face similar crises when attempting to market their films and themselves. Asian Americans are continually asked to choose either an Asian or an American identity: in cinematic terms, the most successful filmmakers have either submerged their Asian identities to make films about white Americans (Lee’s The Ice Storm) or have added Asian ‘flavor’ to Hollywood filmmaking (Woo’s Face/ Off). (1998’s Godzilla—produced by Dean Devlin—is the slightly subversive combination of these two tactics, taking a pop icon beloved by Asian Americans and selling it to the mainstream U.S. audience.)

The five 1997 films each take up questions of Asian American identity, and by extension, each poses a different formulation of Asian American cinema.

Although each film poses and answers these questions differently, what they have in common is that they reject the “either Asian or American” dichotomy.

Noted documentary filmmaker Renee TajimaPeña, probably best-known for her Oscar-nominated

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collaboration with Christine Choy, Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1988), shot her “road movie” over a threeyear period in the early 1990s. Whimsically titled My America…or Honk if You Love Buddha, the film portrays the diversity of Asian Americans in cities ranging from New Orleans to Duluth. This diversity includes the Burtanog sisters (eight generations of Filipinos in Louisiana) and the Yang family (Laotians who fought for the CIA, now working in a clothing factory owned by the Italian American founder of Chung King frozen foods), two rapping brothers in Seattle who call themselves the Seoul Brothers, and Yuri and Bill Kochiyama, radical activists from the 1960s to the present (Yuri was at the Audubon Ballroom when Malcolm X was assassinated, was arrested for occupying the Statue of Liberty in the late 1970s in an effort to free jailed Puerto Rican nationalists, and today campaigns for Mumia AbuJamal). Not only does the film depict a wide range of Asian American experiences; by telling the story of Tajima-Peña’s road trip—a spiritual journey for the traveller—My America also suggests that the spirit of Asian Americans is constantly in motion.

While My America did enjoy a brief theatrical run in L.A., it will most likely reach most of its audience on PBS and through the educational market. Similarly, Chris Chan Lee notes that more people will probably see Yellow on video, even though, as an independentlyfinanced commercial film, a theatrical release is still the proving ground. Shopping for Fangs’ director Justin Lin notes, “Most independent films don’t make money in theatrical release,” but that release is necessary to generate the publicity that will interest cable channels and video retailers. Small independent films are usually released theatrically city by city, to get the maximum use out of the minimum number of prints and also to generate word of mouth in the art-house markets of L.A., New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. That’s the strategy that Phaedra Cinema employed for Yellow, which opened in L.A. in June of 1998. (Phaedra is also

distributing Strawberry Fields and Sunsets).

Chris Chan Lee’s Yellow is, in a sense, the most conventional of the four features: it focuses on eight teens and their misadventures on their last night together before they scatter for college. And yet, simply casting the film with young Asian American actors is itself a radical departure for such a story. These teens don’t have to prove their American identity, for they negotiate expectations from their immigrant parents and the surrounding culture with ease. Indeed, the audience might not notice the skill with which these teens maneuver across the rocky terrain of cultural expectations if it weren’t for the way the film dramatizes their parents’ perceptions. Grace (Angie Suh)’s mother continually harps on her daughter for not being “charming and ladylike,” but it is Grace who plays the role of deferential Korean daughter when her friend Alex (Burt Bulos) forgets to sweet talk his Aunt. When Teri (Mia Suh) visits her boyfriend Sin (Michael Daeho Chung) in the corner grocery owned by his father (SoonTek Oh), she is rebuffed for carrying a cigarette, until she points out that she has already put it out and doesn’t want to litter the sidewalk in front of the store. When Yo Yo (Jason Tobin)’s mother complains about the way he is gulping down his food in a Korean restaurant, his sister Janet (Lela Lee) deftly intervenes by noting that “Mom’s food” is much better.

These characters do not foreground their Asian American identity, and yet their ethnicity resonates to give the story its meaning. Working behind the counter of the family store, Sin finds himself explaining to an African American customer why they can’t match supermarket prices, when just a moment before he had squirmed with embarrassment at his father’s penny pinching. When Sin loses $1500 after a confrontation with other customers, his friends rally to replace the money before his parents find out. Chris Chan Lee shot these scenes in his parents’ store in Long Beach, which he had helped rebuild after the L.A. Riots in 1992. In

describing the story, he refers to “public perception of the so-called ‘Korean/Black conflict,’” revealing his understanding that tensions between Korean Americans and African Americans are more media construction than reality and that the best way to address that misperception is via cinema.

Sunsets, written and directed by cousins Michael Idemoto and Eric Nakamura, also deals with teens in the summer after high school but in the small Northern California town of Watsonville. That shift in locale means that instead of cruising down Eighth Street, these friends wander aimlessly around town looking for cars to smash up and stores to rob. Gary (Josh Brand) is white and fresh out of jail; Dave (Nicholas Constant) is Latino and withdrawn; and Mark (played by Idemoto) is the mediator. While the model for Yellow might be the teenpic of the 1980s, Sunsets’ gritty black-and-white cinematography and long takes reveal a debt to arthouse cinema à la Jim Jarmusch. At first glance, Gary, Dave, and Mark don’t do anything—and yet their fight to find their way is ultimately more consequential than the struggles of the collegebound teens in Yellow.

By removing these young men from their familial context—for these three, home is just a pitstop, which the camera emphasizes by showing their parents only in long shot, yelling after their departing sons—Sunsets de-emphasizes ethnicity. In an interview, Nakamura went so far as to assert that race was not an issue in this film, noting that the filmmakers disagreed with the write-up in the catalog for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. But if the promotional images for the film—of the three men wearing sunglasses— don’t push ethnicity to the forefront, many of the film’s reviewers have seized upon ethnicity to explain why Mark is collegebound, Dave is passive and lovelorn, and Gary is filled with rage. Sunsets’ low-key tone suggests that the filmmakers are neither reproducing nor signifying on racial stereotypes; if anything, they’re simply focusing their gaze on a sleepy town that they

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know well (Idemoto grew up in Watsonville). Sunsets does not fit easily into the category of Asian American film, yet very few non-Asian American film festivals screened the movie.

If Sunsets is a film that does not have ‘enough’ Asian American content, Strawberry Fields is fairly overflowing with it. In the early 1970s, Irene (Suzy Nakamura) is a teenage Sansei (a third-generation Japanese American) living in Chicago, filled with inchoate rage that, director Rea Tajiri says, “a young woman wasn’t encouraged to show [in the seventies].” Irene is fascinated with fire, a factor we come to understand is linked to her childhood memory of a burning house, as well as her grandfather’s act of burning the family’s Japanese mementos before leaving the strawberry fields behind to enter the WWII internment camp for Japanese Americans in Poston, Arizona. We see images of the 1942 fire in brief flashes throughout the film, and it is not clear whether these are flashbacks or psychic visions. The latter possibility is given more credence when the ghost of Irene’s younger sister, Terri (Heather Yoshimura), a sort of innocent trickster, shows up.

Roadtrips (and acidtrips) bring Irene to Arizona, where she confronts the way her family’s history has haunted her.

The story of the internment is canonical history for Asian Americans, a history whose meaning has been widely contested. (The phrase “model minority” was first attached to Japanese Americans by The New York Times in 1966: the camps were cited as proof of how far they had come without complaining. Twenty years later, heretofore silent Japanese Americans testified in Congress, eventually resulting in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which paid restitution to surviving internees.)

But Strawberry Fields is not a heartwarming story— Irene doesn’t hug her mom at the end. Irene’s rage now has focus, but it does not thereby dissipate. While Strawberry Fields takes Asian American history as its pretext, it does not satisfy a liberal perspective of that

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history—that we have all learned from the tragic events of the past. As such, the film may not satisfy audiences who expect a civics lesson.

While Strawberry Fields quietly suggests that canonical narratives of Asian American history should be reexamined, Shopping for Fangs camps up contemporary Asian American sexual neuroses.

Shopping alternates between two stories (one written and directed by Justin Lin, the other by Quentin Lee).

Phil (Radmar Jao), an Asian American man who can’t get no sexual satisfaction, finds himself transforming into a werewolf. As his physical prowess increases, he becomes progressively more freaked out by his evolution, simultaneously gaining in confidence and neurotic anxiety. In counterpoint to this tale, the passive Katherine (Jeanne Chin), who we eventually discover is repressing memories of a brutal assault while fleeing Saigon as a child, begins to receive love letters from an extroverted Asian American woman in a blonde wig. At first frightened by the attention, Katherine’s curiosity leads her to track down her admirer, but her jealous husband (Clint Jung) finds her first. In the end, Phil and Katherine, who have been crossing paths throughout, independently decide to leave town and fortuitously end up sharing a ride.

Much of Shopping for Fangs is set in the San Gabriel Valley, the largest suburban population of Chinese in the United States. A particularly important location is the Go Go Café, a restaurant serving redbean milkshakes and other hybrids of Chinese and Western cuisine. Lee and Lin have thus set their film in a location where the stakes for Asian American identity are somewhat different from Chicago, Watsonville, or Rodney King’s L.A. Through the campy metaphor of the werewolf—a creature of the id bursting through a repressed ego—and by using lesbian desire to signify an Asian American woman’s search for a self-affirming identity, Shopping for Fangs suggests that contemporary Asian American identity is up for grabs. The film’s title

alludes to consumer culture, to the idea that identities can be purchased from Tommy Hilfiger or Nike.

Shopping for Fangs and Yellow both opened in the summer of 1999, but whereas Yellow opened on a few screens in L.A. before rolling out city by city, Shopping ambitiously opened in L.A., San Francisco, and New York simultaneously. While Yellow has so far had a moderately successful run (it has not yet recouped its investment or opened on the East Coast), Shopping for Fangs’ release was, in Quentin Lee’s words, “a big disaster.” While this could be attributed to the quirks of the movie business—Lee says if he had it to do over again, he’d pursue a less aggressive release strategy—it may have something to do with the different messages these two films have for the Asian American audience.

Yellow tells a story of camaraderie and loyalty among a group of young people who skillfully negotiate the shoals of contemporary identity politics; its poster announces, “Your Time Has Come,” implying that feature films have finally caught up with hip young Asian Americans (or, as some pundits would have it, with GenerAsian X). Shopping for Fangs, by contrast, tells of soul-searching and confusion, as Asian Americans struggle to find meaning in the rapidly-transforming suburbs of L.A. Shopping’s poster features a different tagline: “Discover Your Dark Side,” the implication being that the film is hipper than thou, that identity is not as stable as one might think. Shopping for Fangs goofs on Asian American identity, but Yellow flatters it.

While all five of the above films reveal different longings, each longs for the same thing: a sense of community. It is tempting to say that the audience is the missing factor: as Bruce and Norman Yonemoto point out in their video, Made in Hollywood (1990), the true accomplishment of the movie moguls of the Twenties and Thirties was that they created an audience for their films. (It is the lure of a new audience that drives the expansion of the World Wide Web.) While each of these filmmakers has tried, in a modest way, to develop an

audience, ultimately each has also defined community in a more immediate way—the community of filmmakers. Tajima-Peña helped found NAATA, and was also with Asian CineVision in New York early on. Quentin Lee (with Anita Chang) organized the Asian American Independent Feature Workshop in conjunction with Visual Communications two years ago as a forum for filmmakers to compare notes. Rea Tajiri and other New York filmmakers founded The Workshop last year. And five of the six feature-film directors hatched a plot to assemble an anthology film, which they released on the film festival circuit in 1998.

After hanging out together at the same festivals and sharing frustration over the grueling process of selling their films—in our conversations, each of the filmmakers cited a desire to get their creative juices flowing with a smaller project—they hatched a plot to produce a series of short videos on shoe-string budgets organized around the theme of “death.”

The result was Obits, with parts as disparate as Lin’s alternately kinetic and lyrical tale of a hit man (played

by Idemoto) in Las Vegas and Nakamura’s irreverent and pointed documentary about the obsessive speculation concerning the death of Bruce Lee. For Lin, Obits was supposed to affirm the communal spirit of filmmaking; he complains that when the reviews came in, “They’re all comparing one piece against the other.” Maybe the film world isn’t ready for community just yet—and that may not bode well for Asian American filmmakers, who understandably chafe at having their disparate projects lumped together, but who also realize that, if they do not support each other, no one else will.

Thanks to Gary Crowdus and Cineaste Magazine for granting permission to reprint this article. Visit www. cineaste.com for more from America’s leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema.

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HONG KONG CINEMA:

20 YEARS

by Daryl Chin

B

y the end of the 1960s, Hong Kong’s film industry was booming. It had become worldrenowned for the brashness of its action pictures, created with such exuberance and crafted precision.

The stunts in those movies have become legendary. In addition, there was a true proliferation of films of all sorts, including comedies and romances and dramas. Starting in the 1980s, the Hong Kong cinema helped to reestablish many

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genres, such as gangster films, crime dramas, and kung fu comedies, which would have an impact worldwide. Yet the freedom which Hong Kong cinema experienced was constrained by the contours of unrestricted commercialism.

In the summer of 1997, the sovereignty of Hong Kong was set to undergo a change, when the island and the New Territories would go from being part of the British empire to being claimed as a region of

the People’s Republic of China. The ramifications of the changeover were, at the time, incalculable; it was not known what effects on the economic, political, and social life of Hong Kong this changeover of government would have, since the changeover seemed to represent a total break with traditions of over a century. Hong Kong’s position as one of the remnants of British colonialism in Asia now would be adjudicated as an annexation of Chinese rule.

Thinking back to that period, there was a sense of panic, as many Hong Kong residents tried to find a place to move within the British Commonwealth. There were quotas set up, as many Commonwealth countries feared a mass exodus to their shores; in particular, Australia and Canada seemed to be very wary of the presumed influx of Hong Kong residents. This political panic exposed many inherent prejudices of the British Commonwealth – prejudices which continue to roil the politics of Great Britain to this day.

But the film industry in Hong Kong was in a state of suspension. Many talents had come to Hollywood, starting with John Woo in 1986. Chow Yun-Fat, one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong, was negotiating to do films in the US; “Peace Hotel” in 1995 would be his last Hong Kong production for several years. However, no one had any idea exactly what changes would occur, and that unease caused a great deal of anxiety.

Producer and director Johnnie To has been an astute analyst of the situation of the Hong Kong film industry. As he has noted, Hong Kong itself never was a democracy. It was a colony, and the government was controlled by people who had been appointed by Great Britain. Because of the lack of direct contact, that governmental control was never too rigid, creating an

illusion of great freedom that was more the result of benign indifference than political intention. But would Chinese rule bring about fundamental changes to Hong Kong? The Chinese government had been notorious for its autocratic control over all aspects of Chinese culture, and the fear was that this control would diminish the creative impulses of the film industry. That would not be the case.

For one thing, the People’s Republic of China was undergoing its own changes, as rapid industrialization was causing societal upheavals. The desire on the part of the Chinese government to encourage economic growth meant that the commercial success of the Hong Kong film industry was something to emulate rather than something to curtail. And so the Hong Kong film industry found itself continuing in its productivity, though faced with difficulties caused by the rapid technological changes in which the model of theatrical distribution has been challenged, a challenge faced by motion picture industries around the world.

For all that, to try to extrapolate political meanings behind much of the Hong Kong cinema after 1997 is rather tricky, as the meanings behind so much of Hong Kong cinema prior to 1997 were never explicitly political. To read into these films with the the imposition of a political agenda can lead the viewer to a diminished sense of the qualities of these films, which rely on skillful craftsmanship to provide kinesthetic entertainment.

A case in point might be “Infernal Affairs” (2002), certainly one of the most famous of Hong Kong thrillers, directed

by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. The intricate machinations of the plot involved the slow revelation of conspiratorial impostors; as the opposing teams representing law enforcement and the criminal underworld are shown

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to have agency in terms of undercover representatives, the sense of a nocturnal society layered in corruption becomes inescapable.

Immediately upon its release, it was obvious that “Infernal Affairs” was exceptionally well executed, with a relentless pace which allowed the most outlandish revelations to seem inevitable. The fame of “Infernal Affairs” was only enhanced when Martin Scorsese decided to craft an American remake, “The Departed” (2006), which would become one of his most celebrated movies. But the differences of the two movies are instructive. Scorsese’s version tries to ground the plot in a carefully constructed social setting, taking care to develop a realistic picture of Boston’s ethnic enclaves.

By contrast, “Infernal Affairs” seems to take place in a fantastical city of gleaming surfaces, and the actual workings of the police and the triads are abstracted, so that the similarities of the operations become obvious, and the question of moral equivalence is emphasized.

But from “Infernal Affairs”, what can be made in terms of the question of the political position of Hong Kong society? On the most basic level, there is the inference that all political systems are similarly tainted, open to corruption and conspiracy.

Fruit Chan’s “Made In Hong Kong” (1997) was a film made at the time of the changeover in Hong Kong; the depiction of low-level triads attempting to carry out various small scale activities could be seen as a portrait of the ways in which so many business ventures tried to continue under the radar of governmental oversight which was expected to overtake Hong Kong. Yet the escalating explosions of violence provide the kind of visceral excitement which was a hallmark of Hong Kong cinema. Were we to make a symbolic connection to the suppressed emotions waiting to explode?

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That is the problem with trying to discern symbolic meanings behind commercial entertainments. This becomes clear when contrasted with an overt piece of agitprop, Ann Hui’s “Ordinary Heroes” (1999), which attempts to give a panoramic view of political protests in Hong Kong, dating from the 1970s. Weaving together documentary footage with reenactments, this passionate assemblage is an eclectic mix, with wildly disparate segments, so that there is no sense of an even flow, but there are hectic moments of sharp insight. Ann Hui, of course, has been noted for her blunt style, which was featured prominently in her early films, such as “God of Killers” (1981) and “Love in a Fallen City” (1984); perhaps the most famous example of her political style was found in “Boat People” (1982), which at the time seemed an almost hysterical cataloguing of the many injustices that surrounded Vietnam at the end of the war with America. There is always a fervor to her concerns, and this was particularly the case with “Ordinary Heroes”.

The reason it’s important to point out the overt political message of the film is that to suggest that the only way for filmmakers to try to get out a political message is through symbolic intervention within genre formulae does a disservice to the possibilities within the Hong Kong film industry. An artist like Ann Hui, who continues to work with political content, has continued to work in Hong Kong. A recent film, “A Simple Life” (2011), is a touching comedy-drama that addresses issues of aging and class in Hong Kong life. Her attempt at a very broad overview of political protests in Hong Kong in “Ordinary Heroes” remains a commendable achievement, and it should not be minimized because of the uneven quality of the film.

Johnnie To has been working in the Hong Kong film industry since 1978; he has been a director and a producer. In 1996, he created Milky Way Productions in

association with Wai Ka-Fai; it has become one of the premier motion picture companies in the period since the changeover. “The Mission” (1999) was one of his first films made in the period immediately following the political changes in Hong Kong, and it remains one of his most accomplished films. As usual with the plots of these films, there is a great deal of improbability.

However, the rapid pace makes it almost impossible to apply logic. The story seems simple: a triad boss hires five killers as bodyguards. But there are many twists to the plot, as it becomes increasingly clear that the relationships of these men are not what they seem.

But it’s hard to say exactly what political message can be gauged from “The Mission”. of course, it’s a depiction of loyalty, but in the case of Johnnie To, his later trilogy, “Election” (2005), “Triad Election” (2006) and “Exiled” (2006), has a more directly political statement. Though set within the precincts of the triads, these films use the idea of governance as the germinal plot, with the question of who controls the organization and how the organization is to be run making not-so-veiled allusions to the then-current situation of Hong Kong.

As one of the most prominent figures in Hong Kong’s film industry, Johnnie To has given many interviews, in which he has expressed his skepticism about the need that many critics have to politicize what is happening in Hong Kong. Of course, films cannot help but reflect the society from which they came. Johnnie To is an example, in that his “Election” trilogy made many explicit connections to the actual political situation in Hong Kong during 2005 and 2006. For those of us who are not Hong Kong residents, some of the references may seem obscure, but the films do succeed as thrillers irrespective of the overt political content.

Stanley Kwan was one of the first Hong Kong directors to gain “art house” renown in the West with his film “Rouge” in 1987. By that point, the Chinatown circuit was in the throes of collapse, which created a very different commercial situation for films from Hong Kong. (Quite simply: since the end of the 1940s, there were movie theaters in the Chinatown areas in the major cities of the US, Canada, and the UK, and all films produced commercially in Hong Kong would circulate in those theaters; this was a contractual condition, and it precluded any Hong Kong film from getting distribution in any other way.)

One of the highlights of Kwan’s work has been his sensitivity to performers, in particular, to his actresses, and this can be seen in “Center Stage” (1989) with a performance by Maggie Cheung as the silent film star Ruan Ling-Yu which remains a career peak.

“Hold You Tight” (1998) was Kwan’s first movie after the changeover, and it remains one of his most provocative.

It is also quite problematic – the narrative is fractured into flashbacks, and there are times when narrative coherence is lacking. It also complicates matters that the actress Chingmy Yau is playing two parts in different time periods (the fact that one character looks like the other character is the point: a man becomes obsessed with a woman who looks like his dead wife), but there are times when it is hard to differentiate the time periods. “Hold You Tight” is perhaps best remembered for the opening: a scene of sexual encounters in a gay spa. The shock of the opening then becomes a series of complicated storylines in which people become romantically entangled, both in the past and the present. One aspect of the film which proved highly amusing was the emphasis on travel: it seemed as if the major characters were always waiting to fly off to another place, which seemed to suggest that Hong Kong

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was filled with a nomadic population. Yet Hong Kong, as home, seemed to be a city of constant flux, and the complications of the plot seemed to mirror that fact.

Of course, testing the limits of sexual representation was one way of seeing if there had been changes to the problem of censorship; the Hong Kong film industry had a system of ratings, and there were always subjects which were considered quite incendiary. Though to us, the many films about triads and the hostilities between rival organizations seem as stylized as the workings of the typical gangster film, but in Hong Kong, these films receive a great deal of scrutiny, because the corruption which is revealed is considered detrimental to the image of Hong Kong. For that reason, a great many of those films wind up with very restrictive ratings, so that the audiences for those films are only for adult audiences. It is feared that these films about the triads would prove to glamorize criminal activity, so children must be kept from seeing them.

In 1993, the Hong Kong film industry packaged a number of films, which played at festivals and museums around the world. Representatives from the film industry accompanied the films; when this touring program played in New York City, the opening night film was Johnnie To’s “The Heroic Trio” (1993), starring Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, and the late Anita Mui. Introducing the film, there were constant references to the “high octane” energy and the “kinetic” style as characteristic of Hong Kong cinema. And there was a definite sense that the qualities that are to be emphasized were the energy and the style rather than any sense of political meaning.

That energy and style would prove to be captivating to many filmmakers around the world. It is widely known that Quentin Tarantino has been enamored of Hong

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Kong cinema, and Martin Scorsese has been a vocal advocate for Hong Kong cinema, certainly starting with the films of John Woo. (When “The Killer” was shown in the US, it came with the announcement that it was “presented” by Martin Scorsese.) But the meanings behind so many of the films have not been explored, as the assumption of the films as simply belonging to the genre of action cinema has been so prevalent.

For that reason, many filmmakers have been overlooked in most discussions of Hong Kong cinema. For example: Mabel Cheung. She has never really worked in what many regard as the typical Hong Kong genres of action films or thrillers; instead, she has crafted a series of dramas and comedies featuring women as central figures. Perhaps her most ambitious film was made right at the time of the Hong Kong changeover, the historical epic “The Soong Sisters” (1997). Though heavily fictionalized, it did provide a look at one of the central families in 20th Century Chinese history. The next year, Cheng directed “City of Glass”, with a plot derived from the Billy Wilder film “Avanti!” (1972): two people meet in a foreign country, where they have come to bury their parents.

To their surprise, they discover that their respective parents (her mother, his father) had been having an affair which lasted decades, always claiming the same business meeting during the summer. In “City of Glass”, the locale has been moved to London, and there is a nostalgia for the British way of life, which had been a dominant factor in Hong Kong culture throughout the 20th Century.

Yonfan is a director from Singapore, who has worked in China and in Hong Kong; he is notable for being an outspoken and “out” gay director. “Bugis Street” (1995) was a look at the denizens of the infamous street in Singapore noted for its transvestite prostitutes.

“Bishonen” (1998) was set in Hong Kong, and told a

romantic tale of a gay hustler who falls in love with the new policeman on the beat. As with Stanley Kwan’s “Hold You Tight”, the decidedly upfront depiction of homosexuality was part of the Hong Kong cinema’s defiance in terms of maintaining the relaxed censorship which had been central to the film industry.

During the 1980s, the critical attitude towards Hong Kong cinema from the West emphasized the immense commercial resources at play: it was looked on as another Dream Machine, as potent as the cinema of old Hollywood. In many ways, this view of Hong Kong cinema played on a nostalgia for a unified popular culture, at a time when Hollywood had diminished in terms of its popular culture reach. When independent cinema came to the fore, with its lack of strict narrative and structural cohesion, there was a deep-rooted need to assert the conditions of a popular culture phenomenon which remained connected to a mass audience. In short, it was becoming difficult to talk about movies in simple terms of mass appeal. And Hong Kong cinema seemed to fill a void.

time. Recent critics have tried to look at the Hong Kong film industry since 1997 in terms which are much more political than the critics who deigned to regard Hong Kong as the New Hollywood in the 1980s. But is that response valid, or is it wish fulfillment on the part of those who want to find a political statement on the very conflicted values found in Hong Kong’s position as the capitalist avatar of the New China?

Right now, Hong Kong cinema remains an industrial complex which continues to make entertainments of many genres. Perhaps the Golden Age of Hong Kong cinema has passed, but in all likelihood the changes in Hong Kong cinema’s efficacy have much to do with the changes in technology as much as with anything else.

But the films themselves, both the ones featured and the many more which have been produced, do tell, not a single story of political attitudes, but a multifarious story of many differing cultural and social impulses, which have combined to continue the vitality of this most anomalous entity, the commercial cinema of Hong Kong as it faces its future.

But it would be naive for us to simply align ourselves to the view of Hong Kong entertainment as a panacea for popular culture’s revival. It would also be rather patronizing to try to impose meanings which might not be inherent in the films themselves, as if the films were not the result of very careful craftsmanship and conscious artistry.

Since there are directors such as Mabel Cheung and Ann Hui who have been quite explicit in their political views, to try to align every director with a political agenda would be disingenuous. When I started to research this essay, as I tried to remember some of the films which I had seen, and began researching some of the directors, I was struck by the differing responses which came over

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CLASS OF 97: AN INTERVIEW WITH STRAWBERRY FIELDS' REA TAJIRI

by Brandon Shimoda

O

n the occasion of Class of 97: The Asian American New Wave screening at the 40th Asian American International Film Festival, poet Brandon Shimoda and filmmaker Rea Tajiri talked about her film, Strawberry Fields, and its evolving, ongoing meanings, twenty years after its original release.

When I first saw Rea Tajiri’s Strawberry Fields, I received it as a revelation. The revelation was both personal and ancestral. I, a Japanese American, had never seen a movie with an entirely Japanese American cast. I had never seen a movie about the mass incarceration of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans that not only did not, in some way, center whiteness (in the figure of a

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CLASS OF 97: AN INTERVIEW WITH STRAWBERRY FIELDS' REA TAJIRI

white savior, for example), but that gave voice to intergenerational trauma, in Strawberry Fields, in the form of anger, anamnesis, and a road trip, inspired by a photograph, into the desert! The anger in Strawberry Fields is expressed through the character of Irene Kawai, 16 year-old sansei, and daughter and granddaughter of former incarcerees, the latter fact of which she is just becoming aware.

Though most reviews of Strawberry Fields (of twenty years ago) focused on Irene’s anger (that of a sansei), the anger expressed in the film is collective, each character possessing a different aspect of its burden. Anger is a family heirloom. Irene’s parents, her mother Alice in particular, simmer with an anger which manifests in irremediable loneliness and self-loathing. It takes the death of Irene’s little sister Terri, and her reincarnation as both ghost and guide, for her family’s incarceration to begin, in photographs, flames and flashes, to reveal itself.

The story of Strawberry Fields is that of the simultaneous destruction and reclamation of the past, the legacies of silence and shame, the guidance and companionship of ghosts, the articulation of a feminist consciousness within the Asian American activist movement of the late-60s/early-70s, and the capacious, ultimately irresolvable angst of a sansei, all rising off the strawberry fields.

—Brandon Shimoda Q: I am compelled to ask: how do you think the anger expressed in Strawberry Fields has, since 1997, evolved: in the life of its main character (Irene Kawai would be 62 years old today), in the Japanese American community, and in the film itself?

A: Such kind words about my work. Thank you!

When I received your email I was taken by surprise.

I haven’t thought about Strawberry Fields for many years. We took on so many themes in that film! But it’s interesting how different narratives become relevant during certain periods. With the current climate around xenophobia, and discussion on camps for Muslims in the U.S. the film has resonance again.

In the early 2000’s I returned to Poston, on several private pilgrimages with family members; my niece, my sister, and my mother who had not been back and who by this time was in the early stages of dementia. We stumbled upon some barracks that weren’t there when I visited in 1990. My mother had forgotten why we were there, mostly, she wanted to collect rocks and comment about how cheaply these barracks were constructed. After a few hours of wandering, we left feeling kind of giddy, we knew deep inside this was the site of trauma, and sometimes something so heavy can become very light almost comical. The physical erasure and the erasure in my mom’s memory felt like the game of time and change. So like the explosion at the end of Strawberry Fields—we walked away.

How has Irene’s anger evolved? Maybe I’ll speak metaphorically here…In this moment, there are a lot of Yonsei coming of age and bringing new perspectives. I really like that the writer Tamiko Nimura is creating a history of Japantown Tacoma where she grew up. Or your piece how you discuss the JA gardens created by the internees (how many people dream gardens?) and the notion of transforming the concentration camp space into an ancestral garden space and space of resistance.[1]

CLASS OF 97: AN INTERVIEW WITH STRAWBERRY FIELDS' REA TAJIRI

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I also find Konrad Aderer’s series of films bring the themes of forced relocation into current contexts. And writer Vince Schleitwiler’s pieces about the intersections between African American migrations and post WW2 Nisei resettlement are really important. I am also grateful to have these resources: Densho, Discover Nikkei, Center for Art and Thought, and JANM. These are incredible educational and archival repositories that make it possible for new scholarship and for artmaking.

I was also inspired by “Uprooted” a travelling exhibit of photographs of the JA farm workers.

My point with this subjective grouping here is to express how anger can transform and become ‘generative,’ creating objects that reveal details and move conversations, shift thinking.

Q: Photographs play an important role in Strawberry Fields (as they also do in History and Memory). The principal photograph in Strawberry Fields—of Irene’s grandfather standing in front of a tarpaper barracks in the desert—incites (ignites!), in Irene, an fledgling desire to make a pilgrimage into her family’s past. This, for me, is profound. My grandfather, a Japanese immigrant, was a photographer. He was incarcerated in a Department of Justice prison in Montana partly for that reason. A photograph that was taken of him in prison has similarly ignited my fledgling desires. It has led me into my family’s past/the desert. What are both your and your films’ relationships with photographs? What happens to you when you encounter a photograph, especially one that, as you say, sparks your imagination? Where do go you?

Have you had a relationship with a photograph similar to Irene?

A: My father was a professional photographer.

(He was the photo editor for Playboy from 19551969.) But prior he was a photojournalist. We grew

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CLASS OF 97: AN INTERVIEW WITH STRAWBERRY FIELDS' REA TAJIRI

up immersed with photos of all kinds everywhere.

As a kid, I remember finding photos of my aunts, uncles and parents taken during the 40’s and 50’s. I remember certain photos that seemed to raise questions for me that no one could answer to my satisfaction, but I couldn’t formulate the right question. There were hundreds of family slides, snapshots which still haunt me; many are lost. These images were uncanny, I’m not sure why. It was as if I could not imagine my family as players in this history. For me history meant only white Americans as historical subjects, but to see my family with their straight jet-black hair molded into pompadours, and 40’s pleated pants, suits always too large, wearing the fashions of that era felt shameful, as though they shouldn’t be there.

Now I realize this was my internalized racism. And my relationship to those photos has since changed and shifted as new contexts are provided.

In the Uprooted exhibit, I was fascinated by an image of May Uchiyama.[2] She wears a straw hat and is leaning on her shovel handle, staring into the distance. Her posture and her look—her presence is filling in a gap of knowledge that has been missing. How we looked when we were working hard, how we rested. Her gaze is open but not weary. The pose is iconic. Her hat is like the hat my mother wore in the 70s through the 90s when she worked in her garden in Van Nuys and resonates with how my mother and her family worked in the strawberry fields in Salinas in the early 1940s.

Images of Japanese American bodies working bring me to my own family who were farmers in California and I would imagine it conjures this for other Japanese Americans. How our bodies are absent in media...

Along this continuum, right now, I’m working on

a large scale video projection project with Asian Arts Initiative here in Philadelphia. I’m drawing upon several archives that contain photos from a family who ran a Japanese American resettlement house here in my neighborhood. I will most likely work with these images bringing them into the present contemporary context. The images will appear projected onto the same house which is still standing.

Brandon Shimoda is the author of several books, including O Bon (poetry; Litmus Press) and Evening Oracle (poetry and prose; Letter Machine Editions), which received the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. His writings on the mass incarceration of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans have appeared in Design Week Portland, Discover Nikkei, Hyperallergic, The Margins, and The New Inquiry. He has lived recently in Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Kure (Japan), Marfa (Texas), and Portland (Oregon), though lives presently in Tucson (Arizona).

Rea Tajiri’s films straddle documentary and art film genres, finding new ways of storytelling that embrace the murky spaces of memory, history, and public consciousness. Tajiri studied at the California Institute of the Arts where she earned her MFA degree in Post-Studio Art. Her current work-in-progress documentary, Wisdom Gone Wild, is a portrait of her mother Rose Noda who at 93 was a time traveler, a history keeper and an internment camp survivor; a chronicler of key Japanese American experience. In 1999, Rose was diagnosed with vascular dementia. The film presents a series ‘journal entries’ woven together to portray the experience of caregiving an elder in dementia over a fifteen year period.

Strawberry Fields, Rea’s debut feature film focuses on a young Japanese American woman in the transformational 1970’s coming to terms with her family’s legacy in the WWII U.S. concentration camps. The film had its European debut at the 54tth Venice Film Festival, and premiered as one of the ‘Class of ’97’ films at the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival.

Rea’s previous works were included in two Whitney Biennials. Her groundbreaking film History and Memory won the International Documentary Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

Strawberry Fields won the Grand Prix at the Fukuoka Asian International Film Festival. Rea has received numerous grants for her work including two Rockefeller Media Fellowships grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, NYSCA and New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2015, Tajiri was a recipient of a Pew Artist Fellowship and an ITVS Diversity Development Fund Grant. In 2016 she was awarded the CAAM Documentary Fund for Wisdom Gone Wild. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Film Media Arts Department at Temple University.

[1] Brandon Shimoda, A Record of Garden Making in Japanese American Concentration Camps, Design Week Portland, Issue #12, May 2017 [2] https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2016/ sep/28/uprooted-japanese-american-lives-in-farm-labourcamps-in-pictures

CLASS OF 97: AN INTERVIEW WITH STRAWBERRY FIELDS' REA TAJIRI

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AWARD NOMINATIONS EMERGING DIRECTOR (NARRATIVE)

EXCELLENCE IN SHORT FILMMAKING

Jenny lu | the receptionist kang vang | 1985 saila kariat | the valley

daniel lee | fault raphael sbarge | THE BIRD WHO COULD FLY XU ZHANG | COCOON MANJARI MAKIJANY | I SEE YOU GORI |BORNE BONE BOOM JOHNSON CHENG | IRON HANDS qianzhu luo | the best and the loneliest days li yujian | pain in silence scott corbett | good night butterfly yudho aditya | pria

EMERGING DIRECTOR (DOCUMENTARY) will lockhart, cole d. pruitt | the surrounding game ameesha joshi, anna sarkissian | with this ring alejandro yoshizawa | all our father’s relations

SCREENPLAY FINALISTS lee liu | soybean john lew | bonneville helen wong | helen ever after

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AWARD NOMINATIONS

JURORS aaiff40 EMERGING DIRECTOR (narrative feature) Derek Nguyen is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. He wrote and directed The Housemaid (HKFilm Vietnam & CJ Entertainment), which was released in 2016 in 18 different territories around the world. His short, The Potential Wives of Norman Mao (narrated by George Takei) screened at the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Market. Derek was a Sundance Screenwriters Lab fellow for the screenplay adaptation of his play, Monster. He is the Director of Operations & Creative Affairs at Gamechanger Films, which financed Land Ho!, Lovesong, The Invitation, Buster’s Mal Heart, The Tale, and The Long Dumb Road.

Jade wrote for One Life to Live in the Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship.

Her documentary films screened at IFP Market, AAIFF, AFI/SilverDocs.

She was a Jerome Fellow, Film/Video Arts Fellow, CCSI Fellow, BlueCat Semi-finalist, and a PEN USA Finalist. In acting, she has worked in tv/ film/stage with iconoclasts Meryl Streep, Tony Kushner, Tom Fontana, Alexa Junge, Bill Rauch, George C. Wolfe, Cheo Hodari Coker. Her plays had readings at the Nuyorican Poets Café, Urban Stages, the La MaMa NYC/Umbria. She was a NYSCA & NEA Grant Panelist, Int’l Emmy Awards & AAIFF Juror. She taught at F.I.T., Bard College and CSU/East Bay. She recurs as Genghis Connie in Marvel’s Luke Cage and Judge Cara Bergen in CBS’ Bull.

Lori Tan Chinn, a 2nd generation Hoisan Chinese American from Seattle, Washington, has been an actress/dancer/singer for 49 years. She has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of: “Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen” (her stage debut), a musical version of “Teahouse of the August Moon”, “G.R. Point”, “M. Butterfly”, and the bound-forBroadway new musical, “Half Time”. On screen, she has appeared as: Chang in “Orange is the New Black”, Iris, the hairdresser on “Roseanne”, and in films: “She-Devil”, “What About Bob?”, and “Mickey Blue Eyes”.

JURORS: EMERGING DIRECTOR OF NARRATIVE FEATURE

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aaiff40 EMERGING DIRECTOR (documentary feature) Jean Tsien has been working in documentary for 35 years as an editor, producer, and consultant. Her editing credits include Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, a 2001 Academy Award nominee. Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing and Miss Sharon Jones! both of which were shortlisted for the Academy Award. Tsien consulted on many award-winning films such as: Give Up Tomorrow, Hooligan Sparrow, Wo Ai Ni Mommy, and Nowhere To Hide. She also executive produced and edited The Road to Fame, Please Remember Me, and Plastic China. Tsien is a member of American Cinema Editors, and the Documentary branch of the Academy.

James Boo is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, where he is currently a Just Films fellow in residence at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. He is also a grateful alumnus of the AAIFF staff, having somehow talked his way into the office during AAIFF32. The third season of James’ award-winning web series, “1 Minute Meal,” is live now at oneminutemealfilms.com.

Sarah Pirozek is a Writer-Director-Producer with a fine arts and documentary background. She is currently developing two feature films from her original screenplays: THE SQUATTERS HANDBOOK, with producer Diana Philips (BAD LIEUTENANT & ALFIE), and #LIKE, as well as her half hour TV series, ROCKAWAYS with her own production company DAME WORK Inc. Her first short film CONFESSIONS OF A GIRL WHO NEVER RECEIVED A VISITATION FROM THE SACRED HEART screened at the London International Film Festival. She relocated to NYC to study at the Whitney Museum’s ‘Independent Study Program’ and continued her studies at ‘The Actors Studio’.

She began directing early hip hop music videos for artists such as Queen Latifah, the Fushnickens and many more, she went on to direct over 100 TV commercials as well as directing/ producing/supervising producing TV programming & Web content for the Sundance Channel, MTV, VH1, PBS, HBO, NAT GEO, TLC, AMC, BBC, Discovery and Channel Four TV. She also directed and produced a theatrically distributed feature documentary FREE TIBET, featuring THE BEASTIE BOYS, BJORK, DE LA SOUL and THE DALAI LAMA among many others, with Spike Jonze, Roman Coppola and Lance Accord as her DPS. FREE TIBET won the ‘Best of Fest’ award at Edinburgh Festival, and is distributed by Palm Pictures. Her other projects as a producer include the award-winning indie feature FLORA premiered at LA’s OUTFEST distributed by Regent Entertainment which won Showtime’s ’No Limits’ award. Her Wu-Tang name is ‘MidnightProphet’.

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JURORS: EMERGING DIRECTOR OF DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

aaiff40 Excellence in short filmmaking Bertha Bay-Sa Pan - Born in New Jersey and raised in Taiwan, Pan’s feature debut “Face,” co-written by Oscar nominee Oren Moverman, starring Bai Ling and hip hop superstar Treach of Naughty by Nature, featuring a score composed by Leonard Nelson Hubbard of the Grammy winning hip hop band The Roots, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and during its festival run, received the AUDIENCE AWARD at GenArt Film Festival, the CRITICS AWARD for Best Director at CineVegas, and the GRAND JURY AWARD for Best Director at Urbanworld Film Festival. A GOTHAM AWARD nominee and winner of the PREMIO SPECIALE PRIZE at the International Women’s Film Festival in Italy, “Face” was released theatrically in 2005 to positive reviews from Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, and was selected as a NEW YORKTIMES CRITICS PICK. Pan’s second feature “Almost Perfect” for which she also wrote, starring Kelly Hu, Edison Chen, Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Tina Chen, Tony Award winner Roger Rees, played in festivals worldwide, winning the HBO EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARD, and was chosen by Asia Pacific Arts as a Top Ten Film of 2011. “Almost Perfect” had its U.S. theatrical release in 2012 and Asia in 2013, garnering positive reviews from Variety, San Francisco Chronicle, and Honolulu Pulse.

Pan most recently served as director for mando-pop superstar Leehom Wang’s 3D Chinese concert film “Open Fire” which premiered at 2016 Toronto Film Festival and will be released in spring of 2017.

Pan has also directed music videos for Slimkid3 of Pharcyde, Chris Trapper of the Push Stars, and the popular children’s band Princess Katie and Racer Steve, taught numerous screen acting workshops in North America and Asia, and is currently in development for two U.S. China co-productions.

Michelle K. Sugihara is the Executive Director of CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment). She is also an entertainment attorney, film producer, and adjunct professor for the Claremont Colleges’ Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies.

She is VP of OCA-Greater Los Angeles; a member of PBS-Southern California’s Asian Pacific Islander Community Council; and founding member and VP of Development of the Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theater. The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association honored Michelle as one of the Best Lawyers Under 40. She is also a member of Cold Tofu, the nation’s premiere Asian American comedy improv and sketch group.

Nanette Nelms is a producer of television commercials, music videos and feature films. She was privileged to produce the award-winning feature film Vara: A Blessing, directed by Khyentse Norbu. Preceding her training and career as a filmmaker, Nanette traveled the world as a contemporary dance artist, including an unforgettable stint in Iceland as Björk’s dance coach, in preparation for her role as Selma in Lars von Trier’s film Dancer in the Dark, for which Björk won the Best Actress award at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival.

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aaiff40 screenplay competition Andrew Luis is a NYC based filmmaker. He directed the feature Upstate, which premiered at the 2010 LA Film Festival and was picked up by IFC Films.

Andrew produced the independent feature, Cat Scratch Fever, which premiered at the 2012 Brooklyn Film Festival.

He has written and directed several short films, including UNLIMITED, which premiered at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival.

Andrew currently has two features in the works - Winter June, a coming of age ghost story, and Heart Rate; a romantic horror comedy that comes together when two people meet through a dating app during the zombie apocalypse.

Eugene is a filmmaker and producer working in narrative and experimental forms. His films have screened at hundreds of festivals, micro-cinemas, museums, galleries, and alternative screening venues around the world, including SXSW, BFI Flare, Frameline, Outfest, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Antimatter, Asian American International Film Festival, Jornadas de Reapropiación, and many others.

Eugene is also the executive director of Full Spectrum Features, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to diversity in film and media. Current projects include Chicagoland Shorts, an annual touring program and anthology of short films that showcases the work of women, LGBTQ, and minority filmmakers; Signature Move, a feature film produced with the support of a 2016 All Access Fellowship from the Tribeca Film Institute; and The Orange Story, a cinematic digital history project funded in part by the National Park Service, Illinois Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Peilin Kuo is an award-winning filmmaker born in Taiwan and based in New York. After graduating with a drama degree from her homeland, she worked for a production company in Taipei.

She relocated to New York in 2002 and started to pursue her career as an independent filmmaker.

Peilin’s first short film, “everyday” won the “Someone to Watch 2005” award from CineWomen NY and was broadcast by PBS’s “Reel New York” in 2007. Her short film, “A.K.A. 08494####,” was awarded “First Runner Up” and “Most Original” from the 2005 “72 Hour Film Shootout” competition. Her music video, “true story,” was screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Her short film, “Private Party,” won the Golden Palm award at the 2009 Mexico International Film Festival.

Peilin’s 23-minute film, “Prescott Place,” was nominated for the “Excellence in Short Filmmaking” award at the 2011 Asian American International Film Festival. The film was also an official selection at the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and won an “Honorable Mention” award from Asians On Film Festival 2012. “Prescott Place” is distributed

by SnagFilms.

Peilin’s latest short film, “To Die or To Dream,” is a trailer for her upcoming feature film project, “A Thousand Deaths The Story of Anna May Wong.” “To Die or To Dream” has been shown at film festivals and won the “Award of Merit” from Accolade Global Film Competition, the “Best Drama Honorable Mention” award from Asians on Film Festival, and the “Remi Award” from WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The feature length screenplay was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2017.

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JURORS: SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

SPOTLIGHTS

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GOOK Wednesday, July 26 | 7:00 PM | Asia Society Dir. Justin Chon | USA | 2017 | 94 mins | English, Korean with English subtitles New York City Premiere A story of the Los Angeles race riots of 1992, GOOK leaves an impression as unforgettable and powerful as the real footage of the riots that aired on televisions across the nation 25 years ago.

The film follows Eli (Chon) and Daniel (David So), two brothers looking after their late father’s shoe store in a predominately African-American community. As the riots erupt, they find themselves in an unusual situation with a young African-American girl.

Although relations between Korean-Americans and the African-American community were hostile and flammable in 1992 Los Angeles, GOOK showcases a relationship between the two races that was overlooked by the mainstream media.

Used now as a degrading term stemming from the Korean War, “Gook” actually means “Country” in the Korean language. The theme of country is at the forefront of GOOK, with Chon asking the audience what it truly means to be Asian in America.

Justin Chon was born in Orange County, CA, and has worked as an actor for over 15 years. As a writer/director, his first feature film, Man Up, was distributed by Lakeshore Entertainment.

He loves long walks on the beach and reading novels by candlelight. community partners: Asian American Journalists Association NY Chapter, Korean American Community Foundation (KACF), KoreanAmericanStory.org, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (KCS)

SPOTLIGHTS // GOOK

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SMALL TALK Saturday, July 29 | 7:00 PM | Asia Society Dir. Hui-Chen Huang | Taiwan | 2017 | 88 mins | Taiwanese with English subtitles Taiwanese filmmaker Hui-Chen Huang has shared a roof with her mother, A-nu, for her entire life. Yet the two have never been anything more than strangers. But when Huang has her first child, she realizes that she can no longer bear not knowing her mother. This brutally honest documentary follows Huang’s attempt to finally understand the mystery that is her mother.

Through interviews with her mother, her family, and her mother’s many ex-girlfriends, Huang unearths a picture of a deeply dissatisfied woman forced into a life she never wanted. There is no shying away from the painful truth, and the truth revealed in SMALL TALK is almost entirely painful. Behind each smiling recollection an ex of A-nu’s has is a sense of regret and hurt, of missed opportunities and lost love.

It is truly rare to see a documentary so unafraid to confront the harsh realities of a life not well-lived and a mother-daughter relationship that may be beyond repair. It is both devastating and moving, a testament to the power of documentary filmmaking and the raw emotion that can be captured only by the camera.

Hui-chen is an activist, documentary filmmaker, and mother of a precocious little girl. Prior to embarking on her first feature doc, Huang worked for NGOs such as the Taiwan International Workers Association and China Time’s Trade Union, advocating for labor rights and social justice. It was during this time that she began documenting the plight of the disadvantaged and the voiceless. Her intimate profiles of the less fortunate and the exploited became tools used for social change.

Most recently, Huang served as Secretary General of Taipei Documentary Union, and is currently working on her memoir to be published in 2017. community partners: OCA NY, Taiwanese American Association of NY (TAANY), Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP NY)

SPOTLIGHTS // SMALL TALK

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FREE AND EASY Saturday, August 5 | 7:00 PM | Asia Society Dir. Jun Geng | USA | 2017 | 90 mins | Chinese with English subtitles New York City Premiere What would you do if a stranger arrived in your lonely town, selling soap by the suitcases?

Jun Geng’s FREE AND EASY, which screened at the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, attempts to answer this oddly specific question.

The film takes place in a desolate, crumbling, cold town that seems to have been forgotten by time. The film might as well take place in a post-apocalyptic world.

Geng does a brilliant job crafting his characters within this environment, telling a variety of interconnected stories, including that of a forest ranger on the hunt for a “tree” thief; two cops deadlocked in a cold case with no leads in sight, and a imposter monk who tries to receive donations from the locals. Their small, amusing stories give FREE AND EASY a specificity that ends up feeling wonderfully universal.

Geng Jun was born in 1976 in Heilongjiang Province, China. Geng Jun has directed and written many films including Hawthorn (2002), Diary in Bulk (2003), Barbecue (2004 Festival of 3 Continents, 2005 International Film Festival Rotterdam), Youth (2009 Rome International Film Festival), and The Hammer and Sickle are Sleeping (2013 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival best short film winner). Geng Jun also directed Poetry and Disease (2011). community partners: China Institute

SPOTLIGHTS // FREE AND EASY

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ASIANS IN AMERICA STORIES FROM THE FRONT

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1985

Sunday, July 30 | 1:30 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Kang Vang | USA | 2016 | 114 mins | English, Hmong with English subtitles New York City Premiere In the summer of 1985, when a fearless Hmong teen discovers a secret map to a mythical dragon dwelling in a mysterious and forgotten lake, he and his friends venture out on a quest that leads them on a journey filled with danger and excitement.

1985 is undeniably funny and light-hearted, as the spunky teens encounter some bad dudes, break dance battles, and run-ins with memorable characters along the rad and thrilling adventure.

However, there is also a soberer and cautionary undercurrent of the film, which tells the story of Hmong-Americans as newer immigrants in the 1980s faced with prejudice and discrimination, of a land of young people who grow up in a community fragmented by racism and bullying. Nevertheless, the Hmong people are ready to fight for a better

future, to dream, to sing, to dance, to laugh out loud, and to unite in the power of true friendship and the strength of love.

1985 is the 10-year anniversary of the fall of Laos to Communism. With the film, director Kang Vang has the Hmong teenagers confronted with chaos and frustrations setting against the daily crisis threatening their community. In a comic tone, he tries to explore where the Hmong-American community was 10 years after the fall, and how these same issues are still impacting people of color in our society today. It is a whimsical, profound, and searingly funny paean to the perseverance and indestructibility of the immigrants.

community partners: Chinatown Youth Initiatives

ASIANS IN AMERICA : STORIES FROM THE FRONT // 1985

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COLUMBUS

Thursday, August 3 | 9:30 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Kogonada | USA | 2017 | 100 mins

Premiering in the Sundance Film Festival 2017, COLUMBUS proves presents a meaningful, indepth look into several characters in the American Midwest. As each of the main characters seek to find their solace and meaning in their remote, sometimes helpless situations, they are able to connect through friendship, and maybe even more.

Jin (John Cho), who had left his family to seek a life of his own in Korea, has returned to give a lecture to the town of Columbus, Indiana, where his ailing father served as a prominent architect. Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young woman working in the local library, attends one of Jin’s event and

soon encounters Jin throughout the town as they examine the local architecture.

The architecture of the city itself is a character present throughout the entire film. As Jin and Casey explore the city and get to know one another, they continue to struggle and try to discover what they aspire to be.

co-presented by: AARP community partners: Coalition for Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE)

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ASIANS IN AMERICA : STORIES FROM THE FRONT \\ COLUMBUS

DEFENDER

Saturday, August 5 | 12:00 PM | Asia Society

Dir. Jeff Adachi | USA | 2016 | 79 mins | English | New York City Premiere Ever since Donald Trump has taken office, it has become increasingly difficult for people of color to depend on American institutions to protect them from racism and discrimination. Fortunately, the courts have served as a reliable line of defense against Trump’s agenda, stopping unconstitutional executive orders such as his travel ban and defunding of sanctuary cities. This is all thanks to the hard work of people like San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

At just over forty, Jeff Adachi became California’s only publicly elected Public Defender. But despite this incredible achievement, Adachi was still an underdog in the legal system, taking on hard cases such as that of Michael Smith, a young black man who, along with his then-pregnant girlfriend, was unjustly assaulted and arrested by the police.

Though body-cam footage shows the police using excessive force without legal justification, as we have seen so many times in the past few months alone, the criminal justice system is horribly rigged against people of color. And that’s exactly what drives Adachi to help Smith and his girlfriend.

It’s also what drives Adachi to be a voice of resistance against Donald Trump. It’s painful to watch Adachi and his colleagues witness Trump’s Electoral College victory, but witnessing how Adachi took action more than makes up for having to relive the nightmare of November 8.

DEFENDER serves as an essential reminder that even though racism is well and alive in Trump’s America, there will always be brave people dedicated to fighting it.

community partners: Asian American Association of Time Inc. (A3), Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY), Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian American Journalists Association NY Chapter

ASIANS IN AMERICA : STORIES FROM THE FRONT // DEFENDER

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I CAN I WILL I DID

Sunday, July 30 | 7:00 PM | Asia Society Auditorium

Dir. Nadine Truong| USA | 2017 | 110 mins| English | New York City Premiere When bullied to the brink of despair, depressed foster youth Ben, tragically and accidentally gets hit by a car, robbing him of his ability to walk.

Downhearted, the empty shell of a teenager gives up on life. But then he meets Adrienne, a wheelchair bound fellow patient, and her dog Bruce at the hospital. Adrienne breathes hope into his life and introduces to him her grandfather, Taekwondo Grand Master Ik Jo Jang, who not only teaches him how to walk again, but also how to take charge of his own life.

Nadine Truong’s I CAN I WILL I DID creatively tells the story of adolescence, the importance of relationships, friendships, loss, growing, forgiving, and the search for one’s meaning on the journey of life with the help of Old Greenwich Taekwondo Master Kang who stars in and worked on the screenplay of the film. While not a traditional flashy martial arts film, this is the story of an upcoming

martial artist who finds his bearings learning the hard way, that martial arts is not about the flashy movements, but lessons instilled in the mind and in the heart; for the young and the old, the offender and victim alike and gives prominence to the saying, “every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”

Complemented with a beautiful score and cinematography, I CAN I WILL I DID tugs at the heart strings as themes of inner darkness, love, resurgence, and forgiveness are explored, as Ben learns the meaning of Master Kang’s philosophy of I can, I will, and I did. Whether one practices martial arts or not, everyone is sure to relate to the life lessons it bestows of respect for one another, focus, discipline, and concentration in whatever one does in life. AAIFF’40 marks the film’s New York City premiere.

community partners: Also Known As, Inc. (AKA), Ma Yi Theatre Company, Project by Project (PbP)

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MIXED MATCH

Saturday, July 29 | 4:00 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Jeff Chiba Stearns | Canada | 2016 | 95 mins| English | New York City Premiere Just imagine that the only factor standing in the way of a speedy recovery and a chance to live a healthy and fulfilling life is one’s own genetics; one’s multiracial identity. Emmy-nominated and multi-award-winning animation and documentary filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns makes his 2016 return with MIXED MATCH. Beginning in 2011, MIXED MATCH documents an important human story told from the perspective of mixed race blood cancer patients who are forced to reflect on their multiracial identities and complex genetics as they struggle with a seemingly impossible search to find bone marrow donors, all while exploring the role race plays in medicine.

Director Jeff Chiba Stearns and Mixed Marrow founder Athena Askilipiadis, who are both of mixed ethnic heritage, travel around the United States and Canada meeting and connecting with blood cancer patients of mixed heritage and their families. With a relatively small number of people registering

in the United States and the rest of the world, it’s even rarer for people in minority communities and mixed races to be signing up for the registry.

Because the multiracial community is becoming one of the fastest growing demographics in North America, being mixed race is no longer just about an identity; it can be a matter of life and death. Jeff Chiba Stearns and Athena Askilipiadis are hoping to make people more aware of the bone marrow donor registration in MIXED MATCH. This journey of raw human emotion, loss, and compassion for one another goes beyond mixed race as an identity, but the will to reach out and help another human being.

Winner of the 2017 CAAMFest Audience Award, 2016 Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award, and more, AAIFF’40 marks the film’s New York City premiere.

community partners: Asian American Journalists Association NY Chapter, The Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, LovingDay, OCA NY

ASIANS IN AMERICA : STORIES FROM THE FRONT // MIXED MATCH

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PROOF OF LOYALTY

KAZUO YAMANE AND THE NISEI SOLDERS OF HAWAII

Thursday, August 3 | 9:45 PM | Asia Society Auditorium Dir. Lucy Ostrander and Don Sellers| USA | 2017 | 55 mins | English | World Premiere The story of Japanese-Americans in Hawaii is a unique one, and as with any unique story, it is difficult to tell in a way that is both comprehensive and personal. But PROOF OF LOYALTY manages to do just that, using the inspiring story of World War II hero Kazuo Yamane as a window into the JapaneseAmerican experience in Hawaii.

During World War II, the United States interned over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in camps. But of the over 150,000 Japanese-Americans in Hawaii, less than 2,000 were interned. In fact, a select group of a few hundred Japanese-American men in Hawaii were recruited to translate Japanese for the American Army. These troops, known as the 100th Infantry Battalion, were seen as an experiment that would prove whether any Japanese-Americans could truly be trusted to be loyal to the United States.

These men proved not only to be loyal, but also instrumental to winning the war.

Men like Kazuo Yamane are a reminder of what truly makes America great. Japanese-Americans had no obligation to love the United States during World War II. The discrimination they faced is a stain on American history, revealing the darkest, ugliest impulses of American society. Yet the brave Japanese-American soldiers we see in PROOF OF LOYALTY risked everything for their country and ended up saving countless lives through their translation work. They prove that America’s strength comes not from military might, but from diversity.

This film may be about men from decades past, but it couldn’t be more relevant.

community partners: Japanese American Association of NY, Japan Culture NYC, Japan Society, OCA NY

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SIGNATURE MOVE

Saturday, July 29 | 4:30 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Jennifer Reeder | USA | 2017 | 80 mins | English Every day, Zaynab, a Pakistani Muslim lesbian in her thirties, endures her TV-loving mother’s talk of finding a nice man to marry. While being closeted is far from easy, Zaynab decides that it’s at least easier than having to upend her mother’s conservative expectations.

But that all changes when she meets Alma, an out and proud Mexican woman who just happens to be the daughter of a former professional wrestler. What starts as a one-night stand with someone whose name she can’t even remember quickly blossoms into something serious enough to threaten Zaynab’s complacency about her mother’s obsession with finding a husband.

And how does Zaynab deal with all this stress?

Lucha-style wrestling, of course!

SIGNATURE MOVE is not only funny and poignant, but also important, especially in our modern political landscape. With Muslim, Pakistani, and queer voices all being suppressed individually, the idea of the three identities intersecting is foreign to mainstream media. Rather than portraying a simplistic tale of Muslim Pakistani homophobia, SIGNATURE MOVE recognizes cultural conflict in all its complexity, ultimately finding beauty in love’s ability to transcend differences

community partners: Apicha Community Health Center, Asian Women Giving Circle, Sakhi for South Asian Women, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)

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THE SURROUNDING GAME

Sunday, July 30 | 4:30 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Will Lockhart and Cole Pruitt| USA | 2017 | 97 mins | Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean with English subtitles | New York City Premiere The game of Go, hailed as mankind’s most complicated board game, has claimed centuries of play. Today in East Asia, you can find children get trained in special Go academies and reach high levels of mastery at young ages, while in the West, the Go scene is much less dignified and mainstream despite the community’s burning enthusiasm for the game.

THE SURROUNDING GAME follows lives of America’s top young Go players over the course of four years in China, Korea, Japan, and the United States, using their efforts to launch the first Western professional Go system as a framing device while delving into the beauty of this three-thousand-year old intellectual art/sport, as well as its fanatical players’ quest for greater meaning of life by dedicating thousands of hours in the game. In THE SURROUNDING GAME, we

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meet Andy Liu, Ben Lockhart, and Curtis Tang as they participate in the first professional Go certification exam in the United States and vie to become the first-ever American professional Go players. The three young Go prodigies reveal their hopes and anxieties about life as they embarked on the journey through the world of Go, illuminating the tight-knit Go scene in North America in particular, as well as a coming-of-age story of what it means to live a meaningful life as a whole.

Directors/Producers Will Lockhart and Cole Pruitt are master players of Go and co-founders of the American Collegiate Go Association. THE SURROUNDING GAME is their debut feature film and the first feature documentary about the game of Go.

THE VALLEY

Saturday, August 5 | 2:00 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Saila Kariat | USA | 2017 | 95 mins | English | New York City Premiere Neal Kumar is a successful Indian-American CEO of a technology driven company residing in Silicon Valley, with his wife and two daughters. However, after the unexpected suicide of his youngest daughter, Maya, Neal becomes obsessed with finding the reason behind her death.

Believing that he has given his family everything they could have dreamt of, Neal cannot help but blame others for Maya’s death. Blind to his own role in it, he starts questioning his own personal relationships with his family. As deep secrets are discovered, Neal also must balance his family situation with his company commitments.

In her directorial debut, Director Saila Kariat sheds light on the common issues many first generation Asian Americans understand; the struggle of pursuing a career they do not wish to follow.

Pressured by their family and peers to accomplish this, they may fall into a pit of isolation while others are unable to help them.

THE VALLEY highlights the value of human relationships and the true meaning of happiness.

Through themes of self reflection, personal success, and empathy, audiences can relate to the endeavors immigrants will endure, and the resulting impact it will have on their children.

community partners: Asian American Association of Time (A3)

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A FOLEY ARTIST

Thursday, August 3 | 7:00 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Wan-Jo Wang| Taiwan | 2016 | 100 mins | Mandarin with English subtitles | U.S. Premiere The importance and complexity of sound design in film are unknown to the general public, even passionate cinephiles. Among the three categories of sound-making – pre-production, on-set recording, and post-production – the most creative work is done during the post-production session, which includes dubbing, music scoring, Foley, and final mixing. While each of these requires an immense amount of innovation, none are quite as entertainingly inventive as that of the Foley artist.

In order to recreate, amplify, or emphasize the sound of the film, Foley artists use counterintuitive, unconventional means to make the audience believe they are actually hearing what they are seeing.

Following the daily life of Hu Ding-yi, Director Wan-Jo Wang celebrates and evokes the “spirit of craftsmanship” of the unsung artist who worked in the oldest Taiwanese movie company, Central Motion Picture. Hu Ding-Yi devoted 40 years of his life to the film industry, doing Foley for 70 films, and tried to pass on his knowledge on to the younger generations. By chronicling the triumphs and hardships faced by the Foley artists who struggled with tenacity against being replaced by the arrival of digital sound effects, the documentary gives a broader perspective of the development of the entire Chinese-speaking film industry in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, shedding light on the oftenforgotten sound wizards of Foley – an art in and of itself.

community partners: Asian American Arts Alliance, Taiwanese American Association of NY (TAANY), Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP NY)

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ABSURD ACCIDENT

Thursday, August 3 | 7:00 PM | Asia Society Auditorium Dir. Yuhe Li | China | 2017 | 97 mins | Mandarin with English subtitles | New York City Premiere

Baiwan Yang and his wife Lilian Ma run a motel in a small, rural town. Baiwan is sexually impotent, and he tries everything to cure himself. When a grocery store owner tells him that his wife is having an affair, he becomes furious. Jianxiao, a counterfeit doctor, tells Baiwan that he has many good friends who are gangsters. Baiwan believes this lie and spends 30,000 dollars to hire a gangster to kill Lilian.

Everything goes exactly as planned until Lilian finds the person who comes to kill her is Jianxiao.

Bouncing with nail-biting suspense and humor, the young Chinese filmmaker Li Yuhe’s feature debut portrays a puzzling crime that happens in a small, rural town, where greed, lust and wit battle it out within one night. Confident, informed and effortless, this film shows a series of ridiculous incidents.

Counterfeit doctors, phony rich, fake veterans, and seven artificial beauties deceive people for money because of greed. The director wants to make fun of these incidents which may also happen in real life. This is the reason why he decides to approach

the plots with black humor. The director didn’t specifically look for theater actors when he made the casting, but all the actors are great actors who are capable of conveying emotion even without saying a line. Their improvisation becomes another resource for the director to capture the quirky humor arose from realistic conditions.

Different from other young Chinese filmmakers who inclines to make fast-paced commercial films, Li Yuhe just wants to make a film that is interesting.

The narrative of this film could be much more flashy but he deliberately let it flow smoothly. Through this way, the film may leave an opportunity for audiences to have their own wild interpretations.

Some audiences are used to categorize Chinese filmmakers by the concept of “generation”, but Yuhe thinks “now” is the best time for any generation, including himself, to present their own understanding of filmmaking. Absurd Accident welcomes the audience to a new chapter in Chinese indie film scene.

community partners: China Institute, Ma Yi Theatre Company

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AFTER THE SEWOL Saturday, August 5 | 4:30 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Matthew Root and Neil P. George| Korea | 2017 | 95 mins | English, Korean with English subtitles World Premiere On April 16, 2014, South Korea is convulsed by Directed by British filmmakers, this documentary the sinking of MV Sewol. After days, weeks and presents South Korea’s social problems from an months that followed the tragedy, the country unusual perspective. It explores the causes to the became undone, untrusting, and more divided problem from not only current political landscape than ever. AFTER THE SEWOL explores the changing but also the cultural context. For Koreans, the faces of this nation through the eyes of two British special emotion hen always exist in their collective filmmakers. They talk with the victims’ relatives, memory. Hen is a kind of complicated emotion rescue divers and activists about their struggles which means both regret and hate. When such and battles since this tragic accident happened, a tragedy happens, they are naturally caught by and embark upon a journey to uncover how this this emotion, and forced reflect on the history and accident came about. By looking deep into Korean culture of their nation. history, they try to find out why no action was taken to prevent it in the first place. They travel across Korea, encountering all kinds of people -- the elder generation struggling to create a safer place for their children, and the young, vibrant citizens fighting for a corrupt-free society. Their paths vary, but they are all searching for the same thing: the truth of the Sewol tragedy. community partners: KoreanAmericanStory.org, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (KCS)

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ALL OUR FATHER’S RELATIONS Saturday, July 29 | 9:45 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Alejandro Yoshizawa | Canada | 2016 | 56 mins | English | New York City Premiere Children to a mother who was the last fluent hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓ speaker from the Musqueam First Nation, the Grant siblings were brought up in their Indigenous culture, language and spirituality, and yet, never considered “Indian” by the federal government of Canada.

Examining complex notions of home and identity, as well as destructive colonial policies that continue to impact Indigenous peoples, ALL OUR FATHER’S RELATIONS is very relevant in today's political climate in North America.

ALL OUR FATHER’S RELATIONS tells the story of the Grant siblings who journey from Vancouver to China in an attempt to rediscover their father’s roots and better understand his fractured relationship with their Musqueam mother. Elders now, the Grants and their story reveals the shared struggles of migrants and Indigenous peoples today and in the past. community partners: Asian Columbia Alumni Association (ACAA), China Institute, Chinatown Youth Initiatives

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BACHELOR GIRLS

Saturday, July 29 | 2:00 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Shikha Makan| India | 2016 | 60 mins | English, Hindi with English subtitles | New York City Premiere Close your eyes and picture this: You are a single, independent individual finally moving out from your parents’ house, determined to pursue a promising career in a big city. After the long, stressful process of securing a home to stay in, you settle into your new place and adjust to the new environment. However, you soon begin realizing that there are many unfair restrictions you must abide by after some time. Your landlord gives you an unaccommodating curfew. Other tenants and neighbors begin complaining about unreasonable things you never did. You cannot have friends or family over even though you pay full price for rent.

Many are condescending towards you because you are unmarried. When you finally had enough of this, you decide to move out, only to begin the same unbearable process all over again.

This is the unfortunate reality for many single young women in Mumbai, who have been dubbed as “bachelor girls.” As the financial capital of India, Mumbai is perceived as the city of dreams where anyone can succeed, but this is not the case for these unmarried women who are independent and can support themselves financially.

Shikha Makan presents an eye-opening documentary on numerous bachelor girls, as they share their shocking stories on how society has harshly treated them. From the invasion of privacy, to feeling interrogated like criminals, and even having to lie about their identities, Makan exposes the corrupt and sexist system, raising awareness on the unknown issue.

community partners: Asian Women Giving Circle, Sakhi for South Asian Women, Womankind

WORLD CINEMA // BACHELOR GIRLS

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HALF TICKET

Thursday, August 3 | 7:00 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Samit Kakkad| India | 2017 | 117 mins | Marathi with English subtitles | New York City Premiere

A story about desires and yearning for the unattainable, HALF TICKET centers around two brothers nicknamed “Big Crow Egg” and “Little Crow Egg” from the slums of Mumbai who are fascinated with the arrival of a new pizza shop in their locality.

Expensive beyond their means, they long to try one. Follow Samit Kakkad’s heartwarming family adventure as the two brothers risk all odds trying to make ends meet to buy, what to them, symbolizes a luxurious life on the other side of the economic ridge–pizza. But as they will soon discover, fate has a different game in store for them.

While “Big Crow Egg” (Shubham More) and “Little Crow Egg” (Vinayak Potdar) demonstrate a remarkable ability for robbing crow’s nests on their free time, their father is in jail and their mother, (Priyanka Rose) is struggling to make ends meet on her meager sweatshop salary. The brothers collect chunks of coal which they sell to a neighboring shop owner for some loose change to help their mother. But they quickly forget about eggs when

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the new “Pizza Cafe” opens across the street from the slums. The two Crow Brother’s desperately try to have a taste of this lavish deliciously from what they believe to be the life of the wealthy, by doing odd jobs around town to get their entry ticket into this exclusive club–when Little Crow Egg is of course, not wetting his pants every night.

Taking advantage of Mumbai’s scenic visual variety, filmmaker Samit Kakkad brings forth beautiful cinematography with imaginative setups and energetic travelling shots all accompanied with heartwarming theme songs composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar while themes of desire, happiness, and family are ever so present as the philosophical question, “Is the grass really greener on the other side?” is explored.

Earning five wins and one nomination from the 2016 Zee Gaurav Awards, AAIFF’40 is proud to present the film’s NYC premiere.

PLASTIC CHINA

Saturday, August 5 | 4:30 PM | Asia Society

Dir. Jiuliang Wang| China | 2016 | 86 mins | Mandarin with English subtitles China is by far the world’s greatest plastic importer.

Every year, developed countries from around the world send China ten million tons of plastic waste.

While we’ve all heard about the environmental toll this takes, it’s not often we hear about the human toll. Chinese filmmaker Wang Jiuliang’s PLASTIC CHINA shows the brutal reality of working Chinese families whose lives revolve around manually “recycling” plastic waste in scrappy workshops.

Jiuliang focuses on workshop owner Kun, a father and husband in his late 20’s concerned about getting his son QiQi a good education. QiQi is good friends with the children of Peng, Kun’s employee who admits that he prefers spending his money on booze over his family.

But the real star of the film is Yi-Jie, Peng’s resourceful young daughter, who serves as a mother figure to the children of the workshop, despite being only a few years older than them. She holds the babies

when they cry and rummages through the waste for toys for herself and the other children to play with after they’re washed with the very same filthy water they have no choice but to drink.

All of the children make the best of their situation, but even their games reflect their family’s desperation. At one point, Yi-Jie and two of the boys pretend to purchase train tickets, something they were unable to do earlier due to Peng’s lack of official identification.

Nonetheless, no one in PLASTIC CHINA seems to have lost hope. Kun ends up buying an expensive car he can’t afford in order to show off the prosperity he hasn’t yet found. The adults pray to Chairman Mao for a promised utopian China that will never exist. China may be a powerhouse of the 21st century global economy, but the rising tide has clearly not lifted all boats.

co-presented by: AARP community partners: Asian American Journalists Association NY Chapter, Asian Columbia Alumni Association (ACAA), China Institute

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SAVE MY SEOUL

Friday, July 28 | 7:00 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Jason Y. Lee| USA, South Korea | 2017 | 61 mins | English, Korean with English subtitles New York City Premiere

Eddie and Jason, two Korean-American brothers get in over their heads when they are called to South Korea to make a short film on prostitution and sex-trafficking. Things get complicated when they meet Crystal and Esther, two prostitutes who reveal just how deep the problem goes and set off on a dangerous mission to capture the truth. With the use of hidden cameras and access to pimps, johns, and sex-workers, the filmmakers explore and unravel the complexity of the sex trade in Seoul.

They learn that this problem is rooted in issues far deeper than exploited girls and lustful men. Instead, it’s a consequence of a culture and government that turns a blind eye to and condones the biggest human injustice of our time.

documentary was difficult as sex and prostitution are very sensitive topics that Koreans are not comfortable sharing about. However, this film was completed to pay tribute to the brave girls who shared their stories in hopes of making a difference.

After graduating from University of Pennsylvania with a degree in management, Jason founded Jubilee Project a purpose-driven digital media company in 2010. He is an avid social entrepreneur, having worked with the Clinton Foundation and Bain & Company. Jason has previously written and directed over 20 short films, and this is his first feature-length film.

The director and other crews think it is a mission to create an honest documentary that explores the many layers of this complex issues. Making this community partners: Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY), KoreanAmericanStory.org

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SINGING WITH ANGRY BIRD

Sunday, July 30 | 6:30 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Hyewon Jee| India, South Korea | 2017 | 88 mins | English, Hindi with English subtitles Meet Jae-chang Kim, a famous Korean opera singer whose quick temper earned him the nickname “Angry Bird” from his students. Five years ago, Kim started the Banana’s Children’s Choir in the slums of Pune, India. He created the choir not to train the children to be professional singers, but to introduce them to music outside their daily reality to provide relief from life in the slums. Kim’s choir has changed the children’s lives; giving them an escape, something to look forward to after school, and for some, even the chance to leave their city for the first time to visit Korea. They love it. However, frustrated by the lack of support from the parents of his choir children, Angry Bird decides to train the parents to sing for a joint concert In order to show the them the children’s joy of song and the feeling of getting an applause on stage. But to his dismay, it may be the toughest challenge of his life.

SINGING WITH ANGRY BIRD explores a common

theme in many Asian cultures—the preference for a solid education over the arts. Wanting to show the beauty in performance, Kim wants to gather the parents for a concert with their children. But for people who have trouble making ends meet, work is always more important. Frustrated, Kim questions if what he’s doing is worth the effort. Grow with three families in particular, the Rathod’s, the Walikar’s, and the Pawar’s as they are in for a ride of their lifetime.

SINGING WITH ANGRY BIRD is director Hyewon Jee’s first feature documentary and this will be the film’s premiere in New York City and the United States.

Follow this tale of laughter and tears, as music – the power of – is explored as a universal language of mankind, uniting people from different countries, cultures, and even bringing families together in ways never seen before.

co-presented by: AARP community partners: Asian American Arts Alliance, Also Known As, Inc. (AKA), Indo American Arts Council (IAAC)

WORLD CINEMA // SINGING WITH ANGRY BIRD

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TAXI STORIES

Friday, August 8 | 7:00 PM | Village East Cinema Dir. Doris Yeung| China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Netherlands | 2017 | 101 mins | Mandarin with English subtitles

Three individuals. Three cities. Different social classes. Similar struggles.

13-year old Adi lives with his aunt and uncle, often working his drunk uncle’s long shifts as a bajaj driver in Jakarta. After meeting an Australian tourist he takes a liking to, his hopes for a relationship become high, but soon become compromised due to his low social class.

In Hong Kong, trophy wife Monica is finally expecting her first child after several attempts with her unfaithful husband. After a sudden miscarriage right before her baby shower, Monica finds an alternative solution involving their housemaid Dewi, who is struggling with her own traumatizing ordeals.

community partners: China Institute

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Jack is a closeted taxi driver in Beijing trying to support himself, his wife, and his son. When he drives home a wealthy on-goer one night, tension rises between the two at first, but soon begin opening up to one another about their sexualities and social standing.

Through the exploration of varying social classes in prominent Asian cities, audiences witness the diverse lifestyles of its common folk. Regardless of economic standing, everyone endures personal conflict, making us not so different from one another in the end.

THE LOCKPICKER Sunday, July 30 | 2:00 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Randall Okita | Canada | 2016 | 105 mins | English | New York City Premiere Hashi is a high school student struggling to maintain his equilibrium in the wake of the sudden suicide of his best friend and potentially love of his life.

He fantasizes getting out of town while maintains a habit of theft. The fragile fig leaf is ripped out when another friend is brutally attacked at a party and the students discover that he had been stealing from them. Will all the torments push Hashi further towards the abyss of haunted memory and bitter alienation, or strengthen him to fight back and claim self-assurance?

Through stunning imagery and refined storytelling, THE LOCKPICKER offers a psychological comingof-age tale. Hashi belies his internal, cacophonous impotence against the pressures, violence, and conflict in his world.

belongs nowhere after losing his confidant, who got him through the hard times he experienced without his parents. We get to see what it is like for a young person to cope with extreme situations and process personal trauma with the scarcest help from family or society.

Levelheaded and deftly shot, the film builds raw emotional forces from the accretion of slight moments of remembrance of regrets and visions of violence. Having a background in sculpture, performance and video art, director Randall Okita is adept in using expressive approaches to color, line, and architecture in order to provoke nuanced emotional states like the suppressed angst Hashi has been experiencing, and the urban boredom in a callous and cold Toronto.

In this ephemeral story, the silent protagonist is wrought by guilt, pain and longing, feeling that he community partners: Asian American Film Lab

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THE RECEPTIONIST Sunday, July 30 | 7:30 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Jenny Lu | Taiwan | 2016 | 101 mins | Chinese, English with English subtitles | U.S. Premiere Many first generation Asian millennials understand the struggle of finding a stable financial career; a career that won’t only support themselves, but their parents as well. For recent college graduate Tina Yuan, paying her rent in London and supporting her family in Taiwan become lesser issues after she gets a job as a receptionist at an illegal massage parlor.

Even as a receptionist, a lot is thrown at Tina when she doesn’t receive the daily pay she was promised, witnessing the abuse Sasa, Mei and Anna go through, and getting pressured into performing sexual acts for clients. Everything begins to crumble down on her when her boyfriend discovers her job, and Lily is exposed for running a brothel.

When she discovers that she is secretly working at a brothel run by a cold woman named Lily, Tina struggles to find a more appropriate job while also hiding the secret from her unemployed boyfriend. Upon witnessing the daily lifestyles of the employees which include Sasa, a single mother, Mei, a 20-year Malaysian girl, and Anna, a young woman desperate to support her family back in China, she learns that they all work at the brothel out of the need for money.

THE RECEPTIONIST is a story of intense, yet disturbing nature highlighting the pitiful realities impoverished individuals must endure to earn an income. Through heart wrenching stories and graphic cinematography, Director Jenny Lu delves into the personal conflicts many immigrants and first generation Asians face when job hunting abroad. By incorporating themes of secrecy, desperation, and selflessness, it illustrates the sacrifices individuals will make for the sake of their loved ones.

community partners: OCA NY, Taiwanese American Association of NY (TAANY), Taiwanese American Professionals (TAP NY)

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WITH THIS RING

Saturday, July 29 | 4:30 PM | Asia Society Auditorium

Dir. Ameesha Joshi and Anna Sarkissian | India | 2016 | 90 mins | English, Hindi, Manipuri with English subtitles There is an unknown, intricate world of women’s boxing within India. Gender discrimination is already prominent throughout the country, so it’s no surprise that women’s boxing is looked down upon.

Starting their project in 2005, directors Ameesha Joshi and Anna Sarkissian captured over 200 hours of footage from various boxing events and interviews to narrate the stories of India’s best female boxers, Manipur natives Mary Kom and Sarita Devi, and Chhoto Loura. Filming in locations including Barbados, China, and the United Kingdom, viewers are taken to a whole new world they have never ventured to.

Looked down upon by their boxing male counterparts and traditional families, Mary, Sarita and Chhoto prove how successful they can be regardless of what society deems. Throughout their boxing matches, all have successfully placed in world championships, notably Mary Kom who is a

five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the third woman in history to win an Olympic medal for India.

However, nobody would expect how intense this world can become. Through each boxer’s story, each decide to follow their own path while tension with politics arise. Favoritism is shown with Mary over Sarita when they compete to qualify for the Olympics. Chhoto ultimately decides to quit boxing because of these politics, but instead chooses to be a coach so she can still be surrounded by the boxing atmosphere.

WITH THIS RING shares the experiences each famed boxer has faced in the boxing ring, as it became a crucial part of their identities. From success stories, endeavors, conflicts, and tough decisions, Joshi and Sarkissian uncover this deep infrastructure of women’s boxing to bring viewers an inspirational and complex documentary.

community partners: Asian Women Giving Circle, Sakhi for South Asian Women

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SHOPPING FOR FANGS Friday, August 4 | 6:30 PM | Asia Society Auditorium

Dir. Quentin Lee and Justin Lin | USA | 1997 | 91 mins | English This hip and funny thriller centers on four very different Asian Americans in their 20s whose lives unexpectedly intertwine. Phil is a payroll clerk who believes that he is turning into a werewolf because he has an unusual amount of body hair. Clarence is a homosexual student who spends most his time studying in the dinner where the feisty, blond-wig wearing lesbian Trinh works. Katherine is married to a real meathead. She is terrified of lovemaking and is very forgetful due to occasional blackouts. One day, Katherine loses her wallet. Soon afterward she starts getting romantic letters from Thinh. Her husband finds the letters and begins searching for Trinh. Meanwhile, Clarence makes Trinh his confidante and Phil begins believing that he is responsible for a series of deaths.

Quentin Lee is a Canadian film writer and director. He is most notable for the films White Frog (2012), The People I've Slept With (2009), Ethan Mao (2004), Drift (2000), Flow (1996), and the film short To Ride a Cow (1993). Lee also co-directed Shopping for Fangs (1997) with Justin Lin, known for his controversial film Better Luck Tomorrow(2002). Lee's films are noticeable for containing male lead characters who are Asian and gay, two minority groups generally not seen as lead characters in mainstream Hollywood films.

CLASS OF '97 // SHOPPING FOR FANGS

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STRAWBERRY FIELDS Saturday, August 5 | 2:00 PM | Asia Society Auditorium Dir. Rea Tajiri | USA | 1997 | 90 mins | English The story of the film centers on Irene Kawai, a Japanese American teenager in Chicago in the 1970s who is haunted by a photo of her grandfather she never knew, standing by a barracks in a World War II internment camp for Japanese Americans. Prompted by visits from the ghost of Terri, her dead baby sister, Irene journeys with her boyfriend, Luke, on a road trip to Arizona, where the Poston War Relocation Center once stood, and where the photo of her grandfather was taken.

Rea Tajiri (born 1958) is a Japanese American video artist, filmmaker and screenwriter. Born in Chicago, Tajiri attended California Institute of the Arts, and worked as a producer on various film and video projects in Los Angeles and New York.Tajiri's video art has been included in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 Whitney Biennials. She has also been exhibited at The New Museum for Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Guggenheim Museum, The Walker Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archives.

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SUNSETS

Friday, August 4 | 9:30 PM | Village East Cinema

Dir. Michael Aki and Eric Nakamura | USA | 1997 | 98 mins | English In this independent drama, Dave and Mark are two buddies who have recently graduated from high school in Watsonville, California. Dave works in a comic book store, while Mark is preparing to go to college in the fall. When their friend Gary is released from jail, the three spend most of the summer drinking beer, chasing girls, and committing petty crimes. As the fall approaches, and with it the first stages of responsible adulthood, the three realize that the days are numbered for their friendship as they know it.

Michael Aki is an actor and director, known for Charlotte Sometimes (2002), Daylight Savings (2012) and Sunsets (1997).

Eric Nakamura is a producer and director, known for Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe (2008), Chow Yun-Fat Goes Hollywood (2001) and Sunsets (1997).

CLASS OF '97 // SUNSETS

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YELLOW

Friday, August 4 | 9:30 PM | Asia Society Dir. Chris Chan Lee | USA | 1997 | 97 mins | English

This comedy-drama centers around eight Asian-American teenagers in Los Angeles on their last night together before high school graduation. On that evening, Sin Lee, one of the teens, tells his friends that he lost $1500 of his dad’s money while getting held-up in his father’s Korean grocery. Sin fears that once his parents discover the money is missing, he’ll be forced to work in his dad’s store instead of going off to college. The guys and girls rally together to help Sin recover the money.

Chris Chan Lee is an Asian American filmmaker. After graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in, Lee wrote/directed Yellow, an independently financed feature film about the harrowing grad night of eight Korean-American teens in Los Angeles that culminates in a violent crime that will forever change their lives. Yellow was invited to over a dozen film festivals, including the Slamdance Dramatic Competition 1998, Singapore International 1998, and the Los Angeles Film Festival 1997. The film won the 1999 Golden Ring Award for Best Asian American Independent Film.

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SHORT FILMS

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CHANGING CHINATOWN Saturday, July 29 | 2:00 PM | 86 mins | Asia Society Auditorium

Across the United States, Chinatowns are vibrant hubs of culture and community. Unfortunately, they’re usually viewed through the white lens of tourism and foodie culture. This program features three short films that tell honest stories of Chinatown and what it means to the folks who live there.

forever, chinatown

The Last Tip

Dir. James Q. Chan | USA | 2017 | 32 mins: FOREVER, CHINATOWN tells the unknown story of Frank Wong, an 81-year-old self-taught artist who has spent forty years attempting to preserve his fading memories of the San Francisco Chinatown of his youth. By building romantic, extraordinarily detailed dioramas, Frank hopes to immortalize the rapidly changing urban neighborhood he grew up in.

Dir. Patrick Chen | USA | 2016 | 5 mins: Produced within 24 hours of the actual restaurant closing, THE LAST TIP serves as a sentimental ode to the 70-year-old 69 Bayard Restaurant Corp. The film shows the emotional journey of a loyal patron processing the loss of an icon of Chinatown, all over the course of one final meal.

from spikes to spindles Dir. Christine Choy | USA | 1976 | 47 mins: This film portrays the early days of New York’s Chinatown through a raw, unfiltered lens, painting an honest view of a community built by laborers in spite of the powerful forces of the cops and real estate developers who run the city to this day. co-presented by: AARP community partners: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Columbia Alumni Association (ACAA), Project by Project (PbP)

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SHORT PROGRAMS \\ CHANGING CHINATOWN

FOR YOUTH BY YOUTH Sunday, July 30 | 1:00 PM | Asia Society Luce Room

This program celebrates the newest generation of media makers under 21.

#skinoutspeakout

the morning boy

Dir. Avery Kim | USA | 2016 | 14 mins: More than 750 students at Brooklyn Tech High School intentionally breaks the dress code in protest of antiquated dress code regulations and unfair enforcement that perpetuates sexism, racism, and rape culture.

Dir. Aabhishek Das| India | 2016 | 15 mins: An orphaned newspaper delivery boy finds himself a pair of leather loafers floating in the river near where he lives. With his newfound fortune, he falls asleep in a dream-like state. The next morning, he is on his usual routine until the sound of bicycle bells wakes him up. Was his treasure-trove just a dream?

feno Dir. Estéphan Khattar | Lebanon | 2016 | 13 mins: Féno is a twelve-year-old boy on the verge of losing his sight. Zouzou, his adventurous friend, pushes him to live a forbidden experience before he becomes blind. They sneak into a cabaret where Féno gets lost in the fitting room of one of the sexiest showgirls.

first meat Dir. Ziad Moussa | Lebanon | 2016 | 16 mins: A psychopath librarian possesses a hateful attitude towards humans, especially women, resulting from his stiff upbringing in his earlier years. A new adventure awaits him when a girl is spontaneously introduced into his life.

the mask Dir. Yun Heo| South Korea | 2017 | 5 mins: This experimental film chronicles a hallucinatory journey of a high school student who reflects on the condition of social conformity. The white mask is a symbol of compliance while the black mask represents social influence. He endures a series of chases and panic attacks by group of black-masked men before being cornered into making a decision to wear the white mask.

the tent village Dir. Nilima Abrams| India | 2016 | 27 mins: On its surface, this film is about the lives of roadside dwellers in South India. However, this is not just another movie about poverty, pointing fingers or patronizing. The teenaged filmmakers have unique access and perspective, which is revealed as the film progresses. It provides a rare, nuanced, and unflinchingly honest perspectives on child marriage, alcoholism and caste stigma.

the three tales of a coin Dir. Nishok | Singapore | 2016 | 10 mins: A coin recounts its life story in three sequences.

Once filled with hopeful dreams of experiencing the world through the pockets of many, little does he suspect his seeming eventual fate in a tin case.

SHORT PROGRAMS // FOR YOUTH BY YOUTH

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HOW WE WORK:CAREER CHOICES Friday, July 28 | 6:30 PM | 113 mins | Village East Cinema

This set of shorts represents the most grueling and harsh work Asians have to face and endure just to get by. Looked upon as expendable and replaceable, Asians are often stereotyped as cheap dry cleaners, street peddlers, and hole in the wall store owners. But the stories and lives these films showcase highlight the tenacity, hard-working mentality, and perseverance Asians show both in and out of the workplace.

before christmas

five percent man

Dir. He Chuyao | China | 2016 | 15 mins: In this painfully truthful short, director Chuyao He captures the plight of working class Asians from the countryside left behind by an ever-advancing society. He shows the struggle of a father and son as they adapt and work under merciless conditions at a Christmas decoration workshop located in the big city.

Dir. Takeshi Tanaka | Japan | 2016 | 25 mins: Based on a true story, FIVE PERCENT MAN follows Kashida, an independent film producer who faces the all-too-familiar challenge of exploitation.

Cleverly employing documentary techniques and improvisation, director Takeshi Tanaka provides an in-depth look and critique of Japanese film culture.

cliff, superfan Dir. Diane Quon | USA | 2016 | 27 mins: At age 68, Cliff has attended over 4,000 Stanford games, cheering and traveling the country to show support for the Stanford team. Is he just an obsessive or does he have an understanding of what matters in life that most lack?

dai's garden Dir. Ruohan Xu | China | 2016 | 35 mins: Fighting an everlasting battle against ever-growing urbanization and industrialization, Dai Jianjun seeks to bring back and nurture traditional Chinese culture. As a slow-food movement pioneer, Dai has built a “green utopia� for all those wish to nurture and live a simpler life. Watch as Dai continues to fight and do everything he can do fulfill his dream.

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SHORT PROGRAMS \\ HOW WE WORK: CAREER CHOICES

siren song: women singers of pakistan Dir. Fawzia Afzal-Khan | Pakistan | 2016 | 12 mins: SIREN SONG: WOMEN SINGERS OF PAKISTAN is an insightful look into the ever-changing musical traditions of Pakistan, highlighting the importance of female singers in the sociopolitical landscape of the country.

LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE...

Friday, August 4 | 6:30 PM | Village East Cinema

On May 24, Taiwan became the first Asian nation to legalize same-gender marriage, giving hope to LGBTQ Asians across the globe. Unfortunately, one ruling cannot erase the discrimination LGBTQ Asians face. In many Asian countries, being gay or transgender is still illegal, even punishable by death. That’s what makes telling the stories of LGBTQ Asians so important. The following films reflect the wide range of experiences of LGBTQ Asians around the world.

best buds

please hold

Dir. Naomi Iwamoto | USA | 2017 | 11 mins: Two actors. One car. Ten minutes.

Danny (Ronak Gandhi) and Grace (Michelle Farrah Huang) have been best buds since they were kids. They know each other better than they know themselves. At least that’s what they thought, until a weekly hot-boxing ritual reveals secrets that will change their relationship forever.

Dir. Jerell Rosales| USA | 2016 | 15 mins: As he nervously waits for his HIV test results, Daniel, or Danny, as his friends call him, calls the company that provided him the condom that broke during sex.

But rather than complain, he winds up accidentally befriending a customer service representative named Logan. Their friendship becomes a lifeline to Daniel as he confronts his loneliness and mortality.

champion

poshida: hidden lgbt pakistan

Dir. Perry Pang | USA | 2016 | 10 mins: Coming out is rarely easy. But it’s especially tough when you’re in the highly gendered world of sports, as is the case with Max, a transgender woman and soccer champion… in men’s soccer. In this touching short inspired by real stories, Max struggles to navigate her identity amongst her soccer bro colleagues, one of whom she may or may not be in love with.

Dir. Faizan Fiaz| Pakistan | 2016 | 29 mins: In this harrowing short, non-binary British-Pakistani journalist Faizan Fiaz documents the wide range of experiences of LGBTQ Pakistanis in the increasingly conservative Islamic Republic. The film examines the roles class, colonialism, and American foreign policy have in shaping the views of sexuality and gender identity throughout the country.

cocoon Dir. Mei LiYing | China | 2017 | 25 mins: 12-year-old Qingqing’s simple life in the peaceful city of Wuhan is thrown into confusion when she realizes that her mother and father as not quite as happily married as she thought. When she then sees her mother with another woman, Qingqing is forced to decide what is best for her family.

pria Dir. Yudho Aditya| Indonesia | 2016 | 21 mins: Aris is a gay Muslim teen living in rural Indonesia, where same-gender acts are potentially punishable by death. He is set to marry a girl he neither knows nor likes, but it becomes harder and harder to stay silent as he develops a crush on a free-spirited, friendly boy from the United States.

community partners: Apicha Community Health Center, Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of NY (GAPIMNY), NAPAWF*NYC, a chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, Project by Project (PbP), National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)

SHORT PROGRAMS // LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE...

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LOVE LETTERS TO NEW YORK Thursday, July 27 | 9:00 PM | 104 mins | Asia Society Auditorium

With almost 8.5 million people spread across five boroughs, compelling New York City stories are being told every day. Living in the city that never sleeps, Asians are continually working to shape the city’s modern landscape. This program highlights the diverse aspirations, failures, and energy of Asians in the Big Apple.

deadly view

i don't make the rules

Dir. GnanaShekaran Natarajan | USA | 2016 | 23 mins: When Kate receives mysterious messages from an unknown caller, she must enlist the help of two friends to track him down. But they are quickly sucked into an unexpected conflict, as the view from Kate’s apartment turns from spectacular to deadly.

Dir. Lawrence Chen | USA | 2016 | 13 mins: An ex-professional football player and current club bouncer, Steve Noa does not look like he belongs in a white collar law firm, but that is exactly where he desperately wants to be. When his lucky break comes through, he’s willing to go all out to land the job.

distance Dir. Craig Nisperos | USA | 2017 | 12 mins: Craig, a modern day immigrant, struggles with being away from his home and his family. Even in a city of millions, loneliness is inescapable.

fade Dir. Howie Lam | USA | 2016 | 13 mins: In this poetic short, Director Howie Lam presents a question to his viewers: “What do you do when you can't let go of the person you love?” His film explores this by presenting us a desolate backdrop of New York City and analyzing a man’s internal struggle between reality and fantasy.

for the love of mangos Dir. Kayla Wong | USA | 2016 | 14 mins: All-knowing Rita is determined to break down her dad’s traditionalism by setting him up on a date. But he flips the script on her by forcing her to go on a date with her childhood friend.

i see you Dir. Manjari Makijany | USA | 2016 | 10 mins: An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Director Manjari Makijany’s I SEE YOU explores this idea through the shocking story of a terrorist, who, armed with a suicide vest, quickly finds himself conflicted when he comes face to face with an innocent child.

the pleasure of being served Dir. Michael Manese | USA | 2017 | 15 mins: Working for a wealthy family in Manhattan, Rosa, an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines, struggles to make ends up as she desperately works to bring her son to America. Her job as a domestic worker proves more difficult as she is tasked with juggling the logistics of her boss’s girlfriends. After befriending both of them, she’s cornered into making a decision – either be quiet and accept his money or tell the women she cares about of his manipulative lies.

community partners: Asian American Arts Alliance, Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY), Asian American Film Lab, OCA NY

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SHORT PROGRAMS \\ MADE IN NY: LOVE LETTERS TO NEW YORK

MAD MAD WORLD

Thursday, August 3 | 9:15 PM | 119 mins | Village East Cinema

With every good comes the bad. Welcome to the mad world. Creeping up from the world of the dark, feared, and sinful, this riveting short film program explores the innermost darkness of humanity, with the themes of loss, corruption, and death at the forefront.

buang-bulawan (fool's gold)

killer smile

Dir. Terimar Malones | Philippines | 2016 | 14 mins: Trying to cope with family pressure and medical issues, Romel, a seafarer from Iloilo, faces a dilemma upon discovering what's inside the bag left by Makay, a street vendor he accidentally bumped into.

Hunted by the syndicate members Rex and Mon, both Romel and Makay must try to survive and face the consequences of that one unfortunate night.

Dir. Camille Ma | China | 2017 | 15 mins: What happens when one of the cutest things in the world – a baby’s smile – becomes one of the deadliest? As that boy grows older, how do mother and child alike live a normal life? With stunning cinematography, KILLER SMILE explores themes of motherhood, love, and loss.

calamity Dir. James Sereno | USA | 2017 | 12 mins: Based on the novel “Age of Calamity,” CALAMITY is a short film that throws Troy Nagasaki (Justin Chon) into the dangerous world of cockfighting in the dark countryside of Hawaii. Within this world, Troy must face the demons of his past and unleash his one and only rooster to fight to the death.

manners of dying Dir. Bo-You Niou | USA | 2016 | 22 mins: Over the years, a death row warden has emotionally distanced himself from the prisoners whose executions he oversees. But when he surprisingly bonds with an inmate, the burden of his duties become too heavy to bear.

cowboy and indian Dir. Sujata Day | USA | 2016 | 8 mins: A young Bengali bride, traveling miles on foot, collapses in the dry heat. A cowboy appears out of the sunset and rescues her. Miscommunication arises as the woman doesn’t speak English, but things aren’t always what they seem.

SHORT PROGRAMS // MAD MAD WORLD

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MAD MAD WORLD

Thursday, August 3 | 9:15 PM | 119 mins | Village East Cinema

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rules of three

the silent mob

Dir. T.L. Quach| USA | 2016 | 10 mins: Haunted by the murder of their leader in this postapocalyptic world, the remaining three friends struggle to maintain enough resources to survive.

As secrets are revealed, tensions and desperation rise within the group, putting their friendships and their lives on the line.

Dir. Harvan Agustriansyah| Indonesia | 2016 | 16 mins: A hired driver visits a remote area to gather a group of paid demonstrators. But an encounter with a family and another greedy driver will soon test their humanity, as we see the results of the ideological clashes caused by class inequality.

tell tale

twenty years

Dir. Alex Zou| USA | 2017 | 14 mins: On a journey to warmer lands, a girl kills her lover and hides the truth from their friend. Shot completely in the outdoors, Alex Zou’s directorial debut touches on themes of betrayal, trust, and the unknown.

Dir. David R. Liu| USA | 2016 | 5 mins: TWENTY YEARS is a story of two childhood friends who meet for the first time in two decades – one a policeman, the other a wanted criminal. Both have returned to fulfill a promise. Neither are aware yet of the consequences of their chosen paths.

The film is a loose adaptation of O. Henry’s 1906 short story “After Twenty Years,” one of the earliest practitioners of the short form narrative.

SHORT PROGRAMS \\ MAD MAD WORLD

NEVERTHELESS,SHE PERSISTED Saturday, July 29 | 9:00 PM | Village East Cinema Though society has progressed rapidly over the past few decades, gender inequality still persists throughout the world. Unfair societal standards and discrimination manifest in everything from employment to wages to simple interpersonal relationships. Asian women in particular struggle with these issues, oftentimes finding their gender clashing with their cultural identity. AAIFF40 is proud to present these diverse stories of unique, independent women who dare go against the norm, unafraid to be themselves.

akashi

good night butterfly

Dir. Mayumi Yoshida | Japan | 2017 | 10 mins: After being informed of her grandmother’s passing, Kana returns to her homeland in Japan. But her modern ways in North America clash with her traditional culture, making her feel distant and alone. Through her personal memories and her grandmother’s funeral, Kana must reflect on her own life and choices.

Dir. Scott Corbett | USA | 2017 | 21 mins: During the Watts riots, a Chinese man is killed defending a store he works at, leaving his daughter, Alice, without a guardian. The Jewish family that owned the store decide to take her in. While some family members are accepting, tensions arise for others. Full of longing, GOOD NIGHT BUTTERFLY portrays the sense of loss so many felt from the damaging events of 1965.

flip the record Dir. Maria Jamora | Philippines | 2016 | 14 mins: Set in the 1980’s hip-hop era of San Francisco, FLIP THE RECORD follows Vanessa, a fourteen-year old girl tired of living a restrained life in her conservative Filipino-American household. Luckily, Vanessa finds a way to break away from those constraints when she exposes herself to the music sphere and discovers her hidden talent as a DJ.

iron hands Dir. Johnson Cheng | China | 2017 | 11 mins: A young girl prepares to try out for the youth Olympics weightlifting team, which is traditionally comprised of all boys. Fortunately, during her training, she forms a surprising connection with the gym’s secluded groundskeeper, who understands her lofty aspirations.

SHORT PROGRAMS // NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED

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NEVERTHELESS,SHE PERSISTED Saturday, July 29 | 9:00 PM | Village East Cinema

mango sticky rice

the caretaker

Dir. David Liu | USA | 2017 | 14 mins: In this unique musical comedy, Katie is a proud food lover who also keeps sense of her individuality.

Pressured by her friends and family to try online dating, Katie chooses the restaurant where her secret admirer, Chris, works as the location for her dates. Surrounded by the online dating sphere, she reluctantly follows its notions as Chris watches from afar.

Dir. Saim Sadiq | Pakistan | 2016 | 15 mins: Zoya is a young Pakistani cricket player and the lucky recipient of a life-changing scholarship. But if she is unsuccessful in finding a caretaker for her ailing grandmother, she will have to make the biggest sacrifice of her life.

retouch Dir. Kaveh Mazaheri | Iran | 2016 | 19 mins: Maryam hears her husband’s cries for help after a weightlifting accident. On the brink of life and death with a barbell crushing his throat, Maryam lets him die. She carries on with her day, seemingly unbothered by his death. But will remorse catch up to her?

community partners: Asian American Arts Alliance, Asian American Film Lab, NAPAWF*NYC, a chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum,Asian Women Giving Circle, Project by Project (PbP), Startup Southeast Asia, Womankind

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NIHONGO: STORIES OF JAPAN Friday, July 28 | 7:00 PM | Village East Cinema This program features the very best of shorts submitted from Japan. Highlighting stories of everything from two strangers falling in love after a suicide attempt to the adventures of four young school girls, this eclectic collection provides a wonderfully unique range of perspectives from a rich culture.

born, bone, boon

no song to sing

Dir. Gori | Japan | 20 mins: Hitoshi has just returned to his hometown island of Aguni Shima, Japan with his new wife, Yuko.

Though the trip was thought to be for Yuko to meet Hiroshi's family, it is revealed his true purpose is to participate for the “senkotsu” ceremony – Aguni Shimi’s continuing custom of cleansing the bone of the dead.

Dir. Lukasz Gasiorowski | Japan | 2017 | 24 mins: A professional femme fatale enjoys selling fantasies to lonely men, but when she becomes caught in the web of her own deceptions, she finds herself unable to pay the price of her own merchandise.

my bird Dir. Toshiyuki Ichihara | Japan | 32 mins: Secluded deep within a forest, a middle-aged bird watcher named Doi happens to save a girl from a suicide attempt. Despite their significant age difference, the two start developing feelings for each other. But they soon must decide whether their relationship can ever escape the forest.

so, we draw goldfishes...

Dir. Makoto Nagahisa | Japan | 2016 | 28 mins: SO, WE DRAW GOLDFISHES takes a look into the lives of four 15-year-old girls living mundane lives in a conservative town. One summer day, they release 400 goldfish in a swimming pool at a secondary school, providing entertainment that reveals much about the confinement they experience.

community partners: Japanese American Association of NY, Japan Culture NYC, Japan Society

SHORT PROGRAMS // NIHONGO: STORIES OF JAPAN

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STILL HERE, NOT GOING AWAY Sunday, July 30 | 2:00 PM | 114 mins | Asia Society Auditorium Ever since right-wing ethnonationalism broke into mainstream politics, the Western media landscape has been overrun by sympathetic stories of white citizens and all the reasons they were driven to support the current administration. Absent from this narrative is the millions of people of color negatively affected by the racist political agendas spreading across the Western world. This absence is exactly what makes the following films so essential. They are all unique explorations of Asian identity in white Western society, providing an array of perspectives on what it means to be the minority.

connected

F**CKED up

Dir. Jin Au-Yeung | USA | 2016 | 16 mins: Greg is ecstatic when his short film “Connected” wins the $1,000 Grand Prize at an Asian-American film festival. The only problem? He’s not actually Asian. Fortunately, his Chinese friend Jun Yung agrees to pretend to have made “Connected” – as long as he gets $650 and Greg’s Netflix password.

Dir. Kevin Lau | USA | 2016 | 17 mins: Charlyne’s father wants his daughter to spend her first day at the Texas Institute of Technology, or TIT, getting straight to work. But Charlyne has other plans. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she attempts to lose her virginity within 24 hours, but finds that being a small Asian American girl at a lily-white Texas school can complicate things, to say the least.

fault Dir. Daniel Lee | USA | 2017 | 10 mins: When Korean-American tennis fans Daniel Lee and his sister attended a professional tennis match, they weren’t expecting to make international headlines.

But after French player Michael Llodra hurled racist abuse at Daniel’s sister, they were forced into the spotlight. This incident is the inspiration for FAULT, a funny and insightful short about the complexities of directly confronting racism.

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SHORT PROGRAMS \\ STILL HERE, NOT GOING AWAY: PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITY

PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITY HI, I AM SAM

semiotics of sab

Dir. Ashish Pant | USA | 2017 | 10 mins: Following Donald Trump’s candidacy, hate crimes against Muslims spiked exponentially in the United States. In December 2016 alone, the month after the election, the Southern Poverty Law Center recorded over 100 anti-Muslim incidents. And that’s just what was reported. But what is the human impact of this discrimination? Indian-born filmmaker Ashish Pant explores the personal toll Islamophobia takes on an individual and his loved ones in this devastating low-budget short.

Dir. Tina Takemoto | USA | 2016 | 6 mins: A five decade career. A five minute tribute. Tina Takemoto’s rapidfire experimental film essay memorializes the career of gay Japanese-American actor Sab Shimono, using his expansive career of over 150 roles to explore the poetics of queer Asian-American masculinity.

paris, ni hao Dir. Zixuan (Sharon) Deng | USA | 2016| 39 mins: In 2017, far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen made it into the French presidential runoff on a racist, anti-immigrant campaign. Though she ultimately lost to Emmanuel Macron, the bigoted sentiments that resonated with so many white French voters still have an impact on immigrants of color. This documentary explores the stories of several Chinese immigrants who struggle with their status and culture in the French capital.

the best and the loneliest days Dir. Qianzhu Luo | USA | 2016 | 16 mins: Yang is Chinese. Not American. At least that’s what she tells herself. After she has a dream in English, she decides that she must prove that she’s 100% Chinese by throwing the best Chinese New Year’s party ever. Unfortunately, that’s not so easy in a country that doesn’t even officially recognize the Chinese New Year as a public holiday.

SHORT PROGRAMS // STILL HERE, NOT GOING AWAY: PERSPECTIVES ON IDENTITY

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WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD Sunday, July 30 | 4:15 PM | 83 mins | Village East Cinema

We all have certain fears and paranoias, no matter how big or small, rooted from within or crafted by society – whether it be the fear of touching a public restroom door handle or a religious fear of death. AAIFF40 is proud to present this short film program underlining one of the most basic emotions that defines humanity.

fractured

punjab

Dir. Arnold Chun | USA | 2016 | 13 mins: Inspired by true events, FRACTURED tells the story of Joon and Misun Park, two parents suffering the deadly consequences of their son’s untreated mental illness, giving a voice to a different kind of victim.

Dir. Karan Aryaman Marwaha | India | 2016 | 22 mins: When the line was drawn between India and Pakistan in August 1947, officially partitioning them into two countries, religious tensions exploded. The beautifully shot short PUNJAB follows a boy named Ananad as he attempts to flee Pakistan and cross the border with his family without being caught.

germaphobia Dir. Brandon W. Dickson| USA | 2016 | 4 mins: Let’s face it, who doesn’t dread using public restrooms? Shot entirely in black and white, Brandon W. Dickson and his team in GERMAPHOBIA brilliantly capture what it feels like to enter the dangerous battlezone that is public restrooms.

ignorance is bliss Dir. Alice Park | USA | 2016 | 5 mins: With beautiful cinematography and eerie suspense, IGNORANCE IS BLISS tells the story of a young woman simply going through her day, while showing just how important it is for one to be more vigilant in their daily lives.

infidel Dir. Carey Knight | USA | 2017 | 9 mins: With elegant cinematography, INFIDEL tells the story of an FBI agent’s one last opportunity to work a terrorist plot out of an American detainee before the CIA uses “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

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SHORT PROGRAMS \\ WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD

the idiot Dir. Ruchi Joshi | India | 2016 | 18 mins: When unable to get a Visa, Abdul, a poor, illiterate, Muslim boy from rural India, feels he has no choice but to hijack a domestic flight and redirect it to Australia. Inspired by actual events, this satirical short explores the paranoia of a society fed on religious discrimination.

the servant Dir. Farnoosh Abedi | Iran | 2016 | 9 mins: What if that cockroach you tried to kill comes back and tries to kill you? This brilliant black-and-white animated short plays on the classic principle of “what goes around, comes around,” as the prey becomes the predator.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS Saturday, July 29 | 7:00 PM | 117 mins | Village East Cinema

“The world has kissed my soul with its pain, asking for its return in songs.” - Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore The world is full of unlucky accidents. We all deal with them differently, but trauma is universal. The films in this program explore suffering as a means reflecting upon the past life.

death in a day

pain in silence

Dir. Lin Wang | China | 2016 | 14 mins: What do death and trauma look like from the perspective of a child? Evan, a seven-year-old old boy, lives with his soon-to-be-widowed mother, Wei. After visiting his comatose father in the hospital, Evan must come to grips with the impending tragedy falling upon his family, watching helplessly as his mother tries to cope with single parenthood.

Dir. Yujian Li | China | 2016 | 20 mins: Based on a real incident, this film presents the story of how a young man named He Wei confronts unhealed wounds. The gorgeously textured images of Director Yujian Li’s camera reflect the narrative tension between warm and cold, with Wei struggling to comprehend the sympathy he receives with the cold, uncaring nature of the adult world.

dots

the bird who could fly

Dir. Chen-Wen Lo | Taiwan | 2016 | 15 mins: “Do you know how it feels like to touch the light?” A teenage girl whose vision is fading for an unknown cause struggles to learn braille. To the frustration of her mother, she attempts to “see” things through her sense of touch, eventually leading her to leave home to go on a solo journey to gather the textures of different types of light in her hometown of Taipei.

Dir. Raphael Sbarge | USA | 2016 | 19 mins: Arthur, a young Korean-American attorney, juggles his mother’s religious extremism with his attempts to heal his brothers’ self-destructive lives. He struggles to be a good son as well as a good brother, with no one giving him an opportunity to be himself.

Ultimately, he must emerge to find his own life, apart from the cultural pressures and real-life rubble from which he comes.

like animals Dir. Leland Montgomery | USA | 2016 | 14 mins: The three Chao daughters desperately want to flee the California High Desert, to escape from their community, their so-called friends, and their lovers.

After their mother dies, the daughters decide to sell their family house, but deserting family isn’t as easy as they expect.

monday Dir. Dinh Thai | USA | 2017 | 18 mins: “What can I get to you?” That’s the question driving a conflicted young hustler who sells everything and anything to make money. As he slinks through various dangerous scenes, he is forced to confront racism as well as the immorality of his occupation.

It's only Monday.

under one small star Dir. Ziyi Zhengi | USA | 2017 | 14 mins: With no family, friends, or money, all 29-year-old Lily can think about is the absence of her mum, who passed away when she was just a little girl. Tired and alone, Lily decides that she must kill herself before she turns 30. But first, she needs to figure out the perfect way to do it

SHORT PROGRAMS // WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS

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THE 2017 72-HOUR SHOOTOUT WORLD PREMIERE Saturday, July 29 | 1:30 PM | Village East Cinema Come out and see the world premiere of the top ten most incredible films of the 2017 72-Hour Shootout!

Presented by The Asian American Film Lab, 72 Hour Shootout is an annual, high profile filmmaking competition aiming to ensure that stories and voices that are too often silenced in mainstream media are heard, not just as whispers, but as shouts to the world.

The theme of this year’s competition is WELCOME TO THE NEW NORMAL.

CUNY ASIAN FILM FESITVAL SHOWCASE Saturday, July 29 | 2:00 PM | Asia Society Luce Room Since 2004, the Asian American / Asian Research Institute’s CUNY Asian American Film Festival (AAFF), presented by the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), has recognized and awarded student filmmakers enrolled at the City University of New York, including City College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Lehman College, College of Staten Island, and Queens College. "?" (Dir. Nurian Baidaliev | Borough of Manhattan Community College | 15 mins) A young man, age 25-30 years old, disappears. Nobody knows what really happened to him. Three witnesses saw him before he disappeared - his girlfriend, psychiatrist, and a random person at the beach. Each witness recounts what they saw that day and gives their opinion as to what could have happened to the young man.

DAY AT TEXTILE FACTORY (Dir. Nicky Zhou | Hunter College | 11 mins) Winner, Best Fiction Film When a 13 year old Chinese American girl, Yi Zi, comes to the textile factory that her mom works at, she encounters and experiences an unexpected crush on a 30 year old female text factory worker, Wei Wei. DECODING DARK MATTER (Dir. Crystal Waterton | Hunter College | 22 mins) Winner, Best Documentary Film A short documentary about two Asian transgender poetry performance artists: Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian, and their journey from Stanford University, to their first large theater performance, It Gets Bitter, at Joe's Pub in New York City.and space to express the grief of parting.

POWDER ROOM (Dir. Kevin Oliver Arota | Brooklyn College | 14 mins) Winner, Runner-Up Fiction Film Silent slapstick comedy about an outsider who covers himself in white powder to break into an 'exclusive-to-lightskinned-people' speakeasy. His successful attempt leads to a nightmarish experience.

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THE CHANGING ECONIMICS AND DYNAMICS OF FEATURE FILM DISTRIBUTION Saturday, July 29 | 3:30 PM | Asia Society Rose Conference Hall ***This program is pay-what-you-wish*** You have a passion for storytelling and you made a film. Now what? The issue here is that most indie filmmakers eventually have to figure out how to reach more audiences as well as get rewarded financially in order to continue their filmmaking endeavor. Some filmmakers hope to sell their film to a distributor or studio at a major film festival.

Some filmmakers are obsessed with getting their movies up on online streaming platforms. Is one approach better than another? Sales agents, distributors, and investors frequently emphasize the importance of “name talent” for the commercial viability of an indie feature. Is this still relevant for indie filmmakers nowadays?

AAIFF40 invites industry professionals in production, distribution, and acquisition to offer perspectives and insights into the changing economics and dynamics of feature film distribution PANELISTS: Eugene Park is a filmmaker and producer working in narrative and experimental forms. Eugene’s films have screened at hundreds of festivals, micro-cinemas, museums, galleries, and alternative screening venues around the world, including SXSW, BFI Flare, Frameline, Outfest, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film + Video Festival, Antimatter, Asian American International Film Festival, Jornadas de Reapropiación, and many others. Eugene is also the executive director of Full Spectrum Features, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to diversity in film and media.

Arman Oner, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Ammo Content. Arman Oner is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ammo Content, LLC., a multiplatform digital distributor and aggregator based in New York City. Since launching Ammo Content with partners Reid Brody and Rick Baruch, in early January, the company now manages more than 250 titles, works directly with nine Video-On-Demand portals, generating several hundred thousand hours viewed per month.

Aijah Keith, Acquisitions Manager, IFC Films. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in Cinema Studies, Keith was accepted into NBCUniversal’s Page Program. While there, she held assignments at Oxygen Media, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live. After that, she was a publicity coordinator with Starz Entertainment. For the past four years, Keith has served as the Acquisitions Manager at IFC Films, aiding in securing over 240 titles for the company’s three film labels: IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. She currently resides in New York City.

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WOMEN TAKE CHARGE PANEL Sunday, July 30 | 2:30 PM | Asia Society Luce Room ***This event is free*** How often do you see female filmmakers in the media industry? Join us as we present the panel, WOMEN TAKE CHARGE. Led by S. Casper Wong (the founder of Asian American Women Media Makers) she will be conversing with four female directors of AAIFF40, discussing their creative processes and being in charge on set and beyond!

LEADING THE DISCUSSION: S. CASPER WONG S. Casper Wong is a New York based award-winning filmmaker, technology lawyer, social entrepreneur, activist and Founder/CEO of OO Media. Her documentary feature debut, THE LULU SESSIONS, has won 10 international awards and nominations in every major category. She received a Humanitarian Award from the SASS Foundation for Medical Research along with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in recognition for her film’s social impact on the complexities of breast cancer. She has directed and produced co-productions in China since 2005 and served as the studio executive for Roger Corman’s first co-productions.

Casper’s work has been screened on the international film festival circuit. In the US, her work has been broadcast on PBS, the Independent Film Channel, Syfy Channel and as part of Tribeca Film Institute’s curated Reframe Collection.

She is a two time winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Screenwriting Grants; a New York State Council on the Arts Grantee; a Creative Capital Artist Summer Institute Fellow; Sloan Fellow at the Hampton’s International Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab; a nominee for the Directors Guild of America’s Best Student Film; the winner of the Special Jury Award of the Golden Horse at the Taipei Film Festival; as well as a frequent panelist and moderator for film conferences ranging from science in film, diversity in film, to co-productions with China.

Prior to receiving her MFA in Film Directing from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, Casper was Senior Attorney for IBM General Counsel in Silicon Valley. Casper also holds a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.S. in Bio-medical Engineering from Columbia University. She had been counsel for the IBM’s corporate diversity initiative, is the Founder and Chair of Asian American Women Media Makers, and is currently on the Board of Directors at New York Women in Film and Television.

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WOMEN TAKE CHARGE PANEL PANELISTS: NADINE TRUONG: I CAN I WILL I DID A German-born Vietnamese filmmaker, Nadine Truong worked in talent representation and at various production companies prior to earning her MFA degree in Directing in 2009 from the American Film Institute. Nadine received her BA degree in Anthropology from UCLA in 2003 and resides in Los Angeles, where she also works as a Yoga Teacher.

Her directorial short film credits include CHOPSTICKS, IN THE DARK and INITIATION. In 2006 she became a proud fellow with Los Angeles Asian American Pacific Film Festival’s ‘Armed With A Camera Fellowship’, which funded her short film THE MUSE. Additionally, she received the San Diego International Asian Film Festival’s prestigious George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2010.

HUI-CHEN HUANG: SMALL TALK Hui-chen is an activist, documentary filmmaker, and mother of a precocious little girl. Prior to embarking on her first feature doc, Hui-chen worked for NGOs such as the Taiwan International Workers Association and China Time’s Trade Union, advocating for labor rights and social justice. It was during this time that she began documenting the plight of the disadvantaged and the voiceless. Her intimate profiles of the less fortunate and the exploited became tools used for social change.

Most recently, Hui-chen served as Secretary General of Taipei Documentary Union, and is currently working on her memoir to be published in 2017.

AMEESHA JOSHI: WITH THIS RING Ameesha Joshi is a Toronto native, who graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Waterloo University in Ontario. She went on to work in the software industry for seven years before discovering her interest in filmmaking while living in Halifax, NS. Her first short film The Red Glove was about an amateur boxer and was made through the Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative’s FILM 5 development program. It was during the making of this film she developed an appreciation for the sport. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s of fine arts at Concordia University in Montreal and enjoys working in both documentary and fiction.

JENNY LU: THE RECEPTIONIST Jenny Lu has written and directed ‘The Man who Walked on the Moon’ (2014) (Won a Van Gough Best Fantasy Award for Amsterdam International Film Festival 2015, selected for London Short Film Festival 2015, Reykjavik International Film Festival 2014, Kaohsiung International Film Festival 2014 and TCIF3 International Film Festival).

‘The Receptionist Teaser Trailer’ (2012) and ‘London Visit’ (2012). Most recently her feature film script, for this project, ‘The Receptionist’, won the Best Screenplay Award in Taiwan in 2013 and was given a development/ production fund of £120,000 from Taiwan.

THE RECEPTIONIST was selected for Golden Horse Project Market in Taiwan 2014. Jenny was selected for Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab 2014 and Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab 2012 as a director.

The Receptionist was selected for Edinburgh Works In Progress 2016.

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AAISC’17 Screenplay Reading Sunday July 30 | 4:30pm| Asia Society Rose Room Presented by Leviathan Lab & SAG-AFTRA ***This program is pay-what-you-wish*** The 40th Asian American International Film Festival, with support from SAG-AFTRA, is pleased to present the annual screenplay reading, which features this year’s AAISC winning script HELEN EVER AFTER by Helen Wong HELEN EVER AFTER (A Transgender Story) After a series of embarrassing events caused by her hallucinations, a transgender woman must embark on an 'epic' coming out journey along with her imaginary friends and guardian angel.

AAISC’17 Finalists: HELLEN EVER AFTER by Helen Wong SOYBEAN by Lee Liu BONNEVILLE by John Lew About Leviathan Lab Founded in 2009, Leviathan Lab (LL) is an award-winning not-for-profit creative studio whose mission is the advancement of Asian and Asian American (A/AA) performing artists and their work. Through the speaking of A/ AA artists’ words, and the presentation of A/AA bodies, presence, and gestures on stage and on screen, LL works to open spaces that promote social justice, bridge communities, and assert the power of art to change the world. We function as a lab where artists can be courageous, experiment, and thrive, even as they create works that captivate the young, professional NYC audiences we serve.

CLASS OF 97 PANEL Saturday, August 5 | 4:00 PM | Asia Society Luce Room 1997 was a banner year, with four features making the rounds on the film-festival circuit—Michael Idemoto and Eric Nakamura’s SUNSETS, Chris Chan Lee’s YELLOW, Quentin Lee and Justin Lin’s SHOPPING FOR FANGS, and Rea Tajiri’s STRAWBERRY FIELDS. All four features have found their own way to theatrical distribution, and the four films, taken together, are emblematic of the state of Asian American cinema in the late Nineties. Each of these movies grapples with questions of Asian American identity in widely divergent ways, and the different paths they have taken to distribution reveals much about the way independent films are released in the U.S.

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f e st i va l S TA F F AAIFF STAFF John C. Woo ACV Executive Director Haisong Li Program Director Judy Lei Festival Director Jen Kim Marketing and Outreach Manager Kyle Bhiro Outreach Coordinator Jessica Lee Social Media Coordinator Seojin Jenny Park PR Coordinator

Yuan Molly Wang Special Program Coordinator Dazhi Huang Tech/Production Justin Kim Box Office Coordinator Jordan Valerie Allen CineVue/Program Book Editor Claire Chang Program Book Designer David Rances Volunteer Coordinator Kayla Wong Operations/House Manager Yijun Wang Guest Services Coordinator

Tong Raissa Wu PR Coordinator

guest curators

Weihuan Zhuang Feature Film Coordinator

Jang Hee Chong For Youth By Youth Coordinator

Andrew Koo Short Film Coordinator

Eugene Park Screenplay Coordinator

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Become a member of

ASIAN CINEVISION

Asian CineVision (ACV) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media arts organization devoted to the development, exhibition, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American film and video. Since 1978, ACV has presented the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), the first and longest running festival in the U.S. to showcase the best independent Asian and Asian American cinema. Help us celebrate our 41st anniversary next year and become a member!

asiancinevision.org/membership

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THANK YOU Asian CineVision and the 40th Asian American International Film Festival would like to thank the following donors for their generous support of the Asian American media arts.

Board of Directors Jacqueline McCaffrey James S.J. Liao John C Woo, Chairman John Shin Philip Lam Wynn Salisch

We would also like to thank the following individuals for helping us make this festival possible.

Aaron Nicholson Abe Ferrer Adam Moore Alex Ho Amanda Nguyen Amber Wu Andrew Luis Anne Kirkup Ariel Estrada Aroon Shivdasani Becky Curran Ben Watkins Bernice Ng Bertha Bay-Sa Pan Bonnie Tse Boon Hui Tan 104 THANK YOU

Bora Lee Brandon Leung Brian Yang Caren Wu Charles Lin Chris Ignacio Chris M. Kwok Claudia Yeung Corey Tong Daryl Chin David Henry Hwang David Magdael Derek Nguyen Edward T. Lau Ellen Kodadek Eric DeArmon

Eugene Park Evan Jackson Leong Flordelino Lagundino Gabrielle Nguyen Glenn Magpantay Hali Lee HJ Lee Jackie McCaffrrey Jade Wu Jaeki Cho James Boo James Liao Jean Tsien Jennifer Kim Jennifer Weng Jess Ju John Shin JT Takagi Julia Yang-Winkenbach Julie Young Kazu Watanabe Ken Tanabe Kevin Bang Kevin Lee Kevin Meegan Lindy Leong Lori Tan Chin Mable Jiang Marilla Li

Melinda Chu Melissa Ng Michelle Sugihara Michiyo Noda Nanette Nelms Peilin Kuo Peter Feng Philip Lam Phillip Miner Phillip Yam Rachel Cooper Rachel Rosado Rebecca Strickland Richard Gant S Casper Wong Sarah Pirozek Senti Sojwal Shawn Choi Shawn Guthrie Sonya Chung Steve Barkley Susan Hamaker Susan Yu Valerie Torres Wynn Salisch Yiting Shen

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LEADERSHIP

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CATERING

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CONTRIBUTING

THE 40TH ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS WITH THE SUPPORT OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO AND THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL, ASIA SOCIETY, THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURES ARTS AND SCIENCES, THE MAYOR’S OFFICE OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT, HONG KONG ECONOMIC AND TRADE OFFICE–NEW YORK, TAIPEI CULTURAL CENTER IN NEW YORK, HOTEL 50 BOWERY, BEAM SUNTORY, HIRO SAKE, AARP, SAG-AFTRA HOMEADVISOR, VIVIDSEATS, AND THE FRIENDS OF ACV. INCUBATED AT THE MADE IN NY MEDIA CENTER BY IFP.

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