SF Intl Asian American Film Fest 2011

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 09 March 2011 05:00

Written by Lynne Shannon

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival runs March 10 - 20, 2011 at several venues in San Francisco, including the Castro Theatre, the Landmark Clay Theatre and Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. In conjunction with this festival is the 10th edition in San Jose, California.

Presented by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the 29th edition showcases an array of films that span all genres, from international horror and romantic comedies to documentaries on Internment, families in crisis, and historical accounts.

Gala Films include:

Clash
Dir. Le Thanh Son (Vietnam)
Vietnam's answer to Angelina has arrived. This female mercenary gathers her own gang of misfits to pull off one last job to save her kidnapped daughter. A cool throwback to 1980s Hong Kong martial arts movies, this was Vietnam's biggest box office hit over a year ago -- against all odds, as it was holiday season and the film was expected to tank. With Ngo Thanh Van and Johnny Tri Nguyen, who will attend the screening.

Surrogate Valentine
Dir. Dave Boyle (White on Rice)
Goh is a low-key indie rocker on tour with a sycophantic Hollywood actor. When he reconnects with a longtime friend, he is forced to make some bold decisions about his life. With Goh Nakamura, Lynn Chen. Boyle and the actors will attend the screening, which includes a live performance by Nakamura, a well-known force in Bay Area music.

Special Presentations include:

It's a Wonderful Afterlife
Dir. Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham) (UK)
This comedy follows a mother zealous to see her daughter well married. But she becomes an avenging angel against those who made her daughter feel humiliated -- which results in quite a body count. The victims appear as ghosts to the mother, advising that they are stuck until their murderer dies. But Mamma won't go til her daughter is wed, so hell can wait. With Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy (Suresh in Heroes), Sally Hawkins. Goldy Notay will be present; the director will be in attendance via Skype. 

The Man from Nowhere
Dir. Lee Jeong-beom (Cruel Winter Blues) (South Korea)
Tae Sik is a quiet pawnshop owner with one friend, a little girl whose mother is a drug addict. The mother, however, is also a drug trafficker and gets all three of them into serious trouble with the local drug gang before being killed. The child is kidnapped, and Tae Sik is determined not only to get her back but to fight back. His suspiciously special ops-like background starts showing as he does whatever it takes to bring that gang down. With Won Bin (Mother), Kim Sae Ron, Hyo-seo Kim. The biggest Korean movie of 2010, this film has been both a commercial and critical hit, winning accolades at the Blue Dragon, Daejong, and Korean Film Awards.

Documentary films include:

Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words
Dir. Yunah Hong (USA, South Korea)
North American Premiere of a film about screen legend Anna May Wong. Commentaries, film clips, and re-enacted performances by actress Doan Ly reveal the life and bitterly racist, sexist times of Hollywood’s first major Asian American actress.

Tales of the Waria
Dir. Kathy Huang (Indonesia)
World Premiere of a documentary following the lives of four waria (biological men who identify as women), in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country. A rare chance to learn about topics we hardly ever see in the media.

The International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) is co-presenting two films at SFIAAFF: Summer Pasture, a documentary filmed on location in eastern Tibet, and Abraxas, a new dramatic feature from Japan (screened this year at Sundance).

Summer Pasture
Dir. Lynn True, Nelson Walker III and Tsering Perlo
A study of a young Tibetan couple whose harsh lives on beautiful land have been no different from their forebears for hundreds of years. But incoming developers are about to change all that, and the little family may go the way of countless uprooted rural folk for two centuries the world over: to the big city.  Directors True and Walker will attend the screening.

Abraxas
Dir. Naoki Kato (Japan)
After botching a speech on career guidance at a local high school, a depressed Zen monk with a heavy metal past realizes that only music can revive his spirit. With Suneohair, Rie Tomosaka, Manami Honjou, Ryouta Murai, Kaoru Kobayashi.

Also showing as part of Cinema Asia is the latest from renowned auteur Jia Zhang-Ke, I Wish I Knew / Hai Shang Chuan Qi. Although commissioned for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Jia is quoted: "Like an orphan anxious to learn the truth about where he comes from, I felt an urgency to learn just what lies behind the familiar official historical narratives. What in fact have individuals really experienced?” 

Along with interviewing artists, politicians, criminals, and regular citizens, among others -- not a few of whom are exiles -- some luminaries weigh in, including veteran director Hou Hsiao-hsien (The Flowers Of Shanghai), actress Wei Wei (Spring In A Small Town) and Wang T’ung (Red Persimmon). Add in newsreel and other film clips, and Jia has crafted a must-see documentary that spans the history of "The Paris of Asia" from its first days as a treaty port in the 1800s to the present day.

Live Events include:

• Bollywood Under the Stars: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
• Directions in Sound – emerging Asian American musicians
• In Conversation with Yunte Huang, author of Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous With American History
• Panel – Look Who's Laughing Now: Breakout Female Comedians
• Inaugural Independent Games Exhibition: Pixels, Politics and Play
• Stepping Forward, Looking Back: Taking Stock of the Nature, Business and Future of Indian Cinema
• Suite Suite Chinatown – showcasing Chinese Canadian filmmakers
• Up Close and Personal with the Asian American Industry: Season 2

Also screening are several excellent short films.

For more information, go to caamedia.org.

About CAAM:

The Center for Asian America Media (CAAM) presents the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) every March. The SFIAAFF is the largest and most prestigious showcase for new Asian American and Asian films in North America, annually. SFIAAFF also features the best in Asian American music and digital and interactive media. Since 1982, the SFIAAFF has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers as well as a vital source for new Asian cinema.

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
March 10 - 20, 2011

Castro Theatre
29 Castro St.
San Francisco
(415) 621-6120

Landmark Clay Theatre
2261 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 267-4893

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
1881 Post St.
San Francisco
(415) 346-3243

Plus other venues in San Francisco and San Jose.

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