CAAMFest 2013 Program Guide by Center for Asian American Media

CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

www.piccom.org

CAAMEDIA ORG 1

About CAAM

on-set at the filming of the 2011 festival trailer

About CAAM

The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible. We do this by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media.

Educational Distribution

CAAM’s catalog includes more than 250 titles, constituting the country’s largest collection of Asian American films and videos for educational distribution. Our award-winning documentaries, personal stories, dramas and experimental works reflect the rich history and diversity of Asian people in the U.S. and global diaspora.

Digital Media

CAAM presents innovative Asian American works in new forms. Since launching the Digital and Interactive Media program in 2006, CAAM produces and showcases new media projects that educate and engage. CAAM works with new forms of storytelling as an active innovator in the dynamic ecosystem of media creation and distribution.

Film Festival

CAAM presents CAAMFest (formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, or SFIAAFF) every March. CAAMFest is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. Since 1982, the festival has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers as well as a vital source for new Asian cinema.

Public Broadcast

CAAM presents innovative, engaging Asian American works on public television. Since launching the groundbreaking Asian American anthology series “Silk Screen” (1982-1987) on PBS, CAAM continues to bring award-winning works to millions of viewers nationwide. CAAM is one of five minority public broadcasting consortia designated by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to provide programming to the Public Broadcast Service (PBS).

Filmmaker Support

CAAM provides funding and support for provocative and engaging Asian American film and media projects from independent producers through two programs, Media Fund and the James T. Yee Talent Development Program, named in honor of CAAM’s founding Executive Director. Media Fund includes the CAAM Documentary Fund, for projects intended for public television broadcast, and the CAAM Innovation Fund, a new initiative to fund and license short online content. The James T. Yee Talent Development Program includes the CAAM Fellowship program, a mentorship program for emerging filmmakers, and the Loni Ding Award in Social Issue Documentary.

2 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 04 06 08 10 14 17 21 29 31 40 45 51 57 67 73 74 76 78 80

Welcome Calendar Ticket Information & Venues Sponsors CAAM Tides Gala Presentations Special Presentations Pacific Showcase New Directions Awards Comcast Narrative Competition Documentary Competition CinemAsia Shorts Board & Staff Thank You Acknowledgements Print Source Indexes

CAAMEDIA ORG 3

Welcome

Whoop' Ti Yi Yo!

Welcome On behalf of the staff and Board of the Center for Asian American Media, greetings and welcome to CAAMFest! If you have followed us on the thirty-three year journey as NAATA and CAAM, you are aware that our festival was previously known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. You are probably also aware of the direction we’ve been moving the last few years, blending the best in Asian and Asian American film with new directions in music and digital arts. If you’re new to us, our intention will become evident over the next eleven days: to present a world-class festival of contemporary Asian American creative expression in film, music and food designed to inspire, delight and move you. The core of the festival remains true to its core focus, the discovery and presentation of new talent, new voices, new stories, and new visions. At the same time, we honor the past; this year, for instance, we celebrate the anniversaries of Astro Boy and the Chinese animation classic, The Monkey King (this time presented in a newly restored, 3D version). We are also inaugurating a new initiative, Memories to Light: Asian American Home Movies, a project to collect, preserve and share unique family records that together represent our collective experiences of growing up Asian in America (and yes, my memories include a few precious moments on horseback). We are extremely proud of the six films that have been selected for the documentary competition which have received CAAM Media Fund support. We give special thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, whose support keeps our vital work in public media possible. Finally, I would like to extend our thanks to our wonderful members, whose support is key to work, and to our Presenting, Grand and Principal Sponsors: Comcast, Asian Art Museum, Pacific Islanders in Communications and B’stro. These sponsors recognize the important role our festival plays in the cultural life of the Bay Area, and we appreciate their thoughtful support. Whoop' Ti Yi Yo!

Stephen Gong Executive Director, Center for Asian American Media

4 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the 2013 CAAMFest; it’s great to have you here!

Dear Friends,

In 2012, CAAM celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of our yearly showcase, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, which offered an opportunity to honor the filmmakers, activists and community members who paved the way for our present and future storytelling. A year later, we now face a critical question: How can we best sustain the next thirty years of Asian American media? Enter CAAMFest, the new incarnation of our yearly festival.

It’s with borderline hyperactive excitement that we welcome you to CAAMFest, a milestone in the evolution of our yearly festival. The first item is that you will no longer be required to repeat and memorize our previous moniker—the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival—woohoo! We are now, in one breath, CAAMFest!

Our mission is to offer the Bay Area an event like no other – a celebration of the greatest in not just Asian American cinema, but also music, food and all-around culture. So, join us for innovative films, live performances by Dengue Fever and Indian Bastards from Hell (featuring members of Das Racist), talks that will give you a chance to meet today’s most inspiring creators, and some mouth-watering dishes from celebrated chefs.

Secondly, as we enter a renaissance of Asian American artistry and innovation, we are thrilled to present a new way to navigate the festival in CAAM Tides, an organizing principle that encourages free-flowing exploration across platform and genre.

As my usual Astro Boy-inspired front-tip hairstyle suggests, I’m a huge fan of that beloved Japanese cartoon character, and am excited to celebrate his sixtieth anniversary with a multimedia presentation. We are also thrilled to have a retrospective on acclaimed Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan, who will be in attendance!

And now for some of the big ones: We open this year’s CAAMFest with the exhilarating, fresh-from-Sundance doc Linsanity, directed by the Bay’s own Evan Jackson Leong. The film provides unparalleled access to sports sensation Jeremy Lin, from his early days through his tumultuous and ultimately triumphant career. Our Centerpiece Gala welcomes back master filmmaker Deepa Mehta, with her exquisite adaption of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. A personal favorite of mine, we also present Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, starring a dapper Riz Ahmed in a vital interpretation of the American Muslim narrative.

On behalf of the CAAM staff, I would like to thank our marvelous sponsors, partners, media guests and, most importantly, our attendees. Thank you for your loyalty, passion for the arts and enduring interest in fostering a strong community.

Lastly, I’d like to thank colleagues and friends as I undertake my last festival at CAAM. I can say with pride that as we step into a new world of creative expression, our core is and has always been about you and your communities. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next.

See you at the festival! Christine Kwon Masashi Niwano

Festival Managing Director

Festival and Exhibitions Director

CAAMEDIA ORG 5

Calendar

THURSDAY MARCH 14

VENUE

LINSANITY - OPENING NIGHT FILM OPENING NIGHT GALA

TIME

CAS

7:00 PM

AAM

9:30 PM

FRIDAY MARCH 15

NICE GIRLS CREW 2 BEIJING FLICKERS + SHANGHAI STRANGERS WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED

KAB

8:00 PM

PFA

8:20 PM

9:00 PM

THE LAND OF HOPE

KAB

9:40 PM

FESTIVAL SOCIAL CLUB

SLATE

10:00 PM

2013 READY, SET, PITCH! PANEL

HOT

10:00 AM

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

CAS

12:00 PM

TOUCH OF THE LIGHT

12:00 PM

FILMMAKER ON A VOYAGE

KAB

2:30 PM

WHEN I WALK

KAB

5:00 PM

EMOTIONAL EATERS - SHORTS

KAB

5:00 PM

THE CHEER AMBASSADORS

6:00 PM

GRACELAND

7:00 PM

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE

PFA

7:00 PM

GO GRANDRIDERS + HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE

A WRENCH IN THE WORKS - SHORTS

KAB

12:15 PM

KAB

7:20 PM

MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER...

KAB

12:40 PM

JISEUL

KAB

7:30 PM

XMAS WITHOUT CHINA

KAB

9:10 PM

MEKONG HOTEL + ADVANTAGEOUS

2:10 PM

SUNSET STORIES

PFA

9:10 PM

LET’S PLAY MUSIC! + LINA’LA LUSONG

KAB

2:30 PM

ONE ON ONE - SHORTS

KAB

9:15 PM

QUEER CONVERGENCE - SHORTS

CAS

2:40 PM

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

9:15 PM

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

KAB

3:00 PM

BEAUTIFUL 2012

PFA

4:00 PM

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO

4:15 PM

WYSIWYG - SHORTS MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN CENTERPIECE PRESENTATION OLD ROMANCES

KAB

5:00 PM

CAS

6:00 PM

PFA

6:00 PM

SEEKING HAVEN + INHERITANCE

6:30 PM

ABIGAIL HARM

KAB

7:00 PM

HARANA

KAB

7:10 PM

SATURDAY MARCH 16

SUNDAY MARCH 17

BEAUTIFUL 2012

KAB

12:40 PM

E HAKU INOA + PIKO

12:15 PM

INVOKING JUSTICE

KAB

1:00 PM

THE MOSUO SISTERS

2:10 PM

ON BODIES - SHORTS

KAB

3:00 PM

LATE SUMMER + CONVERSATION

KAB

3:00 PM

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL MEKONG HOTEL + ADVANTAGEOUS WYSIWYG - SHORTS

FROG

3:00 PM

PFA

4:00 PM

881

PFA

7:45 PM

4:20 PM

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

9:00 PM

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

KAB

5:20 PM

WHEN I WALK

KAB

9:30 PM

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

KAB

5:45 PM

TURN IT UP TO 11 PART 2: WILD DAYS

KAB

9:40 PM

SUNSET STORIES

CAS

9:45 PM

KAB

6:15 PM

HARANA

PFA

5:50 PM

DEAD DAD

6:40 PM

MONDAY MARCH 18

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

KAB

7:30 PM

ABIGAIL HARM

6 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Calendar

VENUE KEY

MEMORY OF FORGOTTEN WAR + CONVERSATION XMAS WITHOUT CHINA

KAB

6:30 PM

THE CHEER AMBASSADORS

KAB

8:30 PM

A WRENCH IN THE WORKS - SHORTS

8:30 PM

SEEKING HAVEN + INHERITANCE

KAB

8:50 PM

OLD ROMANCES

KAB

6:00 PM

DEAD DAD

KAB

6:15 PM

ON BODIES - SHORTS

6:30 PM

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

KAB

8:20 PM

JISEUL

KAB

8:30 PM

LET'S PLAY MUSIC! + LINA’LA’ LUSONG

6:45 PM

15 + CONVERSATION

PFA

7:00 PM

THE MONKEY KING 3D

KAB

7:00 PM

THE MOSUO SISTERS

8:45 PM

LATE SUMMER

KAB

9:15 PM

QUEER CONVERGENCE - SHORTS

KAB

9:20 PM

TUESDAY MARCH 19

WEDNESDAY MARCH 20

THURSDAY MARCH 21 DOSA HUNT + NEW DIRECTIONS LAUNCH

AAM

6:00 PM

ONE ON ONE - SHORTS

KAB

6:30 PM

AAM

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

CAS

CASTRO THEATRE

FROG

SUPERFROG GALLERY

GREAT

GREAT STAR THEATER

HOT

HOTEL KABUKI

KAB

SUNDANCE KABUKI CINEMAS

NEW PEOPLE CINEMA

PFA

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE (BERKELEY)

RICK

RICKSHAW STOP

SLATE

SLATE BAR

UBCR

UNION BANK COMMUNITY ROOM

ASTRO BOY: 60TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION INVOKING JUSTICE

FROG

7:00 PM

PFA

7:00 PM

NICE GIRLS CREW 2

8:00 PM

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO

PFA

8:45 PM

GRACELAND

10:15 PM

COOK SALON: MIXING MASALA

FROG

11:00 AM

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

12:00 PM

GO GRANDRIDERS + HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE

GREAT

2:00 PM

COOK SALON: (BITTER)SWEET

FROG

2:00 PM

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS + CONVERSATION

OMCA

2:00 PM

EMOTIONAL EATERS - SHORTS

2:30 PM

BEIJING FLICKERS + SHANGHAI STRANGERS

GREAT

4:00 PM

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE

5:00 PM

ASIAN CHOPS - PBS FOOD SHOW

KQED

5:00 PM

TOUCH OF THE LIGHT

PFA

6:00 PM

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE PANEL

UBCR

7:00 PM

INVOKING JUSTICE

7:15 PM

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

PFA

8:45 PM

WHEN I WALK

9:15 PM

DIRECTIONS IN SOUND

RICK

10:00 PM

DEAD DAD

12:30 PM

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

GREAT

2:00 PM

SATURDAY MARCH 23

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS + CONVERSATION

7:00 PM

THE LAND OF HOPE

PFA

7:00 PM

E HAKU INOA + PIKO

KAB

8:50 PM

WYSIWYG - SHORTS

KAB

9:00 PM

BEIJING FLICKERS + SHANGHAI STRANGERS

WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED

2:45 PM

9:20 PM

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

GREAT

4:00 PM

FROG

4:00 PM

ASTRO BOY: THE MOVIE

5:30 PM

5:00 PM

TURN IT UP TO 11 PART 2: WILD DAYS

GREAT

7:00 PM

GROOVE SALON MEMORIES TO LIGHT - CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION XMAS WITHOUT CHINA

7:30 PM

FRIDAY MARCH 22

SUNDAY MARCH 24

CAAMEDIA ORG 7

Ticket Information and Venues

Venues Theaters Castro Theatre 429 Castro Street, San Francisco 415.621.6120 castrotheatre.com

New People Cinema 1746 Post Street, San Francisco 415.525.8600 newpeopleworld.com

Great Star Theater

Pacific Film Archive Theater (PFA) 2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley 510.624.0808 bampfa.berkeley.edu

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas 1881 Post Street, San Francisco 415.346.3243 sundancecinemas.com

636 Jackson Street, San Francisco 415.989.9989 greatstar.org

Ticket Prices CA AMFest 6-Pack

Regular Screenings

Save over $10 when you purchase a CAAMFest 6-Pack! The CAAMFest 6-Pack gets you 6 regularly priced tickets for the price of 5, and can be used in any permutation you choose, i.e. 6 tickets to 1 screening, or 1 ticket to 6 screenings. The CAAMFest 6-Pack is not valid for admission in and of itself; films must be selected in advance of entry. CAAMFest.

General Admission $12 CAAM Member (2 per program) $10 Students/Seniors (65+)/Disabled (1 per program) $11

6-Packs may be redeemed online or in person, with the exception of the following venues: Castro Theatre, Pacific Film Archive, Great Star Theater.Â 6-Packs are valid in the rush line. CAAMFest 6-Pack not valid for special screenings & programs, e.g. Centerpiece Film, CAAM Salons, Directions in Sound, Opening and Closing Night, and may not be used in combination with other forms of payment.

8 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAMFest 6-Pack Six tickets for the price of five $60

Special Screenings & Programs Opening Night Screening & Gala Reception & Peterson Room $150 Screening & Gala Reception $55 CAAM Members $45 Screening Only $35 Gala Reception Only $30 Closing Night General Admission $20 CAAM Members $17 Centerpiece General Admission + Party $45 CAAM Member + Party $35 General Admission Screening Only $20 CAAM Member Screening Only $17

New Directions Launch Event at AAM General Admission: $35 CAAM Member: $30 CAAM Salons General Admission $15 CAAM Members $13

Social Events Directions in Sound General Admission $30/$35 (presale/at door) CAAM Member $25/$30 Badge Holder $25/$30 Social Club General Admission $12/$15 CAAM Member $10/$10 Students/Seniors/Disabled $11/$15

Ticket Information and Venues

Venues Asian Art Museum

Slate Bar

200 Larkin Street, San Francisco 415.581.3500 asianart.org

2925 16th Street, San Francisco slate-sf.com

Hotel Kabuki 1625 Post Street, San Francisco 415.922.3200 jdvhotels.com/kabuki

Superfrog Gallery at New People 1746 Post Street, San Francisco 415.525.8631 newpeopleworld.com

Rickshaw Stop 155 Fell Street, San Francisco 415.861.2011 rickshawstop.com

How To Buy Tickets Whether you like to plan ahead or make decision on the fly, there are several ways to buy tickets. Tickets ordered on or before March 1 may be mailed to you for a $2 fee. No tickets will be mailed after March 1 and must be picked up at Will Call at the first screening of the order. Tickets not picked up will be reallocated to the Will Call desk at the next screening of the order. Will Call opens 45 minutes prior to all screenings. All lines for tickets form outside so please dress accordingly. Tickets purchased online are subject to a $1.50 service fee per ticket. This fee is waived for in-person ticket sales. The CAAMFest 6-Pack is subject to a $6 fee when purchased online. Have questions about buying tickets? Ask us at boxoffice@caamedia.org.

Online Feb 17-March 24 CAAM Members Only Feb 13-16

In Person Feb 28 – March 13 // 4-9pm March 14-24 // From 1 hour before first screening of the day Advance-sale tickets are available only at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas until March 15. Dayof-show tickets may be purchased, for cash only, at all other theater box offices (Castro Theatre, New People Cinema, Great Star Theater and Pacific Film Archive Theater) from 45 minutes before the first screening of the day.

Rush Shows Rush means that a screening or event has sold all of its available tickets—but there is still a chance to get in, if you wait in the Rush line. The Rush line will form outside of the venue around 45 minutes before the screening is set to begin. 5 to 10 minutes before the screening starts, all unclaimed seats will be sold to the rush line. One rush ticket per person in the rush line, and there are no guarantees.

The Fine Print All tickets sales are final. No refunds, exchanges or reprints on any purchases. Ticket holder must arrive at least 15 minutes before show time to guarantee entry. We are not responsible for lost, stolen or misplaced tickets. We will be unable to admit patrons without tickets. All seating is at management discretion. For more information, please call 415.552.5580 or fax 415.865.1587.

Pacific Film Archive Theater (PFA) Tickets for PFA screenings may also be purchased directly from the PFA. Feb 13-March 23 $10 Member price available to BAM/PFA & CAAM Members (2 per person with I.D.) In Person: Berkeley Art Museum admissions desk daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or PFA Theater box office starting one hour before the first showtime of the day. Charge-by-phone (510.642.5249) or online (bampfa. berkeley.edu) up to one day before the program for pickup at the PFA Theater box office. Recorded Information: 510.642.1124 Daytime Contact: 510.642.1412 Minimal service charges apply. Tickets are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged.

CAAMEDIA ORG 9

Sponsors

venue

lead hotel sponsor

media

promotional SanFranciscoChinatown.com

in-kind

For white/light bckgd

For black bckgd

CAAMEDIA ORG 11

Exobi_FULLPAGE.pdf

1/13/12

10:06 AM

A simple, powerful solution for c r e a t i n g y o u r f e s t i v a lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s w e b s i t e

CMY

Interactive Festival Guide and Blog Design Customizer with Over 90 Options Integrated Online Ticketing

www.gala-engine.com

Gala is brought to you by Proud sponsor of the 2013 CAAMFest www.exobi.com

A New Way to CAAMFest!

CAAM Tides

Comrade Kim Goes Flying

A New Way to CAAMFest! As we mark a transition from our traditional festival to CAAMFest 2013, we also present an exciting new way to navigate our films and events. An alternative to typical festival sections, CAAM Tides highlight some of the key themes that are threaded throughout the program, enabling the festival-goer to experience the new waves of culture that are hitting shores both in the Bay and beyond. ABOVE THE LINE: Women in Media

AGENT/ADVOCATE: Brave Creators

Media craves the unique voice, and in this slate of female-backed projects the creative vision is clearly driven by women. From filmmakers to actresses, musicians to chefs, ABOVE THE LINE showcases the new wave of women succeeding across all spectra.

Our AGENT/ADVOCATE section highlights a select crop of visionaries who dare to tap into the most controversial and sensitive issues of our time. More than merely seeking provocation, these artists push their audiences to question troubling political, economic and cultural realities.

Programs:

Cook Salon: (Bitter)Sweet, w/chefs Wendy Lieu, Lisa Murphy & Thy Tran Directions in Sound: Dengue Fever Invoking Justice, Dir. Deepa Dhanraj Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker on a Voyage, Dir. Mona Lisa Yuchengco Midnightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Children, Dir. Deepa Mehta Nice Girls Crew 2, Creator Christine Kwon & Actresses Michelle Krusiec, Lynn Chen & Sheetal Sheth The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Dir. Mira Nair Shanghai Strangers, Dir. Joan Chen Someone I Used to Know, Dir. Nadine Truong When the Bough Breaks, Dir. Ji Dan

Films of Royston Tan Retrospective + Royston Tan in Conversation The Land of Hope, Dir. Sion Sono Midnightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Children, Dir. Deepa Mehta New Directions Launch: Indian Bastards from Hell The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Dir. Mira Nair When Night Falls, Dir. Ying Liang When the Bough Breaks, Dir. Ji Dan + Conversation with Hung Liu

14 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAM Tides _

Witness the work of a brash generation of women artists in ABOVE THE LINE; get an international perspective of some of the most provocative contemporary directors with AGENT/ADVOCATE; delve into the world of artistic re-interpretation in NEW CUTS, and witness how changes in China and Korea are felt around the globe. By making connections that go beyond runtime and genre, these journeys encourage an exploration of the festival—and the world— that crosses formats, platforms and cultures. BEYOND BOUNDARIES: On the Anniversary of the Armistice

ECONOMIES OF POWER: Examining Present-Day China

NEW CUTS: Creative Adaptations

Unknown or forgotten by most Americans, the Korean War divided a people with several millenniums of shared history. Utilizing the documentary Memory of Forgotten War as a launching point, BEYOND BOUNDARIES explores the societal repercussions and cinematic incarnations of the Korean War.

Few topics spark more interest and inquiry as the rising economic power of China. In this intriguing selection, filmmakers provide a human face and layered narratives to the story of Chinese, Americans and Chinese Americans. From the divergent fates of young Chinese women (The Mosuo Sisters) to the real-life test of enjoying an American lifestyle without Chinese goods (Xmas Without China), these programs help provide a larger context to US-China relations.

These programs embody the ever-evolving practice of creative adaptation. Whether turning contemporary literary masterworks or legendary folk tales into films, charting how a popular anime figure is reshaped through the years, discovering new flavors in traditional dishes, or remixing old soul and hip-hop into modern sounds, these events will open your eyes to the possibilities—and pleasures—of creative re-interpretation.

Programs:

Comrade Kim Goes Flying, Dirs. Kim Gwang Hun, Nick Bonner, Anja Daelemans Footsteps, Dir. Thomas Kim (Wrench in the Works Shorts Program) Jiseul, Dir. O Meul Memory of Forgotten War, Dirs. Deann Borshay Liem and Ramsay Liem, + Panel Seeking Haven, Dirs. Hein S. Seok, Lee Hark-joon, Ko Dong-kyun

Programs:

Beijing Flickers, Dir. Zhang Yuan High Tech, Low Life, Dir. Stephen Maing The Mosuo Sisters, Dir. Marlo Poras Seeking Asian Female, Dir. Debbie Lum When Night Falls, Dir. Ying Liang Xmas Without China, Dir. Alicia Dwyer

Programs:

Abigail Harm, Dir. Lee Isaac Chung Astro Boy Anniversary Exhibit &

Film Screening Cook Salon: Mixing Masala Directions in Sound: Vinroc Late Summer, Dir. Ernie Park + Conversation with Kogonada Midnight’s Children, Dir. Deepa Mehta

The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven 3D, Dir. Su Da, Chen Zhihong

The School For Good and Evil, Writer Soman Chainani

CAAMEDIA ORG 15

16 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Gala Presentations

From an intimate portrait of a Bay Area native's meteoric rise to international fame, to a magical realist interpretation of the birth of a nation, and closing with a mosaic of rare home videos as multifaceted and vibrant as the lives lovingly depicted, this year's Gala Presentations usher in CAAMFest by way of a series of homecomings. CAAMEDIA ORG 17

Gala Presentations

Opening Night

Linsanity OPENING NIGHT GALA 9:30 PM | ASIAN ART MUSEUM Don’t miss CAAMFest’s Opening Night Gala at the magnificent Asian Art Museum. Whet your appetite and meet some of the Bay Area’s most talented and innovative food purveyors, including Distillery 209, Dosa, Namu Gaji, Sapporo Beer, Serpentine, and Socola Chocolates. Be among the first to experience “China’s Terracotta Warriors, The First Emperor’s Legacy.”

THU MAR 14 | 7 PM | CASTRO THEATRE USA 2013 | 88mins DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: Evan Jackson Leong EXEC. PRODUCERS: James D. Stern, Patricia Sun, Sam Kwok PRODUCERS: Christopher Chen, Brian Yang, Allen Lu EDITOR: Greg Louie MUSIC: Newton Brothers In 2012, the entire media landscape was abuzz about one man: basketball sensation Jeremy Lin. From gracing the covers of Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated to being satirized by Saturday Night Live, Lin captured the imagination, both here and abroad, like no single Asian American since Bruce Lee. In Linsanity, director and Bay Area native Evan Jackson Leong goes beyond the headlines to uncover the real story behind this cultural phenomenon. The Jeremy Lin story begins in the suburbs of Palo Alto, where as a high-schooler Lin quickly impressed coaches and audiences with his uncanny ability and work ethic. Nonetheless, he received no athletic scholarships after graduating high school, and finally left the Bay to attend Harvard University, where he continued to prove himself on the court. Undrafted out of college and never given a full run in the NBA (even after spending time with his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors), he soon joined the New York Knicks as a backup, until injuries to starters propelled him onto the court…and into stardom. Lin scored more points in his first five NBA starts than any other player in the modern era, and he did it with style: in less than a month, Linsanity was born; with it came praise as “the ultimate underdog” and worldwide fame, but also a certain undercurrent of doubt, sometimes racially charged. In Linsanity, the first documentary in over a decade to open the festival, filmmaker Leong and his crew give you courtside seats to Lin’s sudden rise, masterfully capturing the energy and hysteria that swept up this Palo Alto baller—and the world—along the way. With a trove of home movies, jaw-dropping game footage and intimate interviews with family members, Leong’s inspirational portrait reveals a man who has infinite passion for his craft, yet still finds time to give back to communities and who, at the end of the day, is forever guided by his core values: faith and family.

—Masashi Niwano

Girl Friday Event Production San Francisco

18 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Centerpiece

Gala Presentations

Presentation Centerpiece

Midnight’s Children PRE-RECEPTION | 5 PM Indulge in delicious hors d’oeuvres and drinks to celebrate this special event. Reception begins at 5pm in the Castro Theatre Mezzanine and will be followed by the screening at 6pm in the Castro Theatre.

SUN MAR 17 | 6 PM | CASTRO THEATRE Canada/U.K. 2012 | 148mins | English & Hindi w/E.S. | In 35mm DIRECTOR: Deepa Mehta EXEC. PRODUCERS: Deepa Mehta, Dilip Mehta, Salman Rushdie, Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Steven Silver, Neil Tabatznik, Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley PRODUCER: David Hamilton WRITER: Rushdie CINEMATOGRAPHER: Giles Nuttgens EDITOR: Colin Monie SOUND: Sylvain Arseneault CAST: Satya Bhabha, Shahanna Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas If anyone ever held claim to being the center of the universe, it is Saleem Sinai, a man “handcuffed,” as it were, to history; whether or not life at the center is worth living is another story altogether. Auteur Deepa Mehta (Fire, SFIAAFF ’97; Water, SFIAAFF ’06; Cooking With Stella, SFIAAFF ’10) returns to the centerpiece spot with Midnight’s Children, her much-anticipated collaboration with writer Salman Rushdie. Rushdie adapts his own Booker Prize-winning novel for the film, and provides his voice to narrate the tale. A child of poor street musicians, Saleem (newcomer Satya Bhabha) is the first of the (literally) enchanted children born between midnight and 1 AM on August 15, 1947, at the exact moment of India’s independence. His fortunes are reversed at birth by a nurse who switches him with the just-born son of the wealthy Sinai family, Shiva, who will grow to become Saleem’s eternal rival. Saleem’s power is the greatest of all the gifts of midnight’s children; able to communicate telepathically, he brings them all together through years of change. Mehta uses her palette deftly, recreating the novel’s magical India in lush 35mm. Rushdie creates a telescoping narrative spanning sixty years, at once both intimate and impossibly sprawling, tying Saleem’s life inexorably to the tumultuous end of an empire. Suffused throughout Saleem’s story is a kind of relentless optimism, the hope that love will triumph over the divisions that split India from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Saleem never stops believing, even when this puts him at odds with his longtime friends. In this, despite all of the pain that surrounds him, Saleem’s life is an unqualified success.

—Mordecai Stayton

CAAMEDIA ORG 19

Gala Presentations

Closing Night

Memories to Light : Asian American Home Movies SUN MAR 24 | 5 PM | NEW PEOPLE This special presentation marks the official public launch of CAAMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new home movies initiative, Memories to Light: Asian American Home Movies. For this program, we will gather under one roof, as families do, to watch a special selection, presented by acclaimed filmmaker Mark Decena, from home movies that CAAM has collected thus far. Entitled "The War Inside," Decena will explore the historically hostile Japanese-Filipino relations, born from parents of both cultures. Marched early on into the mixed race blender of Asian America, armed with 8mm cameras, his stories amidst the growing collection of the archive, manifest the collective memories of our Asian American experience. Home movies occupy a unique place in American culture. Though generally dismissed for their amateur qualities, home movies provide us with authentic and honest moving images. Premised on the historic, cultural, and artistic value of the home movie, Memories to Light is a national participatory arts project that constructs shared social, cultural, and political representations of Asian America directly from the community itself. Since the mainstream media has given us so few images of the Asian American experience, home movies show us the way to see how our grandparents, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles lived their lives. The purpose of this project is to recover and make accessible a moving image record of the Asian American experience through home movies. This project has three components spanning six decades: the digitization of film (8mm, Super-8, and 16mm), an online streaming collection through the Internet Archives and at caamedia.org, and a series of public screenings. The online archive will be accessible to the public and easy to browse for use by everyone around the world.

Memories to Light is supported by grants from The National Endowment for the Arts and Cal Humanities.

With special thanks to Rick Prelinger of Prelinger Archives and Antonella Bonfanti of San Francisco Participatory Archives Group.

20 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Special Presentations

CAAMFest offers unique live events with media makers almost daily. This year's Special Presentations include a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Astro Boy, a talk with Singaporean director Royston Tan, a preview of the novel The School for Good and Evil, and the return of the notorious Nice Girls Crew.

CAAMEDIA ORG 21

Special Presentations

Spotlight

Astro Boy 6OTH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION: FRI MAR 22 | 7 PM | SUPERFROG

“In an age when most American superheroes fought for a patriotic form of justice and had special powers derived from mysterious, almost cosmic sources, Astro Boy was utterly original. ...His powers were based on semi-scientific or mechanical principles, and instead of fighting for justice, he fought for peace.” —Frederic L. Schodt Astro Boy: Books 1 and 2.2 CAAM is thrilled to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of that icon of manga, anime, video games and the big screen: Astro Boy. A global sensation, Astro Boy is a touching story of a child’s dream of world peace . Starting as a Japanese manga in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy was the first official anime released in America. Through the decades, Astro Boy has evolved, been remodeled and become a household name: his animated (and live action) TV series, many video games and toys, and most recently the 2009 film. Our Astro Boy spotlight will display many rare items to help celebrate the anniversary of this global hero, including rare TV episodes, classic manga, video games to play, and of course, Astro Boy, the film! ASTRO BOY (Testuwan Atomu) FRI MAR 22 | 5:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE CINEMA USA 2009 | 94mins | In 35mm DIRECTOR: David Bowers EXEC. PRODUCERS: Francis Kao, Cecil Kramer, Ken Tsumura, Paul Wang PRODUCERS: Maryann Garger CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pepe Valencia EDITOR: Robert Anich WRITERS: David Bowers, Timothy Harris CAST: Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Freddie Highmore Astro Boy is a young robot with incredible powers, created by a genius scientist who dreams of replacing his dead son. In a Metropolis-like futuristic city, our young hero embarks on a journey to find his place in the world, ultimately mastering his powers to protect those he loves from alien intruders. Beautifully crafted, smartly written and featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage and Charlize Theron, this 2009 adaptation of the famous manga is filled with a deep love and fan’s appreciation for the series. This family-friendly, charming film is bound to warm the hearts of the audience.

—Masashi Niwano

22 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Special Presentations

Nice Girls Crew 2 SAT MAR 16 | 8 PM | KABUKI FRI MAR 22 | 8 PM | NEW PEOPLE USA 2013 | 50mins DIRECTOR: Tanuj Chopra EXEC. PRODUCER: Donald Young PRODUCER: Krystel Gapasin WRITERS: Christine Kwon, Chopra CINEMATOGRAPHER: Anne Misawa SOUND: Louie Alfaro, Kennard Morris CAST: Sheetal Sheth, Lynn Chen, Michelle Krusiec, Leonardo Nam, Tsai Chin They’re baaaack! After a sizzling and successful debut in 2012, Sheetal Sheth, Lynn Chen and Michelle Krusiec return in this CAAM-produced, web-based comedy about three best frenemies and their cray cray antics in a book club. Sophie (Chen) is the human Rainbow Brite, wreaking sunshine even as she reveals her inner Dexter. Geraldine (Krusiec) is the badly permed, cult-leader potentate, whose talents range from interpretative dance to balancing martinis. And Leena (Sheth) is the unabashed thug-ess in heels, whose constant refusal to actually read any books is matched only by her trademark tardiness. In Season 2, the book club moves to Sophie’s home, where the young entrepreneur capitalizes on a booming cupcake business and hires a personal assistant, Donatello (the dashing Leonardo Nam, The Perfect Score; The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift). Leena takes an immediate interest in this hunky new help, providing a very loose interpretation of the term manservant. Meanwhile, Geraldine goes deep into the world of motivational speaking, morphing into a self-ordained self-help guru and spreading words of wisdom and weirdness to all who will listen. We’re also introduced to Geraldine’s worldly, slightly raunchy mother, played by the iconic actress Tsai Chin (Joy Luck Club). From emerging writer/producer Christine Kwon and award-winning Sundance director Tanuj Chopra (Punching at the Sun), Nice Girls Crew 2 also boasts the cinematography of Anne Misawa (Treeless Mountain; Jack & Diane), as well as guest spots from comic maverick Parvesh Cheena (Outsourced; Friend Me), and Youtube darling Anthony Ma.

CAAMEDIA ORG 23

Special Presentations

The School for Good and Evil AUTHOR EVENT SAT MAR 16 | 3 PM | SUPERFROG

Teeming with action, romance and comedy, The School for Good and Evil introduces us to a brand new generation of storybook characters who seek the truth between beauty and ugliness, good and evil, and life and death. At the School for Good and Evil, ordinary boys and girls are trained to become either extraordinary fairy tale heroes or nefarious villains. When best friends Sophie and Agatha are kidnapped from their village and taken to the academy, Sophie expects to join the ranks of former School of Good students like Cinderella and Snow White, while the homely Agatha prepares to enter the School of Evil. But the girls find their fortunes switched, and Sophie ends up in courses like “Uglification” and “Death Curses,” while Agatha enjoys classes in “Princess Etiquette” and “Animal Communication.” Join Soman Chainani, emerging screenwriter and graduate of the MFA Film Program at Columbia University, as he reads from the first book in The School for Good and Evil series. He will also conduct a Q&A session about the novel and discuss his process for creating an immersive fantasy world with modern adaptations of historical folk tales. This event is great for kids age eight and up, and especially for book lovers of all ages.

Soman Chainani is a recent alum of the CAAM Fellowship Program.

24 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

The first installment of the fantasy trilogy comes out in Spring 2013, but this interactive book preview will help bring The School for Good and Evil to life even sooner, with pictures, video and much more!

Special Presentations

The Reluctant Fundamentalist SUN MAR 17 | 12 PM | CASTRO THEATRE India/Pakistan/USA 2012 | 128mins | English & Urdu w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Mira Nair EXEC. PRODUCER: Hani Farsi PRODUCER: Lydia Dean Pilcher WRITERS: Mohsin Hamid, William Wheeler, Ami Boghani CINEMATOGRAPHER: Declan Quinn EDITOR: Shimit Amin SOUND: Mark Cornish, Vivek Sachidanand MUSIC: Michael Andrews CAST: Kiefer Sutherland, Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber A boldly dramatic adaptation of a remarkable, timely novel, Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist promises to be one of the most talked about films of the year. Mixing romance and tragedy with the classic arc of ambition thwarted, Nair brings Mohsin Hamid’s award-winning 2007 book to the screen with both passion and insight. We begin in 2011 in Lahore. At an outdoor café a Pakistani man named Changez (Riz Ahmed) tells Bobby (Liev Schreiber), an American journalist, about his experiences in the United States. Roll back ten years, and we find a younger Changez fresh from Princeton, seeking fortune and glory on Wall Street. The American Dream seems well within his grasp, complete with a smart and gorgeous artist girlfriend, Erica (Kate Hudson). But when the Twin Towers are attacked, a cultural divide slowly begins to crack open between Changez and Erica. Changez’s dream soon begins to slip into nightmare: profiled and wrongfully arrested, he is transformed from an upwardly mobile businessman to a perceived enemy. With time, he begins to hear the call of his own homeland. Ahmed gives a magnificently textured performance as the aptly named Changez, whose attitude evolves from an eager willingness to assimilate to a deep dejection with his adopted country. Ahmed and his castmates (among them Kiefer Sutherland and Om Puri) are aided greatly by Nair’s assured direction. The story they tell is one of profound, global implications. —Adapted from Toronto International Film Festival

CAAMEDIA ORG 25

Special Presentations

Retrospective

Royston Tan “Royston Tan: when he’s good, he’s great; when he’s bad, he’s better.” -Steve Seid We are pleased that Royston Tan will appear at the Pacific Film Archive Theater on Wednesday, March 20 for an Afterimage conversation with critic/artist Valerie Soe, following a screening of 15. Since 1986, Valerie Soe has produced a groundbreaking body of work that includes experimental media, installation, and documentaries that address issues of Asian American identity and culture. Soe is a faculty member of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University and bombards our tentative calm with her blog, beyondasiaphilia, which recently received a Creative Capital award.

Royston Tan is a nuisance, a thorn in the side of the body politic. At the just-legal age of twenty-one, he began issuing forth a torrent of provocative short films such as Sons (2000), 48 on AIDS (2002), Mother (2002), and 15 (2002), that inspired admiration from the critics and condemnation from the censors in his native Singapore. With the feature-length version of 15 (2003)—a raw and forbidden look at disaffected punks and their nihilistic exploits—Tan’s days seemed numbered. Tan’s unblinking outlook was new to the island republic, and the Singapore Board of Film Censors responded with equal ferocity, requesting dozens of cuts, even objecting to the use of Hokkien, a Chinese dialect scorned by the government. The following year, Tan made his annoyance clear with the Bollywood-like barb Cut, a caustic tribute to censorship. His follow-up film, the mildly muted 4:30 (2005), again approached urban angst, this time through the eyes of an eleven-year-old trapped in the isolation of a dreary high-rise. As if it were an antidote to contemporary torment, Tan took on a bit of cultural candy, getai, the gaudy Malaysian musical style in 881 (2007). The film is a profusion of dazzling and dizzy color and costume, draped around a story about the Papaya Sisters, two friends trying to win the national getai competition. Tan’s musical extravaganza is so cantankerously camp it’s subversive. But the “bad boy” is only part of the package: Tan’s most recent films, such as I Want to Remember (2011) and Old Romances (2012), are fond, almost nostalgic, embraces of the past, homages to memory and place that might serve as curatives for the disaffected. —Steve Seid This presentation is part of the Pacific Film Archive’s ongoing series Afterimage: Filmmakers and Critics in Conversation, which is made possible by generous funding from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association®. With special thanks to the Consulate-General of the Republic of Singapore, San Francisco; Nicholas Chee, Sinema Productions; Gary Goh, Zhao Wei Films; Hui Hui, Raintree Pictures; and Wahyuni A. Hadi, Objectifs Centre for Photography & Film / Objectifs Films.

26 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Special Presentations

Old Romances Singapore 2012 | 77mins | Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Royston Tan SUN MAR 17 | 6 PM | PFA TUE MAR 19 | 6 PM | KAB “Old places are like old lovers to me, you never forget them,” says director Royston Tan. In this sequel to the documentary Old Places, Tan takes us on a fond outing to experience Singapore through the recollections of everyday citizens. Instead of monuments of high culture or touristic clichés, Old Romances focuses on vernacular sites that have deep meaning for the locals, the Carnival Beauty Salon, the Moh Chan Cake House, the Kovan Coffeeshop, and many others. Old Romances constitutes a quasi act of preservation, sustaining not so much the sites themselves as the trove of memories attached to them. With Old Places, made in 2010, Tan saw the literal disappearance of many valued Singaporean gathering places. Old Romances became an attempt to capture this fleeting culture: “I realized that every twenty years or so, Singapore does a major renovation. A very big facelift . . . There are no traces of my history.” Old Romances is like a big smooch on the cheek of Singapore past.

881 Singapore 2007 | 105mins | Mandarin & Hokkien w/E.S. SUN MAR 17 | 7:45 PM | PFA DIRECTOR/WRITER: Royston Tan EXEC. PRODUCERS: Daniel Yun, Eric Khoo, John Ho, Mike Wiluan PRODUCERS: Gary Goh, James Toh, Chan Pui Yin, Seah Saw Yam, Freddie Yeo, Tan Fong Cheng, Ang Hwee Sim CINEMATOGRAPHER: Daniel Low EDITOR: Low Hwee Ling MUSIC: Eric Ng CAST: Yeo Yann Yann, Mindee Ong, Liu Ling Ling, Qi Yu Wu Take a small-time Vegas musical, add Beach Blanket Babylon costumes, strain it through the Hokkien dialect, and you have that Singaporean mash-up called getai, a quirky, kitsched-up stage performance. 881 reveals a softer side of Royston Tan, the campy comedic who adores the quirky corners of culture that somehow resist better sense. 881 concerns the Papaya Sisters, Little and Big, who dream of winning the national getai contest, no easy task when those nasty Durian Sisters, like their name implies, have been stinking up the competition. Resolute in their desire to win, the two fruity friends appeal to their costume designer, Auntie Ling, to contact her estranged sister, the Goddess of Getai, who possesses supernatural powers. Ah, but power always has its price and in this case it’s the five rules of magical getai, one of which requires celibacy. Tan’s 881 is no jab at this jubilant pop form, but a jocular embrace of a persistent spectacle. The staging is boisterous, multihued, and gaudy and when the Papaya Sisters let loose with their atmospheric songs and celestial powers, it’s like a sensational Slurpee for your eyes.

15 (Shiwu) Singapore 2003 | 93mins | Mandarin w/E.S. WED MAR 20 | 7 PM | PFA DIRECTOR/WRITER: Royston Tan EXEC. PRODUCERS: Jacqueline Khoo, James Toh, Lim Ching-Leong PRODUCERS: Eric Khoo, Tan Fang-Cheng CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lim EDITOR: Jeff Stevens, Nigel Fernandez, Darlene Lim, Azhar Ismon CAST: Shaun Tan, Melvin Chen, Vynn Soh, Erick Chun Rarely do they raise Cain in the city-state of Singapore, unless it’s the cane of corrective authority—at least that’s the official view from that miracle of orderly prosperity. Royston Tan has a very different take: his reeling, irreverent first feature dredges up the overlooked underbelly of teen dropouts, druggies and dead-enders, played by street punks from the Lion City. Random bashings and ritual piercings barely conceal the brutal monotony of this artificial Eden. 15 is saturated with the artifacts of hyper-distraction—mock video games, crazed captions, frantic karaoke, even an animated “Suicide Manual”—spectacle designed to colonize the psyches of these kids, converting their fragile desires into consuming impulses. Tan’s stinging satire finds hope beneath the angst; tough punks who wear their nihilism like a name-brand fashion, these proto-agonists are, after all, just kids looking for a way in. Still, the darkly outrageous 15 can’t imagine sweet sixteen. —Steve Seid CAAMEDIA ORG 27

Special Presentations

Out of the Vaults

The Monkey King: Uproar In Heaven 3D (Da Nao Tian Gong) WED MAR 20 | 7 PM | KABUKI China 2011 | 90mins | Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTORS: Chen Zhihong, Su Da EXEC. PRODUCERS: Frederic Rose, Wang Tianyun PRODUCER: Qian Jianping WRITERS: Wan Laiming, Li Keruo EDITOR: Xu Zhenzhu MUSIC: Wu Yinju CAST: Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Daoming, Li Yang This remarkable new film is actually a painstaking frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the original 1961 Wan Laiming masterpiece, a national treasure and China’s most celebrated work of animation. Composed of gorgeously flowing animation created by hand from over 130,000 ink drawings and an opulent soundtrack inspired by the Beijing Opera, the film follows the adventures of the magical Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain, a mischievous character who creates havoc by refusing to bow down to the authority of the Celestial Jade Emperor. After stealing a powerful cudgel from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, the cheeky Monkey King challenges the established order of heaven, freeing horses from the imperial stables, disrupting imperial banquets, and entering into epic battle with one colorful god after another – while snubbing his nose at the pompous formality of the heavenly court. Based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, the original film was made at the height of the country’s golden period of animation. Released mere months before the entire film industry was shut down by the Cultural Revolution, it is a stunning work of animation and mythological storytelling, far surpassing anything China has produced before or since. —Film Society Lincoln Center

28 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Special Presentations

Pacific Islanders in Communications Presents: Pacific Showcase Let's Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui & Friends SUN MAR 17 | 2:30 PM | KABUKI WED MAR 20 | 6:45 PM | NEW PEOPLE USA 2013 | 60mins DIRECTOR: Nā‘ālehu Anthony One of the most acclaimed, award-winning performers in the contemporary Hawaiian music scene, Cyril Pahinui is universally recognized as the master of the slack-key (or open-tuned) guitar. This intimate documentary follows Cyril, his friends and family as they play music, talk story and reminisce about Cyril's trend-setting father, Gabby Pahinui, one of the island's true recording legends. Any lovers of Hawaiian culture, slack-key guitar or music in general shouldn't pass up on this chance to learn from— or just hang out with—such talents, so come on by and—like the title says—let's play music.

preceded by LINA'LA' LUSONG (Life of a Lusong)

DIRECTORS: Various | Guam 2012 | 4mins The lusong, a traditional mortar for food and medicine, has withstood the test of time, enduring conquest, occupation and the elements, to serve as a symbol of survival and permanence for the people of Guam. This short was collaboratively directed by the participants of the PIC Micronesian Filmmaker's Workshop of Guam.

E Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name SAT MAR 16 | 12:15 PM | NEW PEOPLE THU MAR 21 | 8:50 PM | KABUKI USA 2012 | 60mins DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Christen Hepuakoa Marquez There are some things in this world that we can’t escape, ghosts that yearn to come out and be heard. Honoring the places and people that we fight to recall from a muddled past, this heartbreakingly rich documentary of identity, family and memory ostensibly tells of a Hawaiian woman’s search for the meaning of her lengthy Hawaiian name, as given to her by her schizophrenic mother. In E Haku Inoa, there are deep-seeded stories being told: one of reclamation, another of family, and a third that voices the forgotten whispers of the American colonization of the Hawaiian Islands. What makes this documentary truly special is that it utilizes the native tropes of “talk story” in its storytelling. Narrating her journey from the islands to the mainland (and from childhood to adulthood), Marquez paints a picture of heartbreak and understanding, to stress the importance of the places we call home, and the power of the things we promise never to forget.

—Pahole Yotin Sookkasikon preceded by PIKO DIRECTOR: Jason Suapaia | USA 2012 | 6mins | English & Hawaiian w/E.S. A pregnant woman seeks the guidance of Hawaiian goddesses to quell her fears surrounding childbirth.

CAAMEDIA ORG 29

Discover Asian America New Titles From CAAM Distribution CAAM is proud to distribute the world’s preeminent collection of narrative and documentary films by and about Asians and Asian Americans. For over 25 years, CAAM has provided a diverse and foundational selection of educational content to educators, students, activists, community groups, and libraries all over North America. Check out the CAAM website (www.caamedia.org) to learn more about our new releases and to browse our complete collection of more than 200 titles.

ONCE UPON A ROOFTOP Sybil Wendler, 2010, 31mins An intimate view of life in the crowded and illegal shanty tenements that litter the rooftops of Hong Kong, and the families that inhabit them. UNCOMMON COURAGE: PATRIOTISM AND CIVIL LIBERTIES Gayle Yamada, 2003, 86mins The stories of the Japanese American men who served in the US Army during WWII, despite the injustices visited upon their interned loved ones, are finally brought to light in this historical documentary. OTHER NATURE Nani Sahra Walker, 2010, 57mins A candid film chronicling Nepal’s passage of the first law guaranteeing third-gender rights in the world, as the country transitions to a federal republic after 240 years of monarchy. YOURS TRULY, MISS CHINATOWN Daisy Lin, 2008, 60mins The poignant stories of three young women who vie for one of the world’s most coveted ethnic pageant titles, while struggling to reconcile the contrasting cultures of their heritage and their home. OPEN SEASON Mark Tang, Lu Lippold, 2011, 57mins A Hmong immigrant is convicted of killing six white hunters in a violent confrontation during deer hunting season in northwestern Wisconsin. Part courtroom drama, part intimate portrait, this feature investigates the causes and consequences of this tragedy, revealing simmering racial and cultural tensions in America’s heartland. above from left, ONCE UPON A ROOFTOP, UNCOMMON COURAGE

30 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

New Directions

Music and food personalities collide in our newest section, New Directions. From the hunt for the best dosa in NYC to our annual music showcase, CAAMFest brings the best of the cultural arts together in one place. Make sure to also check out the Social Club, our Salons and some illuminating seminars, including a talk on the Korean War and our Ready, Set, Pitch! panel.

CAAMEDIA ORG 31

New Directions

New Directions Launch: Dosa Hunt THU MAR 21 | 6 PM ASIAN ART MUSEUM Featuring the film Dosa Hunt and a performance by Indian Bastards from Hell (members of Das Racist). SCHEDULE 6-7pm: Happy Hour 7-9pm: Screening + Performance Cash bars will be open throughout the event as well as a special menu by Café Asia. Food trucks will also be on hand to stage a dosa hunt of your own. Tickets *Pre-Sales (Jan 31-Feb 13)* $25 General Admission $20 CAAM Members $10 AAM Members After Feb 13 $30 General Admission $25 CAAM Members $15 AAM Members

USA 2012 | 22mins DIRECTORS: Amrit Singh, Sam Carroll PRODUCERS: Singh, Carroll, Zoe Schack WRITER: Singh CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dan Levin EDITORS: Schack, Carroll What happens when you put pianist Vijay Ayer, music critic Amrit Singh, and members of Das Racist, Vampire Weekend, Yea-sayer and Neon Indian into an Indian disco van to track down NYC’s best dosa? Plenty of Bobby Jindal jokes, heartfelt extolling of the virtues of coconut-hair oil, and even more in this journey deep into the heart of that virtuous South Asian crepe. The first in a proposed series of culinary escapades through the foodie fantasia that stretches from Jackson Heights to Curry Hill, Dosa Hunt is the brainchild of Amrit Singh, executive editor of Stereogum.com. Prompted by a Soho-made “fusion” dosa with cheese in it (gasp!), Singh assembles a who’s-who of New York’s brown musical cognoscenti to set things straight: Indian Americans from all regions and musical genres like Iyer, Das Racist’s Himanshu Suri and Ashok Kondabolu, and Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder, as well as two honorary brown brothers, Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij (Iranian) and Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo (Mexican). Moving from Manhattan to that mecca of the South Asian Diaspora, Jackson Heights, Queens, the crew encounter dosa after dosa while eating, ranting and bantering. Equal parts culinary adventure, a portrait of the Indian American talent reshaping the musical landscape, and commentary on the cultural politics of brown, Dosa Hunt is an intimate insider’s jaunt through South Asian Americana, New York-style.

—Chi-hui Yang After the West-Coast premiere of Dosa Hunt, stay for a Q&A with filmmaker Amrit Singh as well as a special set by Indian Bastards from Hell. Mix and mingle with special guests and be prepared for some delicious treats—including, you guessed it, mouth-watering DOSA! Take a moment to see the Asian Art Museum’s newest exhibition, China’s Terracotta Warriors. A perfect convergence of film, music, art and food: this is an event you cannot miss. Co-presented by CAAM and the Asian Art Museum.

32 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

New Directions

from far left: Das Racist; Dosa Hunt; Dengue Fever; Jhameel

Directions In Sound SAT MAR 23 | 9:30 PM-2 AM RICKSHAW STOP 21+ | caamedia.org LIVE PERFORMANCES BY: DENGUE FEVER JHAMEEL VINROC

Directions In Sound is San Francisco’s premier music event featuring emerging Asian American artists in the Bay Area and beyond. From electronic pop to new-school hip-hop, join us on a trip through the future-forward music scene that’s blowing up around the globe. Don’t blink...You might miss the next big thing! DENGUE FEVER // denguefevermusic.com Dengue Fever is a six-member band from Los Angeles who combine sixties’ Cambodian pop music with psychedelic rock. Their unique sound draws enthusiastic crowds from L.A. to the U.K. and high praise from Rolling Stone, Mojo, iTunes and more. Dengue Fever has won countless awards including Best New Artist (LA Weekly) and Best World Music Album (Independent Music Awards). JHAMEEL // jhameel.com Born of Korean, Japanese and Mongolian ancestry, the provocative, androgynous, multi-faceted indie pop artist Jhameel is creating his own innovative world of high-energy, synthy R&B pop that draws inspiration from the likes of Prince, Phoenix, and MGMT. Jhameel was named “2012 Band on the Rise” by San Francisco Bay Guardian. VINROC // thatsthatlabel.com Former 2x World Champion DJ and arguably one of the most versatile DJ/Producers in the world, Vinroc (a.k.a. Vincent Punsalan), has lived the Hip-Hop dream. He’s shared the stage with celebrated DJ’s such as Z-Trip, Jam Master Jay, Africa Bambaata and DJ Qbert, and been featured in numerous publications from URB Magazine to Rolling Stone. Vinroc’s success has culminated in the launch of his own label, That’s That.

CAAMEDIA ORG 33

New Directions

Turn It Up to 11 Part 2: Wild Days

Groove Salon

SUN MAR 17 | 9:40 PM | KABUKI FRI MAR 22 | 9 PM | GREAT STAR

SUN MAR 24 | 4 PM | SUPERFROG

South Korea 2012 | 91mins | Korean w/E.S. DIRECTOR/WRITER/EDITOR: Baek Seung-hwa PRODUCER: Kim Hwa-beom, Baek CINEMATOGRAPHER: Baek, Jo Yong-woon SOUND: Pyo Yong-soo, Go Eun-ha “We wanted to be cosmic…black rock-n-roll from outer space!” vocalist/ guitarist Park Jong-hyun says about conceiving the name for the band Galaxy Express. Along with vocalist/bassist Lee Ju-hyun and drummer Kim Hee-kwon, these hard-rockers from South Korea are a bit extraterrestrial even on their home turf. In spite of the band’s national acclaim, South Korea is still considered a wasteland for rock music; it’s more a place where band names get confused for types of mobile phones. To truly reach for the stars, the passionate trio—along with a small but colorful entourage—embarks on a three-week tour in and around Austin, Texas, the home of SXSW.

Wild Days is a follow-up to director/writer/producer Baek Seung-hwa’s award-winning 2009 documentary Turn It Up To 11, which examined

Korea’s indie music scene. This spin-off chronicles Seoul’s new “kings of indie rock” in their boisterous adventure across Texas: traveling in a mobile home, eating authentic American food, meeting fellow artists and newfound fans, and sharing their love and craft of the universal language known as music. The Audience Award winner at the 2012 DMZ Korean International Documentary Festival and a selection of the 2012 Jecheon International Music and Film Festival, the outrageous and vivid Wild Days is a cross-cultural musical journey that will take you out-of-this-world.

—Karen Datangel

34 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAM has long celebrated the contributions of Asian American artists to the fabric of musical life. In the Groove Salon, we bring together two artists to go beyond performance to talk life and shop. DJ Vinroc and singer/ songwriter Goh Nakamura are from different parts of the musical spectrum, but both are innovative musicians that challenge the boundaries of their particular sound. During the salon, they will play samples of their work, speak about their experiences as musicians, and give the attendees a taste of the creative process. They will also collaborate with one another— and with the audience—to create something new. This is a participatory event, so come prepared to ask questions and contribute to the song! Featuring: VINROC // thatsthatlabel.com Former 2x World Champion DJ, Vinroc (a.k.a. Vincent Punsalan), has lived the Hip-Hop dream. He’s shared the stage with celebrated DJ’s such as Z-Trip, Jam Master Jay, Africa Bambaata and DJ Qbert, and been featured in numerous publications from URB Magazine to Rolling Stone. Vinroc’s success has culminated in the launch of his own label, That’s That. GOH NAKAMURA // gohnakamura.com Festival favorite Goh Nakamura is a Bay Area-based musician/actor armed with an acoustic guitar and beat machine. Singing bittersweet melodies about love, meter maids and missed connections, Nakamura garnered over a million views on YouTube. Goh has not only contributed his guitar and vocal work to numerous films, but he has also taken his talents to the big screen, starring in Surrogate Valentine and Daylight Savings.

New Directions

Mixing Masala

(Bitter)Sweet: The Art of Tasting

SAT MAR 23 | 11 AM | SUPERFROG

SAT MAR 23 | 2 PM | SUPERFROG

Come hear San Franciso’s very own chai wallah and a local chef share their insights on creating unique spice mixes. There’ll be something for everyone—whether you insist on a mortar and pestle or enjoy shortcuts to get dinner on the table or simply wonder what makes that little dish of rasam so tasty at your favorite restaurant. Have fun with a spice identification quiz, then learn the differences between a dry and wet masala, various regional variations that flavor the mix, and easy ways of adapting traditional techniques to make room for whole spices in your own kitchen.

Mixing and matching, amending and melding: the process of developing even the simplest foods involves patience as much as inspiration. Join us for an intimate conversation and tasting demo with two local Asian American culinary artisans. They will offer a peek into the complex process of creating new specialties, from rich truffles to spicy ketchup, and will share how they balance personal flair, concise production, market trends and—in the end—the shifting moods of Mother Nature. A hands-on, guided tasting will reveal tips on mixing flavors, and then audience members will have a chance to “freestyle” their own signature combinations.

FEATURING: PAAWAN KOTHARI Founder & CEO, The Chai Cart

FEATURING:

MODERATED BY:

Founder & Chief Sauce Maker, Sosu

THY TRAN wanderingspoon.com

WENDY LIEU Founder and Chief Chocolatier, Socola LISA MURPHY

MODERATED BY: THY TRAN wanderingspoon.com

CAAMEDIA ORG 35

New Directions

Asian Chops-PBS Food Show

Festival Social Club

SAT MAR 23 | 5 PM | KQED 2601 MARIPOSA ST, SAN FRANCISCO

SAT MAR 16 | 10 PM - 2 AM | SLATE BAR 21+

Join CAAM, KQED, and filmmaker Grace Lee for a unique food conference announcing a new national production for PBS. Meet the production team and some leading San Francisco Bay Area culinary voices as we introduce one of the most exciting Asian American television projects in years. We’d also love to hear audience ideas to help shape the program.

Want to mingle with media-makers, artists and fellow attendees?! Join us at the official CAAMFest after-party! In the heart of the Mission at Slate Bar, Festival Social Club will tantalize your senses with mind-blowing beats and jams! Come to mingle, but be prepared to dance the night away!

It’s 2013 and Americans are more obsessed with food than ever before.We can grow, buy, sell, cook and eat pretty much whatever we want without leaving our neighborhoods, much less our borders. This access to culture through food is changing how we eat, how we live, and altering our notions of what it means to be American. This CAAM and KQED co-production journeys across Asian America, using obsession with food as launching point for a wealth of stories, traditions and unexpected characters. What exactly does food reflect about Asian Americans and America itself? Our production will grapple with this question, which is as complex as the very concept of Asian America. How does the diversity of ethnic groups, generations, religions, and languages among us—from Cantonese to Hmong to pidgin Hawai'ian to English—shape our relationship to food? Unquestionably for all Asian Americans, food is one of those rare bonds shared through family, culture, and memory that all Americans share. Free, RSVP required. kqed.org/events

36 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

New Directions

Memory of Forgotten War + Conversation

Ready, Set, Pitch!

MON MAR 18 | 6:30 | KABUKI + CONVERSATION USA 2012 | 37mins | English and Korean w/E.S.

SUN MAR 17 | 10 AM | HOTEL KABUKI

DIRECTORS/PRODUCERS: Deann Borshay Liem, Ramsay Liem The year 2013 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the unofficial end to the Korean War (no formal peace was ever made), a civil war-turned-global conflict that ravaged a nation, and whose consequences continue to reverberate up an down the peninsula today. From award-winning filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem (First Person Plural; In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee) and Ramsay Liem, professor emeritus at Boston College, comes a powerful new documentary about that watershed event. Memory of Forgotten War follows the stories of four Korean Americans who witnessed firsthand the war’s devastation and its aftermath. Drawing on the oral history collection of Still Present Pasts: Korean Americans and the Forgotten War, a multimedia exhibit directed by Professor Liem, this documentary is the first to tell about the experiences of Korean civilians who later immigrated to the United States. The memories recounted here challenge the historical amnesia that has long characterized America’s popular understanding of the so-deemed unknown war, and serves as a cogent reminder that for survivors and their families, it has remained anything but forgotten.

CAAM is thrilled to present the 2013 Ready, Set, Pitch! At last year’s live fundraising pitch, four out of five projects reached their crowd-funding goals and raised more than $80,000! This year, CAAM has upped the ante in a couple of new ways. First, we’ve incorporated audience voting to select the final three to five media producers. All media genres are welcome and projects will include robust audience-engagement strategies. Each media project must have a crowdfunding strategy, whether through a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign. Presenters are encouraged to showcase a lively and creative pitch that invites audience participation. The second new addition this year is that CAAM will provide additional funds to the project that reaches their campaign goal first or raises the most money. This program is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Following a screening of the film, a panel of distinguished academics, artists, and community leaders, will engage in a candid conversation about the highly polarizing social and political issues surrounding the Korean War, and encourage audience participation to provide personal testimony and thoughts. —Andrea Kwon

CAAMEDIA ORG 37

food. water. film.

traceybornsteindesign.com

38 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

www.cwclaw.com CAAMEDIA ORG 39

Awards

Comcast Narrative Competition The Comcast Narrative Competition Award focuses on the depth of current cinema. From taut thrillers to love stories, this year’s selection is a showcase of work from a dynamic array of filmmakers. Presented at the Closing Night screening on March 24.

JURY BIOS MARCUS HU

Marcus Hu is Co-President and Co-Founder of Strand Releasing, which celebrates its 25th Anniversary next year. Strand has distributed the work of many international auteurs, including Fatih Akin, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Francois Ozon, and Tsai Ming Liang. Hu’s producing credits include Gregg Araki’s The Living End and Jon Moritsugu’s Mod Fuck Explosion. Hu serves on the board of Film Independent and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

JIGAR MEHTA

Jigar Mehta is a digital entrepreneur, documentary filmmaker and journalist. The Director of Operations at Matter Ventures, he is also the co-founder of Groupstream, a collaborative storytelling platform that harnesses the power of a group’s social media. Prior to Matter Ventures, Mehta was a reporter and video journalist for the New York Times, and played key roles on several award-winning documentaries, including Wonders are Many and My Flesh and Blood.

JENNIFER RUPPMANN As Assistant Director in General Audience Programming at PBS, Jennifer Ruppmann evaluates program submissions for distribution through the National Program Service, with a special focus on arts, culture, lifestyle, diversity and independent film. She also works closely with producers, providing them with editorial feedback at various stages in the production process and oversees projects from the time they are green lit up until their national broadcasts. Jennifer has also hosted speed-pitching sessions at both Silverdocs and the Realscreen Summit.

40 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Awards

Documentary Competition The Documentary Competition is designed to recognize courage in a film, no matter the subject. The winner of the Documentary Competition Award will be announced at the Closing Night screening on March 24.

JURY BIOS ZAHRA BILLOO As a civil rights attorney and Executive Director of the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Zahra Billoo strives to promote justice and understanding. She frequently provides trainings at mosques and universities as part of CAIR’s efforts to empower the community, while building bridges with allies on key civil rights issues. Her work with CAIR-SFBA has been highlighted in local and national media outlets including NBC, CNN, MSNBC and NPR.

DAVID GRABIAS David Grabias is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, currently editing the CAAMfunded Operation Popcorn, the story of a Hmong American community activist caught up in an ATF undercover sting. Previously, David produced HBO’s Koran By Heart, which profiled devout Muslim kids at the world's oldest Koran reciting contest. Through his company Artifact Studios, David also directs and produces a wide variety of commercial work.

FRANK H. WU Frank H. Wu is in his third year of service as Chancellor & Dean of University of California Hastings College of Law. In 2013 he was named by National Jurist magazine as the most influential dean in legal education. He is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White and a commentator for National Public Radio and Now with Bill Moyers. He has also been a panelist at the New York Film Festival, and a commentator on the Fox Movie Channel presentation of the restored Charlie Chan movies.

CAAMEDIA ORG 41

Awards

Audience Award

Loni Ding Award

The Audience Award gives you, the valued members of our audience, the honor of selecting your favorite movie of this years’ festival! Don’t hesitate to vote for the narrative that touched a soft spot in your heart, or the documentary that offered the most eye-opening experience, and give the directors the honor they deserve!

Loni Ding (1932-2010) was a veteran independent television producer and university instructor. She devoted her life to advocacy and public service, and played a key role in the founding of several public media organizations, including the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Her award-winning productions, which include Nisei Soldier (1984), The Color of Honor (1988), and Ancestors in the Americas (1997) were among the first to document early Asian immigrant histories.

The winners will be announced on the CAAM website soon after the festival ends. Check to see if they are also your favorites! PREVIOUS WINNERS 2012 NARRATIVE THE CRUMBLES DIRECTOR: AKIRA BOCH DOCUMENTARY NO LOOK PASS DIRECTOR: MELISSA JOHNSON 2011 NARRATIVE SURROGATE VALENTINE DIRECTOR: DAVE BOYLE DOCUMENTARY ONE VOICE DIRECTOR: LISETTE MARIE FLANARY

42 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

The Loni Ding Award was created in 2011 to honor the film and filmmaker that most reflects Loni’s passion and commitment.

Loni Ding was the recipient of the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Award for Civil Rights & Social Justice, established by the Asian American Journalists Association, which supports this award, along with gifts from a number of individual donors. 2013 WINNER: Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz | Inheritance | 2012 Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz holds a Master’s degree in Multicultural Literature and Women’s Studies from the University of Georgia, where she served as a digital researcher and content writer for the Civil Rights Digital Library Initiative, an Emmy Award-winning preservation and education project. While earning an M.F.A. at Temple University, she wrote and directed three documentary films exploring issues of the Iranian diaspora. She now works at NAMAC.

Awards

Emerging Filmmaker Award Recognizing and cultivating the best in film is at the heart of CAAMFest. Our newest award category, the Emerging Filmmaker Award, surveys the domestic and international pool of first-time feature filmmakers.

JURY BIOS TANUJ CHOPRA Tanuj Chopra holds a B.A. in Art Semiotics from Brown University and an M.F.A. in film direction from Columbia University, where he was awarded the Deans Fellowship. His first feature film Punching at the Sun screened at Sundance and many other festivals, and won Best Narrative at SFIAAFF. Tanuj is currently working on industrial and independent projects like the crowd-funded indie feature Nature Boy and the episodic mini-series Nice Girls Crew. In his down time, he facilitates the â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Voices For Youthâ&#x20AC;? filmmaking initiative, a program dedicated to empowering creativity and civic engagement for teenagers. More of his work is available at www.chopsfilms.com.

JANE KIM Supervisor Jane Kim is a member of the Board of Supervisors, representing District Six in San Francisco. She was formerly the President of the San Francisco Board of Education and a civil rights attorney at Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to serving on the Board of Education, Jane was a Senior Community Organizer at the Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco. She received her law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall.

JEAN TSIEN Jean Tsien is one of the most acclaimed documentary film editors in the industry. Her work has been screened internationally and has been honored with numerous awards and accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2001). Tsien has served as an advisor for the Sundance Institute Story/Edit Lab, a panelist for EditFest NY, and a juror at the Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award for Documentary.

CAAMEDIA ORG 43

Asian Studies

44 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Yuchengco Philippine Studies

Comcast Narrative Competition For 30 years, SFIAAFF followed its mission of cultivating the best in Asian American film. CAAMFest continues in that tradition, bringing together veteran directors and first-time filmmakers. Masterful storytellers are found in the most unlikely places, and CAAM brings them all to Bay Area audiences.

CAAMEDIA ORG 45

Comcast Narrative Competition

Abigail Harm

Dead Dad

SUN MAR 17 | 7 PM | KABUKI MON MAR 18 | 6:15 PM | KABUKI

TUE MAR 19 | 6:15 PM | KABUKI SUN MAR 24 | 12:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE

USA 2012 | 80mins DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: Lee Isaac Chung PRODUCERS: Eugene Suen, Samuel Gray Anderson WRITERS: Anderson, Chung SOUND: Greg Sextro CAST: Amanda Plummer, Tetsuo Kuramochi, Will Patton, Burt Young

Abigail Harm (Amanda Plummer) reads books to the blind. But there’s one story in particular that she can’t get out of her head, a Korean folktale about a woodcutter who saves a deer, who in turns tells its savior how to win the undying love of a nymph. Before long, the folktale appears to come alive in Abigail’s New York apartment, with Will Patton as an intruder saved by Abigail, and Tetsuo Kuramochi as a nymph, seemingly dropped to the city from another world. Abigail decides to put the folktale to the test, and finds herself in a bond as alien as the stories she reads to her clients. Director Lee Isaac Chung (who made a splash internationally with his Rwanda-set debut Munyurangabo) resurrects this traditional Korean folktale in a strangely muted, quietly post-apocalyptic New York, bathing the characters in a lyricism that is not so much romantic as entranced by the possibility of love taking on new shapes. Plummer, with her big, frightened smiles, beautifully plays off Kuramochi’s blank stares. Her speech, like that of the film’s narrator, is hypnotic in its circularity and rarely rises louder than a whisper. Abigail Harm mirrors the wandering yearnings of Plummer’s sleepwalking steps and shifting glances, opening its eyes and not knowing which reality is about to set in. —Brian Hu

USA 2012 | 82mins DIRECTOR: Ken J. Adachi EXEC. PRODUCERS: Stephen Hansen, Monte Young, Adachi, Jason Ambler, Adam Varney PRODUCERS: Kelly Calligan, Ben Hethcoat WRITERS: Adachi, Kyle Arrington CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Bader EDITOR: Eric Ekman CAST: Arrington, Jenni Melear, Lucas K. Peterson, Allyn Rachel “Dad, you were weak, and kind of a shithead” begins a son’s impromptu living-room eulogy to his dead father. “Now you’re a box of ashes, that, uh, also doubles as a coaster.” Wholly original, Ken J. Adachi’s spirited family drama follows three adult children reunited by their father’s unexpected death, and the slow, faltering steps they take to become a family again. Tall and calm but a bit off the beat, drummer Russell Sawtelle (Kyle Arrington) stayed near home to care for his ailing father, and now must organize his funeral. Having left town years ago, his more organized adopted brother Alex (Lucas K. Peterson) and even-more-scattered little sister Jane (Jenni Melear) return for the ceremonies, and soon the threesome are back in childhood mode, goofing off and laughing, then fighting over what to do next. Meanwhile, their father’s ashes still wait in the living room, in a cookie jar converted into a half-assed urn. “Do you wanna deal with this? Nah, me neither,” chortle two eye-rolling friends after witnessing the sibling’s drama, but the strength of Adachi’s penetrating script is how it dismantles such hipster attitudes. Aided by a pulsating soundtrack, some restless camerawork and powerhouse performances by the three leads, Dead Dad illustrates the halting steps these grown children must take to “deal with this,” and truly become adults.

—Jason Sanders

SAN JOSE METRO

46 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Comcast Narrative Competition

Graceland

Late Summer

FRI MAR 15 | 7 PM | NEW PEOPLE FRI MAR 22 | 10 :15 PM | NEW PEOPLE

SAT MAR 16 | 3 PM | KABUKI + CONVERSATION W/KOGONADA WED MAR 20 | 10:15 PM | KABUKI

Philippines/USA 2012 | 84mins | Tagalog w/E.S

USA 2012 | 57mins

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ron Morales EXEC. PRODUCERS: Eric Ulrich, David Raymond, Theo Brooks PRODUCERS: Rebecca Lundgren, Sam Rider CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sung Rae Cho EDITORS: James Lesage, Ron Morales, Jorge Olortegui SOUND: Michael McMenomy MUSIC: Adam Schoenberg, Steven Schoenberg CAST: Arnold Reyes, Menggie Cobarrubias, Dido De La Paz, Leon Miguel

DIRECTOR/WRITER/CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR: Ernie Park PRODUCER/SOUND: Michael Graziano MUSIC: Paul Duncan CAST Michelle Lynn Hardin, Tamiko Robinson, Jessica Townsend, Shelena Walden

Set in the urban underbelly of Manila, Graceland is a provocative thriller from Ron Morales, writer/director of 2008’s award-winning Santa Mesa (Special Jury Award, SFIAAFF 2008). Where Santa Mesa was a warm and touching outsider’s view of the Philippines, Graceland gives us a cold taste of the Philippine streets from the point of view of a native, but with no less humanity, nor heart. Dedicated chauffeur Marlon Villar has enough to worry about with a hospitalized wife and brooding daughter. He must also always turn a blind eye to the morally bankrupt behavior of his employer, the corrupt Congressman Manuel Changho. When kidnappers ambush both of their daughters, Marlon finds himself at the mercy of both the bloodthirsty kidnappers and Changho himself. What follows is a harrowing chronicle of the decisions Marlon must make to potentially rescue his daughter.

Graceland features back-to-back scenes of high tension and edge-of-

your-seat suspense, thanks to Morales’ sharp and intelligent direction. With outstanding performances across the board, including Leon Miguel as the vicious kidnapper and Dido De La Paz as a hardened detective, Graceland is a powerhouse of a thriller that disturbs, entertains and provokes—and never lets you catch your breath.

—H.P. Mendoza

If Yasujiro Ozu could set a film in the Black South, it might look a lot like Late Summer, Ernie Park’s glowing adaptation of films like Ozu’s Late Autumn. Park not only riffs on Ozu’s tales of family love and social belonging, he crafts a kindred poetic language, one born little by little, over time… in Nashville. Park’s Tennessee is unlike any on screen before. Without a cowboy hat or gospel singer in sight, Late Summer moves— make that strolls—through a black community filled with riches, the sort of extraordinary gift of living where the corner store clerk is lookin’ out, where running into people is filled with pleasure. Against these idyllic moments, Nadia struggles with a choice between leaving for university or opening a tea shop with her mother, recently recovered from a serious illness. Ernie Park expands Asian American filmmaking with this masterful and heartfelt film, relaxing us into the bittersweet feeling of a fading day. Late Summer’s visuals shimmer, the performances breathe, and the emotion comes not from conflict but from grace—from knowing peace and deciding whether to leave one kind of joy for the unknown.

—Christina Ree, San Diego Asian Film Festival A screening of a Sight & Sound-commissioned video piece by the filmessayist Kogonada will also be screened. A conversation with Kogonada and Ernie Park will follow.

CAAMEDIA ORG 47

Comcast Narrative Competition

Someone I Used To Know

Sunset Stories

FRI MAR 15 | 9:15 PM | NEW PEOPLE SAT MAR 23 | 12 PM | NEW PEOPLE SUN MAR 24 | 2 PM | GREAT STAR

FRI MAR 15 | 9:10 PM | PFA SUN MAR 17 | 9:45 PM | CASTRO

USA 2013 | 100mins

DIRECTORS: Ernesto Foronda, Silas Howard EXEC PRODUCER: Justin Lin PRODUCERS: Valerie Stadler, Tatiana Kelly WRITERS: Foronda, Stadler CINEMATOGRAPHER: PJ Raval EDITORS: Greg D’Auria, Cindy Thoennessen SOUND: Adam Douglass MUSIC: Timo Chen, Sheri Ozeki CAST: Monique Gabriela Curnen, Sung Kang, Michelle Krusiec, Mousa Kraish

DIRECTOR: Nadine Truong EXEC. PRODUCER: Brian Yang PRODUCERS: Yang, West Liang, Eddie Mui, Frances E. Chang, Kevin Leung WRITER: Liang CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tal Lazar EDITOR: Todd Zelin SOUND: Rich Gavin CAST: Yang, Liang, Mui, Emily Chang Three former high-school friends reunite for a long Los Angeles night in Nadine Truong’s bittersweet drama, a new-millennium remix of such classic eighties’ ensemble dramas as The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire. Fresh from losing his girlfriend, his job and almost his life, the suicidal thirty-something Charlie (West Liang) heads to L.A. to reconnect with his best friends from high school, Luke (Brian Yang, Hawaii 5-0), who’s now a successful actor, and Danny (Eddie Mui), who’s always been a rich boy. Their faltering nightclub reunion is quickly derailed, however, by two young women (Emily Chang, Kara Crane), one of whom will seemingly do anything to be with Luke, the other barely legal, yet wiser than her years. Later joined by the girls’ best friend (the fabulous Rex Lee, a.k.a. Lloyd from Entourage), the group winds up at Luke’s palatial hillside home, where a “few more drinks” soon becomes an all-nighter filled with revelations, recriminations and, well, a few more drinks. The success of any ensemble drama, of course, rests on its actors, and Someone I Used to Know boasts some of the sincerest performances of the year. Nuanced and incisive, the film embraces what it means to grow older—but not necessarily wiser—while coming to terms with the person you’ve become.

—Jason Sanders

48 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

USA 2012 | 87mins

Two ex-lovers reluctantly reunite to retrieve a lost container of invaluable goods in this electric ramble across Los Angeles, starring Monique Gabriela Curnen (Finishing the Game; The Dark Knight) and Sung Kang (Fast and Furious; The Motel ). Back in her hometown to transport a cooler of life-saving human tissue, the perfectionist nurse May (Curnen) hopes to avoid any of her former friends. Such carefully laid plans are disrupted when she runs into her jilted ex-lover, the laid-back rocker JP (Kang), whose sudden appearance makes her lose her cool— and her cooler. With less than twenty-four hours to spare, the two team up to track down the container, encountering along the way a long-suffering transgender nightclub performer, a butch motorcycle mechanic and far more. Surprise cameos and familiar faces (including Michelle Krusiec and Mousa Kraish) make up this star-studded cast, led with aplomb by Curnen and Kang. Executive-produced by Justin Lin (Fast and Furious), Sunset Stories is the first feature film from the infamous internet collective You Offend Me You Offend My Family. In a twist on a fairytale ending, this story about “losing baggage” reminds us that we don’t always have to find love in order to find ourselves.

—Claudia Leung

CAAMEDIA ORG 49

50 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Documentar y Competition

Documentary film has many purposes: to inform, to entertain, and to amaze. From men with â&#x20AC;&#x153;yellow feverâ&#x20AC;? to the state of post-recession China, from a romantic musical art form in the Philippines to the lives of North Korean refugees, documentarians turned their lenses on topics that span the globe.

CAAMEDIA ORG 51

Documentary Competition

Harana

High Tech, Low Life

SAT MAR 16 | 5:50 PM | PFA SUN MAR 17 | 7:10 PM | KABUKI

SAT MAR 16 | 7:30 PM | KABUKI SUN MAR 17 | 9 PM | NEW PEOPLE TUE MAR 19 | 8:20 PM | KABUKI

USA 2012 | 103mins | English, Ilocano & Tagalog w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Benito Bautista EXEC. PRODUCERS: Florante Aguilar, Fides Enriquez, Valeria Cavestany, Barbara SyCip, Sonia T. Delen, Sol Manaay, Iraida Que de Vera, Vincent de Vera, Jean Maliksi, Jim Maliksi, Norma Edar PRODUCERS: Aguilar, Enriquez WRITERS: Bautista, Aguilar CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peggy Peralta EDITOR: Chuck Gutierrez SOUND: Rafael Magsaysay, Jason Galindez MUSIC: Aguilar Long before text-message and Facebook courtships, young men in the Philippines stood earnestly beneath the windows of the women they loved to profess their devotion. Backed by supportive friends and accompanied by the town’s finest guitarist, these young suitors crooned the night away until finally invited inside (or ultimately rejected). This longabandoned art of harana (serenade) is brought to light in this awardwinning feature documentary. When Florante Aguilar, a classically trained guitarist, returns to the Philippines for the first time in twelve years, he discovers three of the last remaining harana masters: a farmer, a fisherman, and a tricycle driver. Untrained and self-taught, these men astound Aguilar with their deeply rich, trembling voices. In a sincere effort to capture and preserve their melodies and stories, Aguilar asks them to travel with him to perform and record these unheralded songs. As Aguilar and the three haranistas captivate audiences in small villages and prestigious concert halls, the men connect deeply with the past and with one another.

—Dianne Que

USA/China 2012 | 87mins | Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Maing PRODUCERS: Maing, Trina Rodriguez EDITORS: Maing, Jonathan Oppenheim MUSIC: Brendon Anderegg, Brad Hyland, Kevin Micka Second on Indiewire/Criticwire’s “Top Documentaries of 2012” list, Stephen Maing’s informative film initially introduces us to its protagonist “Zola” standing alone, shirtless and engulfed waist-deep in a sea of lush greenery in rural China. His isolation is merely physical, however, for in his hands is a familiar computer tablet. High Tech, Low Life explores how China’s virtual society relates to its “real” world: the closing of its digital divide, the rise of its netizen culture, and its government’s use of the “Great Firewall.” Documentarian Stephen Maing offers a glimpse past the firewall by way of the brazen young reporter Zola and the seasoned blogger “Tiger Temple,” who bridges China’s information gap by riding miles into the countryside to report on the invisible and forgotten. Zola’s discovery of the internet inspires his rejection of conformity and collectivism, yet unleashes his thirst for celebrity. Though egotistic, his playful version of news—complete with self-camera shots, video blogs and sarcasm—will resonate with netizens inside and outside of China. Unlike Zola, the humble Tiger Temple’s relationship to censorship is fixed in family history and the memory of unfulfilled promises of the Cultural Revolution. His drive to report is fueled by an unflappable social conscious. Paced by sounds of keyboard clicks layered over images of China’s vast terrain, Maing’s film nudges at the possibilities of change.

—Roger Chung

52 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Documentary Competition

Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker On a Voyage

The Mosuo Sisters

FRI MAR 15 | 2:30 PM | KABUKI SUN MAR 17 | 12:40 PM | KABUKI

SAT MAR 16 | 2:10 PM | NEW PEOPLE WED MAR 20 | 8:45 PM | NEW PEOPLE

USA 2012 | 88mins | English & Tagalog w/E.S.

USA/China 2012 | 80mins | Mandarin, Tibetan & Mosuo w/E.S.

DIRECTOR: Mona Lisa Yuchengco

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: Marlo Poras EXEC. PRODUCER: David Sutherland PRODUCERS: Poras, Yu Yingwu Chou WRITER: Al Go EDITOR: Amy Foote SOUND: Jim Sullivan MUSIC: Shawn James Seymour

A key figure in contemporary Asian cinema, the great Filipino filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya was one of the most successful and inspiring directors, television producers, and teachers that her country has ever seen, responsible for a string of critically acclaimed and commercially popular films from the eighties to her untimely death in October of 2012. Her second feature, Brutal (1980), was the first Filipino film to deal with rape in a social justice framework. It played to surprising acclaim at a time when audiences preferred lighthearted fare, winning six awards at the MetroManila Film Festival in 1980 and going on to boxoffice success. Long before the Philippines became the darling of world cinema, Diaz-Abaya continued through the eighties and nineties to create some of the region’s most memorable works—as well as some of its toughest and most daring. Other key titles include In the Navel of the Sea (1997), Jose Rizal (1998) and Reef Hunters (1999). Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s career—from her first films to the foundation of her film academy—as well as her intelligence and drive are on display in Mona Lisa Yuchengco’s fascinating portrait of the first lady of Philippine cinema.

—Mordecai Stayton

Award-winning director Marlo Poras (Mai’s America), whose work has been cited by the Los Angeles Times and featured at the South by Southwest Festival, creates yet another beautiful documentary with this portrait of two young ethnic-minority women in China, where the rippling effects of the 2009 economic downturn have been felt from countryside to city. Losing the only paying jobs they’ve ever known thanks to Beijing’s shrinking economy, sisters Jua Ma and La Tsuo (part of the Mosuo minority) return to their distant home near the Himalayan foothills. The Mosuo people are one of the world’s last matriarchal societies. It is a traditional community with unique family behaviors, where the female is the head of the household. The Mosuo are particularly unusual in their practice of the “walking marriage” where romantic and family life operate in two separate spheres. Unorthodox? Certainly. But the everyday life of a female Mosuo is filled with the same challenges of other women of the modern world, as this remarkable film makes clear. Back in their village, the two sisters must now choose a new future in order to support the family. While the elder Jua Ma pursues a singing career, La Tsuo remains at the family farm, despite her ambitions for the city life and a career beyond laboring in the fields. Here, family and sisterly sacrifice is set at the intersection of two markedly different Chinas.

—Ramon Solis

CAAMEDIA ORG 53

Documentary Competition

Seeking Asian Female

Seeking Haven

FRI MAR 15 | 7 PM | PFA SAT MAR 23 | 5 PM | NEW PEOPLE SAT MAR 23 | 7 PM | UNION BANK ROOM - PANEL DISCUSSION

SUN MAR 17 | 6:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE MON MAR 18 | 8:50 PM | KABUKI

USA 2012 | 85mins | English & Chinese w/E.S.

DIRECTORS: Hein S. Seok, Lee Hark-joon, Ko Dong-kyun EXEC. PRODUCER: Bang Chun-goh PRODUCER: Lee CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Kim Tae-gon, Han Yong-ho EDITORS: Ko Dong-kyun, Lee Seung-heon

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER/PRODUCER:Debbie Lum WRITERS/EDITORS: Lum, Amy Ferraris, Tina Nguyen MUSIC: Gordy Haab “Yellow fever”—the sexual and romantic preference of non-Asian men for Asian women—is a polarizing topic in mainstream culture; is it empowering or demeaning to feel desired based purely on how black your hair is, or how narrow your eyes are? San Francisco-based filmmaker Debbie Lum initially conceptualized her feature-length debut as an exposé about men like Steve, a gleeful sixty-year-old parking-garage attendant who has spent years corresponding with Asian women he’s met on the Internet. Lum’s plan changes, however, when Steve’s new online love, Sandy, a thirty-year-old from Huangshan, China, comes to California to marry him. The new couple quickly discovers that their Internet dreams of love and life may not actually pan out in reality, however, and as misunderstandings become rifts Lum becomes more than just an observational documentarian, but a confidante, counselor and translator. A highly intimate documentary about an unconventional relationship, Seeking Asian Female uses the unique romance at its center to address larger issues such as the immigrant experience, cultural conflict, and what it means to love. Humanist and surprising, it showcases the mailorder bride as a strong-willed woman and the man stricken with yellow fever as the one with a heart full of love. Lum’s final words in the film echo the truest: “When it comes to relationships and documentaries, you have to have an open mind.”

—Karen Datangel

54 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

USA 2012 | 59mins | Korean w/E.S.

Over 20,000 North Koreans have crossed the border to China in search of freedom. Most of them live in hiding, in fear of being deported back to North Korea and politically persecuted. Director Hein S. Seok, a recipient of one of only five film-production grants given by CAAM’s 2010 Media Fund Program, reveals their often overlooked stories in this intimate, daring tale of struggle, heartbreak and survival. In 2002, Kim Young-soon, desperate for food, escaped North Korea to China. After five years of living in an underground haven, Young-soon embarked on a dangerous eight-day trek across three borders in an effort to reach South Korea. Seeking Haven documents her journey years later, in the present day, when she returns to China in an attempt to smuggle her sister out of the country she once called home.

—Lin Kung preceded by INHERITANCE DIRECTOR: Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz | USA/Iran 2012 | 27mins Through a collage of voices and eras, Inheritance investigates what's lost, gained and carried over in the process of diaspora.

Documentary Competition

When I Walk

Xmas Without China

FRI MAR 15 | 5 PM | KABUKI SUN MAR 17 | 9:30 PM | KABUKI SAT MAR 23 | 9:15 PM | NEW PEOPLE

FRI MAR 15 | 9:10 PM | KABUKI MON MAR 18 | 6:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE SUN MAR 24 | 7:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE

USA/Canada 2012 | 80mins

USA 2012 | 75mins | English & Mandarin w/E.S.

DIRECTOR: Jason DaSilva EXEC. PRODUCERS: Stanley Nelson, Yael Melamede PRODUCERS/WRITERS: Jason DaSilva, Alice Cook CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Leigh DaSilva, Karin Hayes, Cook EDITORS: Jason DaSilva, Keiko Deguchi, Cook MUSIC: Jeff Beal

DIRECTORS: Alicia Dwyer, Tom Xia PRODUCERS: Xia, Alicia Dwyer, Michael Dwyer CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Dwyer EDITORS: Julie Vizza MUSIC: Kenneth Pattengate

Jason DaSilva’s world changed in December of 2006. While vacationing with his family on the beach, he suddenly fell down and couldn’t get back up. In a matter of months, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Doctors told him it could lead to loss of vision and muscle control, and the slow deterioration of his ability to walk. A well-versed traveler and documentary filmmaker, DaSilva felt it was only natural to turn the camera on himself and film his battle with MS. Through his cinematic talents and magnetic personality, DaSilva attempts to shed light not only on his struggles with the disease, but its impact— and even its influence—on his creative process. An official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, When I Walk is an intimate depiction of a disorder that is rarely portrayed on film, and a rousing example of storytelling at its most direct, personal and effective.

—Rinchen Lama

China’s economic rise has been felt across the globe, and sparked a range of praise and criticisms. Last year’s media hype surrounding recalls of China-made toys, for instance, inspired filmmaker Tom Xia—who emigrated to the U.S. from China as a child—to visualize the issue head-on through this compelling, thoughtful documentary. Xia’s concept: to see if an American family can survive one month without Chinese goods during Christmas. One brave family, the Joneses, accepts his challenge, quickly placing any “Made in China” pieces away into a storage container. As the Joneses struggle to adapt to a different life in their (rapidly emptying) home, Xia changes focus to his own immigrant parents, who talk about what they sacrificed when they left China, such as their families and friends, but also what they have gained in seeking the American dream. As both families spend Christmas “without China” (though in utterly different ways), we are left to ask ourselves: What do we desire? What do we really need? And at what cost? Xmas Without China instigates compelling discussions about the global market economy, US/China interdependency, immigration, and what it means to be Chinese in America; most importantly, it turns the heady concept of China’s economic rise into a personal, lived tale.

—Anita Chang

CAAMEDIA ORG 55

56 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CinemAsia

A collection of some of the best international Asian films, CinemAsia has always been an integral part of the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision, and this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crop is no exception, especially with new films from award-winners like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sion Sono, Ying Liang and more. From the harrowing morality play When Night Falls to the upbeat The Cheer Ambassadors, the diversity of world cinema is on full display. Enjoy! CAAMEDIA ORG 57

CinemAsia

Beautiful 2012

Beijing Flickers (You-Zhong)

SAT MAR 16 | 12:40 PM | KABUKI SUN MAR 17 | 4 PM | PFA

SAT MAR 16 | 8:20 PM | PFA THU MAR 21 | 9:20 PM | NEW PEOPLE SAT MAR 23 | 4 PM | GREAT STAR

China 2012 | 90mins | Korean & Chinese w/E.S. | In 35mm DIRECTORS: Kim Tae-yong, Tsai Ming-Liang, Gu Changwei, Ann Hui EXEC. PRODUCER: Victor Koo PRODUCERS: Frank Wei, Luke Lu, David Cao, Wong Yat Ping WRITERS: Kim Tae-yong, Kim Young-hyun, Tsai Ming-Liang, Yang Weiwei, Lou Shiu Wa CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Kwon Sang-jun, Tsai Ming-Liang, Dong Zhenye, Jason Kwan EDITOR: Seong Su-a, Lei Cheng-Chin, Yang Zhifeng, Manda Wai CAST: Gong Hyo-jin, Lee Kang-Sheng, Yan Lianke, Francis Ng Tamed and packaged on greeting cards and calendars, beauty is often so banal it’s invisible. But this omnibus of four short films, each by an acclaimed Asian director, wrests moments of rapture from unexpected places. In You Are More Than Beautiful (Kim Tae-yong, Late Autumn), a taciturn young man hires an actress to be his fiancée in order to satisfy his dying father. For Walker, Tsai Ming-Liang (Goodbye, Dragon Inn) followed a scarletrobed monk through the bustling streets of Hong Kong. With deliberate, incredibly slow steps, the monk’s infinitesimal progress provides a surreal meditation on the simple pleasures of movement. The enigmatic Long Tou (Gu Changwei, Peacock) focuses on three people discussing the vicissitudes of time, life and death as everyday events unfold around them. Finally, in My Way, Ann Hui (A Simple Life) presents a tender portrait of a transsexual woman. A first-time collaboration between the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society and Youku, China’s leading Internet television company.

—Sharon Mizota

58 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

China 2012 | 96mins | Mandarin w/E.S DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Zhang Yuan EXEC. PRODUCERS: Dong Ping, Han Sanping WRITERS: Kong Ergou, Yang Yishu, Li Xinyun, Zhang CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Zhang, Cai Tao EDITOR: Wu Yixiang SOUND: Zhao Bo MUSIC: Lao Wu CAST: Duan Bowen, Lv Yulai, Shi Shi, Han Wenwen In the latest film from Sixth Generation filmmaker Zhang Yuan (Little Red Flowers; Beijing Bastards), the displaced youth of Beijing may be down and out, but they find solace in a makeshift family—one another. San Bao hasn’t spoken in 127 days, not since his girlfriend left him for a much richer man, his dog ran away, and he lost both his job and his apartment. Meanwhile, Wang Min drives expensive cars (as a valet for rich people) and worries his actress girlfriend will leave him, too. They form a community of outcasts, left behind by prosperity, and reminded of it every day. Zhang, whose film Beijing Bastards similarly captured the marginalized and ostracized of the city in the early ‘90s, uses the stories of current twentysomethings to evoke a world in which artists may be starving, but they’re not wasting away. —Mordecai Stayton

preceded by SHANGHAI STRANGERS DIRECTOR: Joan Chen | China 2012 | 24mins | Mandarin w/E.S. A blackout on Christmas Eve in Shanghai makes intimates of strangers.

CinemAsia

The Cheer Ambassadors

Comrade Kim Goes Flying

FRI MAR 15 | 6 PM | NEW PEOPLE MON MAR 18 | 8:30 PM | KABUKI

SAT MAR 16 | 5:45 PM | KABUKI SAT MAR 23 | 8:45 PM | PFA SUN MAR 24 | 4 PM | GREAT STAR

USA/Thailand 2012 | 95mins | Thai w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Luke Cassady-Dorion EXEC. PRODUCER: Jason Best PRODUCER: Thapanont Phithakrattanayothin CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pratriparn Chantho EDITOR: Duangporn Pakavirojkul What brought an entire international crowd in Orlando, Florida to their feet, screaming “Bangkok, Thailand,” over and over? The amazing cheerleading team from Bangkok University. The Cheer Ambassadors tells the incredible story of these Cheerleading World Champions, beginning with the origins of Western-style cheerleading in Thailand in the nineties to the dramatic 2011 match between Bangkok University and GymTyme (USA). Though parallels will be drawn with that classic cheerleading film, Bring It On, the story here is all true. The choreography and energy on display in The Cheer Ambassadors is incredible, with even training montages popping with jaw-dropping moves. Merging the overall narrative flow with each team member’s individual stories, the film captures the dedication, tears, tired bodies, and ultimate self-belief that propelled these Bangkok University cheerleaders to international recognition. First-time filmmaker Luke Cassady-Dorion says he wanted to finally give the Thai team the credit they’re due, and the team itself is what really shines in this often heartbreaking film. “We always kinda knew that it would be a moving, inspiring film,” noted Cassady-Dorion. “There were many times when the cameras were rolling that we had people crying as they recounted events to us…. It was then that I knew we had something.”

—Kat Hughes

Belgium/North Korea/United Kingdom 2012 | 81mins | Korean w/E.S. DIRECTORS: Kim Gwang Hun, Nicholas Bonner, Anja Daelemans PRODUCERS: Daelemans, Bonner, Ryom Mi Hwa WRITERS: Sin Myong Sik, Kim Chol CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hwang Jin Sok EDITORS: Alain Dessauvage, Kim Yun Sim, Gao Bing, Ren Jia SOUND: Pedro Van der Eecken, Frederik Van de Moortel, Rim Yu Song, Rim Bong Chun MUSIC: Ham Chol, Frederik Van de Moortel CAST: Han Jong Sim, Pak Chung Guk, Ri Yong Ho, Kim Son Nam As a young girl growing up in the North Korean countryside, Kim Yong Mi dreamt of sprouting wings and soaring through the skies like the doves that flew above. Years later, the now-adult Comrade Kim spends her days cheerfully laboring as a coal miner and living with her father and grandmother in their idyllic industrial village. But when an opportunity arises to go to Pyongyang, Comrade Kim eagerly sets off for the capital city. There, a chance meeting with members of the Pyongyang Circus—including the cavalier and handsome Pak Jang Phil, ignites Kim’s desire to pursue her childhood love of acrobatics. Armed with plenty of pluck, charm, and working-class resilience, Comrade Kim launches a surprising journey toward making her childhood dream come true. Six years in the making, Comrade Kim Goes Flying is the first fiction feature in over thirty years to be filmed inside North Korea and coproduced by Western filmmakers. Its cast brings together non-actors with the most prominent names in North Korean cinema. Shot in lush, vibrant colors, this romantic comedy also provides an emphasis on selfdestiny that intriguingly departs from the usual communal themes of North Korean film.

—Andrea Kwon

CAAMEDIA ORG 59

CinemAsia

Go Grandriders

Invoking Justice

FRI MAR 15 | 7:20 PM | KABUKI SAT MAR 23 | 2 PM | GREAT STAR

SAT MAR 16 | 1 PM | KABUKI FRI MAR 22 | 7 PM | PFA SAT MAR 23 | 7:15 PM | NEW PEOPLE

Taiwan 2012 | 50mins | Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTOR/EXEC. PRODUCER: Hua Tien-hao PRODUCERS: Lin Yi-ying, Ben Tsiang In Go Grandriders, a group of senior citizens embark on what may be the most daring adventure of their lives: a thirteen-day tour—entirely on motorcycle—around the island of Taiwan. The trip brings harrowing escapes (one rider falls asleep at the wheel, while another is knocked off his bike by a truck), pure exhilaration (including a gleeful romp in the waves when riders reach Taiwan’s east coast), and somber reflection, as riders recall their youths fighting in the Sino-Japanese War. Along the way, the Grandriders travel to nursing homes, eliciting cheers, tears and admiration from other elders as they describe the tour. As their captain announces, “Elders are not only capable but energetic. No one is too old to realize their dreams.” His own unyielding dedication to the group not only lands him in the hospital multiple times during the tour, but also brings him back to greet the riders at each leg of the trip. Other characters we meet along the way include a merry grandfather whose only sadness is missing his weekly trip to the night market with his grandson, and a pastor married to a cancer survivor, who consider the trip their belated honeymoon.

—Claudia Leung preceded by HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE DIRECTOR: Shang-Sing Guo | Taiwan 2012 | 30mins | Mandarin w/E.S. A country boy wrongly accused of theft loses his innocence.

60 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

India 2011 | 85mins | Tamil w/E.S. DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Deepa Dhanraj EXEC. PRODUCER: Sally Jo Fifer EDITORS/WRITERS: Jabeen Merchant, Monisha Baldawa CINEMATOGRAPHER: Navroze Contractor SOUND: S. Kalaichelvan MUSIC: Konarak Reddy Defiantly eschewing Western portraits of the subjugated Muslim woman, Deepa Dhanraj (Something Like a War) explores the way women in Tamil Nadu, South India are challenging tradition to demand equality and justice in their communities. Sharia law is deftly woven into the folds of civil law under the hands of the local Jamaat, an all-male council who upholds Islamic customs and presides over family disputes. Women are neither allowed to sit on the council nor be present at their own hearings. Fed up with an increasingly corrupt system that allows men to interpret the Qu’ran for personal gain, the first-ever Women’s Jamaat is formed to address issues of women’s rights. Despite initial harassment, the organization flourishes as women from the community and the Jamaat gain the courage to speak frankly about the daily violence they endure. Invoking Justice follows three cases (two murders and a divorce) as the core members of the Jamaat raise their voices with humor, tenacity and heart to demand retribution. This intimate portrayal offers the women of Tamil Nadu an additional opportunity to “talk back”—to the male-Jamaats, to their aggressors and to anyone who has ever doubted the power and autonomy of a Muslim woman.

—Sierra Lee

CinemAsia

Jiseul

The Land of Hope (Kibu No Kuni)

FRI MAR 15 | 7:30 PM | KABUKI TUE MAR 19 | 8:30 PM | KABUKI

SAT MAR 16 | 9:40 PM | KABUKI THU MAR 21 | 7 PM | PFA

South Korea 2012 | 108mins | Korean w/E.S

Japan 2012 | 133mins | Japanese w/E.S.

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Muel O PRODUCER: Ko Hyuk-jin CINEMATOGRAPHER: Yang Jung-hoon EDITOR: Lee Do-hyun MUSIC: Jeon Song-e SOUND: Lee Sang-min CAST: Sung Min-chul, Yang Jung-won, Oh Young-soon, Park Soon-dong Set during the 1948 Jeju Massacre, Jiseul tells the story of some 120 villagers who hid in a cave for sixty days from soldiers who were under shootto-kill orders. They suffer from severe cold and hunger but retain their sanity by making jokes and holding on to the hope that their wait is almost over. Eventually their endurance wanes, and fear begins to test the group’s mettle. The absurdity-of-war theme has been explored in many films, but rarely in such exquisite detail as in this offering from writer/director Muel O. Striking black-and-white cinematography captures the texture of the region as well as the humanity of its inhabitants. The film doesn’t condemn anyone but rather focuses on the heart of the story—real people living in fear. Powerful and tender, Jiseul is at certain times hard to watch because of the content and at others extremely engaging because of the authentic human emotion. O has crafted a potent and poetic requiem for a people and a place close to his heart.

—Sundance Film Festival

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Sion Sono PRODUCERS: Mizue Kunizane, Yuji Sadai, Yuko Shiomaki CINEMATOGRAPHER: Shigenori Miki EDITOR: Junichi Ito SOUND: Hajime Komiya CAST: Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Otani, Megumi Kagurazaka, Jun Murakami “This is an invisible war. Invisible bullets and missiles are around us!” shouts a survivor in The Land of Hope, Japan’s first narrative feature inspired by the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Set in the fictional prefecture of Nagashima, the film dramatizes the effect of an eerily similar catastrophe on a small farming town. Two families whose homes fall on opposite sides of the evacuation border must confront hard choices about whether to leave, and whose orders to follow. The elderly Onos have deep reasons for not wanting to abandon their dairy farm, while their son Yoichi and his wife Izumi fear the insidious effects of radiation on Izumi’s pregnancy. Meanwhile, the Suzuki’s’ son helps his girlfriend search for her parents in a devastated landscape. Writer-director Sion Sono, known for over-the-top cult films like Suicide Club, Love Exposure, and Guilty of Romance, continues his more recent turn towards dramas haunted by all-too-real fears. The Land of Hope shows the moral dilemmas faced by people who want to move on from tragedy without abandoning the essence of who they are. Combining naturalistic settings with surreal imagery (like a woman shopping for groceries with a Geiger counter), the film shows the increasing difficulty of determining who is more reasonable: those who insist that life must go on as normal, or those who take up arms against the invisible war around them.

—Misa Oyama

CAAMEDIA ORG 61

CinemAsia

Mekong Hotel

Postcards From the Zoo (Kebun Binatang)

SAT MAR 16 | 4 PM | PFA SUN MAR 17 | 2:10 PM | NEW PEOPLE

SUN MAR 17 | 4:15 PM | NEW PEOPLE FRI MAR 22 | 8:45 PM | PFA

Thailand 2012 | 57mins | Thai w/E.S.

Indonesia 2012 | 96mins | Indonesian w/E.S. | In 35mm

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/WRITER/CINEMATOGRAPHER/ EDITOR: Apichatpong Weerasethakul EXEC. PRODUCERS: Simon Field, Keith Griffiths SOUND: Chalermrat Kaweewattana CAST: Jenjira Pongpas, Maiyatan Techaparn, Sakda Kaewbuadee, Chai Bhatana

DIRECTOR: Edwin PRODUCER: Meiske Taurisia WRITERS: Edwin, Daud Sumolang, Titien Wattimena CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sidi Saleh EDITOR: Herman Kumala Panca MUSIC: Dave Lumenta CAST: Ladya Cheryl, Nicholas Saputra, Adjie Nur Ahmad, Klarysa Aurelia Raditya

Mekong Hotel continues the unconventional experimentation and dreamlike artistry that has made Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century) an essential figure in world cinema.

Experience longing and enchantment, magic and reality through the eyes of Lana, a young woman who was abandoned in Jakarta’s zoo by her father when she was three years old. Raised by animal trainers and staff members, Lana only knows the world of the zoo, where the flapping of an elephant’s ears, the steps of hippos in the water, and the sounds of other animals provide the main soundtrack of her existence. The arrival of a handsome street magician, dressed strangely as a cowboy, opens her eyes to another life, and soon she follows him into the streets of Jakarta to become his assistant. There, far stranger beings await, including mobsters, schemers, and prostitutes. Directed by the acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Edwin (The Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly), Postcards from the Zoo offers a captivating, poetic portrait of Indonesia’s capital city, moving from the serene habitat of the zoo to the harsher, just-as-otherworldly operations of a spa/brothel, where Lana’s journey continues. A testament to the continuing rise of Indonesian cinema, Postcards has been compared to Beasts of the Southern Wild—for its similar tale of a young girl’s upbringing—and the mystical, magical works of Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The Mekong Hotel near the Thailand/Laos border provides the setting; Tong (Sakda Kaewattana) and Phon (Maiyatan Techaparn) ponder life, death and love in one “existence,” while Phon’s mother’s ghost haunts a room in another, occasionally even feasting on entrails. And in yet a third existence, the actor playing the ghost recounts her real-life memories of armed conflict in the region during the 1960s and 70s. Through it all, the Mekong River continues to float by, bloated by the floods of 2011. Merging documentary and fiction and the everyday and the supernatural, with onscreen characters shifting between their “otherworldly” and “real” selves, Mekong Hotel is an enigmatic, magical portrait of a hotel, a region and a nation.

—Curran Nault preceded by ADVANTAGEOUS DIRECTOR: Jennifer Phang | USA 2012 | 23mins Set in 2041, this deeply moving short from Jennifer Phang (Half-Life) depicts a mother’s struggle and sacrifice to ensure her daughter’s future.

62 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

—Nani Ratnawati

Cinemasia

Touch of the Light

When Hari Got Married

SUN MAR 17 | 12 PM | NEW PEOPLE SAT MAR 23 | 6 PM | PFA

SAT MAR 16 | 9 PM | NEW PEOPLE SUN MAR 24 | 2:45 PM | NEW PEOPLE

Taiwan/Hong Kong 2012 | 110mins | Mandarin w/E.S.

India/USA/U.K. 2012 | 75mins | English & Hindi w/E.S.

DIRECTOR: Chang Jung-chi EXEC. PRODUCERS: Chan Ye-Cheng, Song Dai PRODUCERS: Jacky Pang Yee Wah, Cheung Hong-Tat WRITER/EDITOR: Li Nien-Hsiu CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dylan Doyle MUSIC: Wen Tzu-Chieh, Huang Yu-Siang CAST: Huang, Sandrine Pinna, Lee Lieh

DIRECTORS: Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam PRODUCER: Sarin CINEMATOGRAPHER/EDITOR/SOUND: Tenzing Sonam

Blind pianist Huang Yu-Siang stars as himself in Chang Jung-chi’s debut feature Touch of the Light, based on Siang’s own true story. Taiwan’s official submission for the Foreign Language Oscars, this crowd-pleaser earned both commercial and critical success in Taiwan, as well as picking up audience awards at the Taipei and Busan film festivals. Siang is a piano prodigy born visually impaired in rural Taiwan. The fictionalized narrative follows him as he enters a university in Taipei to study music and is confronted with the challenges of living amongst sighted peers. Meanwhile, the beautiful Jie works nearby as a bubble tea vendor, and dreams of becoming a dancer one day. A chance encounter between Siang and Jie not only kindles a flame in Siang (who’s drawn to her kind voice), but also may just unshackle the two from their respective prisons. While the film is officially “presented by Wong Kar Wai,” the film’s visual style is more reminiscent of the works of Shunji Iwai, with soft backlight bathing the characters in an embracing glow. But the true strength of the film is Siang, whose performance—not to mention his soaring piano renditions—inject authenticity and persuasive power into the film, all while encouraging us to listen, to feel and to find our own way.

How do traditions like arranged marriage get passed down in the Information Age? In Hari’s case, the event comes off with a lot of humor and some trepidation. The chatty, gregarious taxi driver is getting married to a girl he’s seen only once in their two year engagement, but whom he’s talked with almost non-stop on the phone for five months. When Hari Got Married is the latest film from veteran directing team Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Soram (Dreaming Lhasa, SFIAAFF ’06), and depicts how some customs adapt to major changes in technology. Hari lives on the Indian side of the Himalayan foothills, and ferries tourists and Tibetans around Dharamsala. He is the youngest son, and his marriage relieves the burdens of his elderly father and the rest of his extended family, all of who live in the same town. Shy bride-to-be Suman will be a welcome addition, Hari declares, because she can work the farm and take care of her father-in-law. When asked if the world is a better place than before, Hari’s elderly aunts exclaim “Better!” They assert that a woman can choose not to marry a disabled or an uneducated man. Even though Hari’s marriage appears tradition bound, it is also a wholly modern occurrence.

—Mordecai Stayton

—Taro Goto

CAAMEDIA ORG 63

Cinemasia

When Night Falls

When the Bough Breaks (Wei Chao)

SAT MAR 16 | 5:20 PM | KABUKI + CONVERSATION SUN MAR 17 | 3 PM | KABUKI

THU MAR 21 | 7 PM | NEW PEOPLE + CONVERSATION SAT MAR 23 | 2 PM | JAMES MOORE THEATRE - OMCA

China/South Korea 2012 | 70mins | Mandarin w/E.S.

China 2011 | 147mins | Mandarin w/E.S

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ying Liang PRODUCERS: Peng Shan, Xu Qian-chun CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ryuji Otsuka EDITOR: Tong Wai-wing SOUND: Benny Chan, Pekkle Sham CAST: Nai An, Kate Wen, Sun Ming

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ji Dan EDITOR: Sha Qing, Ji Dan

One of the most powerful topical dramas produced in China comes from one of the key young independent directors of the last ten years: Ying Liang (The Other Half ). In 2008, a young man named Yang Jia accused the Shanghai police of falsely arresting him for the theft of a bicycle, then abusing him during interrogation. After seeking redress in vain, he walked into a local police station and stabbed six policeman to death. The case became a cause célèbre online in China (and the subject of a documentary by Ai Weiwei), although media coverage was strictly controlled. Yang was sentenced to death and executed. During his trial, his mother Wang Jingmei was committed to a “security” mental hospital under a false name for 143 days. She was only released after the trial, on the eve of his execution. Ying Liang chooses to centre his fictionalized version of this incident on the mother, played with moving authority and moral force by the independent Chinese producer Nai An. Amidst precisely framed long still shots of dark interiors, on the streets near her home, and in a courtyard scene that is utterly chilling in its Kafka-esque menace, Wang persists, gently, implacably, seeking the truth, and justice for her son. Ying’s cool camera and subdued lighting make palpable the oppressive atmosphere underlying the bleak inevitability of state power. But at the same time, Ying suggests the presence, invisible but just palpable, of a moral world struggling to assert itself.

—Shelly Kraicer, Vancouver International Film Festiva

64 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

A young girl stands stubbornly in a frozen wasteland, gazing into the distance at brand-new buildings far beyond her reach: this opening shot underlines the theme of When the Bough Breaks, a persuasive, powerful documentary about a family living on the edges of Beijing. The family’s two daughters, Xia and Ling, and their son Gang form the heart of the story; they share none of the riches of the nearby capital city, but share with one another a burden too heavy for their ages: how to find funding for their education, and change their fate with little to no help from their parents. Their dominant, unreasonable father possesses neither the will nor the ability to support their education, while their mother merely dreams of some kind of miraculous outside intervention, whether from an Auntie or the lecherous Mr. Chen. Left on their own, the kids must fight the battle themselves, led by the strong-willed Xia. Continuously confronting their parents, both Xia and Ling finally are forced to drop out of school, in order to afford to send Gang to college. Though the family remains intact after all the fights, the cuts are raw and hard and difficult to heal. Directed by one of China’s most significant female filmmakers, Ji Dan, When the Bough Breaks is a raw, at times unblinking portrayal of the underclass of contemporary China.

—Meng Li This screening is presented in partnership with the Oakland Museum of California, and will be followed by a conversation with Hung Liu, the Museum's featured artist, as a program for the exhibition "Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu," on view March 16 through June 30.

CAAMEDIA ORG 65

We ❤ indie film

From IndieFest to SFIFF to Frameline to the SF Jewish Film Festival to CAAMFest and beyond — the Guardian’s film section and www.sfbg.com are your best resource for in-depth reviews, and interviews with artists and programmers. Plus: weekly reviews of first-run films, rephouse events, profiles of local filmmakers, and more!

66 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Shorts

One of the gems of the festival is the Shorts Program: a convergence of established and emerging filmmakers who are limited (or liberated) by their runtime. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program brings a diverse set of snapshots of the world to Bay Area audiences. Like a marvelous painting or photograph, these films will inspire and entertain.

CAAMEDIA ORG 67

Shorts

Emotional Eaters

On Bodies

FRI MAR 15 | 5 PM | KABUKI SAT MAR 23 | 2:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE

SAT MAR 16 | 3 PM | KABUKI TUE MAR 19 | 6:30 | KABUKI

94mins

91mins

CRAFTSMAN USA 2012 | 2mins | Japanese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Jesse Flower-Ambroch In this precise piece, Craftsman captures the waning days of Japanese knife sharpening, as seen through the work of Master Chiharu Sugai. KAE USA 2012 | 10mins DIRECTOR: Lana Dang Joe takes his children, Lia and Kanoa, fishing on the Hawaiian docks. In this comical short for the family, Kae is about how the unexpected waits in sometimes-overbearing efforts, and the quiet redemptive quality in being present. KIMCHI FRIED DUMPLINGS Canada 2012 | 14mins DIRECTOR: Jason Karman An Asian Canadian man comes home with a new boyfriend for Christmas to find his younger brother, who is also gay, resentful for being left to care for their aging parents. With a lovable and quirky cast, Kimchi Fried Dumplings will make you feel at home, dysfunction and all.

Food—whether as a symbol that passes through generations, or a visual accent at a particular moment—takes on almost anthropomorphic qualities in these humorous family tales and realistic dramas.

MAMORI USA 2012 | 10mins DIRECTOR: Ben Wang Every summer, director Ben Wang’s grandmother picks, stews and cans tomatoes at Matsumura Farms in Esparto, CA. This short documentary uncovers a family tale of commitment and earnest life lessons passed from one generation to the next. MOTHER’S MILK USA/Vietnam 2012 | 18mins | Vietnamese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Andy DeJohn In this lushly shot period piece set in the Vietnamese countryside, two daughters live simply under the care of their mother. The cornfields are where this trio finds their sustenance, but when unexpected changes occur, roles shift, and bonds become strained.

BOLLYWOOD INVASION USA 2012 | 19mins DIRECTOR: Shaan Dasani In this fun and colorful short, an awkward college student must learn how to dance to overcome self-doubt and win the affection of another. DILLI DREAMS India/Germany 2012 | 9mins | Hindi w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Etienne Sievers In this visually poetic piece, an older city dweller reflects on his youth in the country.

PERSIMMON Japan 2012 | 20mins | Japanese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Dean Yamada In this meditative and poetic short, Tamotsu is faced with two unexpectedly difficult problems: an elderly man who won’t eat, and a persimmon that won’t dry. Through his interactions with a tableau of seemingly disparate characters, Tamotsu is faced with the meaning of death and life, and the process of letting go.

INSIDE OUR HEARTS USA 2012 | 3mins DIRECTOR: John Liau The Carters share their inspirational story of overcoming discrimination and disability in order to create a better future for their child.

THE SUGAR BOWL Philippines 2012 | 20mins | Tagalog w/E.S. DIRECTORS: Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson The Sugar Bowl documents an island in the Philippines and the rise and fall of its sugar cane industry. A chorus of three characters from varying backgrounds collectively tells the story of the industry’s demise.

We live through our bodies every day. Follow these shorts as they explore how flesh and bone can work as the instruments for justice, survival, memory, isolation, personal triumph, community and self-knowledge.

—Curated by Mark V. Reyes, R.J. Lozada

68 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

BIGGER THEY COME USA 2012 | 8mins DIRECTOR: Patricio Ginelsa Female fighter Jynx must avenge her grandfather’s death by defeating an array of opponents, yo-yo in hand. Native Elements sets the beat.

Shorts

BENCHMARK USA | 2012 | 11mins DIRECTOR: Vincent Lin Donny and T have been best friends for years. When graduation approaches, will the future break them apart?

GOT A JOB! USA | 2012 | 2mins DIRECTOR: Chickie Otani Chickie Otani returns with a hilarious short about two elderly friends who work at a fortune cookie factory.

NO LONGER THERE JAPAN 2012 | 23mins | Japanese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Nobuyuki Miyake Visible both when our bodies are alive and dead, teeth transcend the show-and-tell of time. Here, a young man experiences emotional connection in his fantasy life as he is tasked with creating dentures for a young woman.

BROKEN MAIDEN Singapore 2012 | 9mins DIRECTOR: Maxim Dashkin Felix Chong spends his days at the racetrack, winning some and losing more. When he visits his son Michael, has he finally hit rock bottom?

GREAT BIG LIGHTS OUT South Korea 2012 | 10mins | Korean w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Robert Joe “If everyone you knew just died in his or her sleep,” a young woman asks her friend. “What do you think would happen?”

BUBBLE South Korea 2012 | 10mins | Korean w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Robert Joe Dreams come to life in this South Korean short.

SIX FROM CERTAIN USA 2012 | 5mins DIRECTORS: Lawrence Gan, Jonathan Moy Sean’s friends are shocked when he breaks it off with a perfect girl. What, they wonder, is keeping him from happiness?

SECRETS OF THE MONGOLIAN ARCHERS USA/Mongolia 2012 | 14mins | Mongolian w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Lucy Walker With the Olympics approaching quickly, Mongolia's arching team prepares for battle in Lucy Walker's (SFIAAFF '12, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom) newest documentary. TULE LAKE USA 2012 | 7mins DIRECTOR: Michelle Ikemoto A mother's unyielding love is tested during the cold of night in this stunning animation about perseverance.

DISTANCE USA 2012 | 4mins | Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTORS: James Shih, James Feng, Nick Louie When her boyfriend is called away to Hong Kong, a young woman asks herself about love. FOR HIRE India 2012 | 23mins | Hindi w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Varun Chawla In Mumbai, a taxi driver ferries around a sex worker for extra cash. One night changes them both.

— Curated by Geraldine Ah-Sue

What do we mean to each other in any given moment? What matters most is what we take away, and what we leave behind. In these films, strangers, friends and loved ones have close encounters; some end well, others not so much.

TWO FOR DEPARTURE South Korea/Thailand 2012 | 11mins DIRECTOR: Hyun-Jae Lee A tourist and a young Thai man meet up in increasingly absurd circumstances. Throwing yourself from the Death Bridge can be so complicated. UNMENTIONABLES USA 2012 | 5mins DIRECTOR: Michael Shu A young man with asthma confronts the near past in this story of time travel.

— Curated by Natalie Tsui, Shwetika Baijal, Mordecai Stayton

CAAMEDIA ORG 69

Shorts

Queer Convergence

A Wrench In The Works

SUN MAR 17 | 2:40 PM | CASTRO WED MAR 20 | 9:20 PM | KABUKI

SUN MAR 17 | 12:15 PM | KABUKI MON MAR 18 | 8:30 PM | NEW PEOPLE

67mins

75mins

BORN TO DANCE THIS WAY USA 2012 | 12mins DIRECTOR: Jerell Rosales Joo Si (Russell Argenal) is a fierce, fabulous, and overweight aspiring performer who auditions to be a principal backup dancer for an allfemale pop singing sensation. This light-hearted and inspiring film will have you dancing in your seat and smiling until the end. THE HEART’S MOUTH USA 2013 | 3mins DIRECTOR: Erica Cho An excerpt from Cho’s forthcoming experimental film Golden Golden, this short scene depicts an encounter between two Asian youth, set to the voice of Nat King Cole. This lush, Edwardian fantasia celebrates nature, poetry and queer-transgender desire. IF I FOUND THE PLACE USA 2012 | 5mins DIRECTOR: Leeroy Kun Young Kang Part serenade and part memoir, this video is a dedication to 1992, a K-pop idol, and “the boys”. Through a collage of found video footage, a mirrored dreamscape of fantasy and desire becomes transposed into a kaleidoscope of romantic bliss.

Welcome to the Queer Convergence! Sit back and enjoy this rollercoaster ride of awkwardness, self-discovery, reflection and humor. With a particular emphasis on adolescence and music, the films in this program capture the pains and pleasures of being just who you are.

70 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

LAST TEA PARTY Singapore 2012 | 10mins DIRECTOR: Melanie Ramos Best friends Charlie and Mike party hard on their last night before they leave for the Singaporean Army. In a haze of alcohol and drugs, Charlie discovers his true love for Mike.

THE ANTI-VERSARY Canada 2011 | 6mins | English & Cantonese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Aaron Au Things sour at a friends’ ritual gathering when a widower honors the anniversary of his loved one.

LOVE BANG Cambodia 2012 | 5mins | English, Khmer & Vietnamese w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Viet Le Saturated with eye-popping colors and insatiable desires, Le’s “sexperimental” music video examines historical trauma, collective memory and the effects of rapid modernization in Cambodia and Vietnam.

BANZAI RISING China 2012 | 15mins | English & Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Pedro Gomez Mexican American director Pedro Gomez moves to China and finds he has a lot in common with the denizens of the growing subculture of skateboarding in Shanghai.

PRETTY PICTURES USA 2012 | 15min DIRECTOR: Christina Sun Kim Sent to her aunt’s home to stay, Laney finds solace in a sketchbook where she brings her companion Marcy to life. A twisted but ultimately heartening tale of adolescent sexuality, with a fantastical bent. TOM/TRANS/THAI Thailand 2012 | 17mins DIRECTOR: Jai Arun Ravine This quiet film approaches the silence around female-to-male (FTM) transgender identity by addressing tom and trans-masculine identities in Thai and Thai American communities, and the relationships between gender and language.

—Curated by Munira Lokhandwala, Vu T. Thu Ha

BORN TO DANCE THIS WAY USA 2012 | 11mins DIRECTOR: Jerell Rosales The fierce, fabulous Joo Si arrives in Los Angeles with a single goal to be a dancer. He auditions for the opportunity of a lifetime, to be a principal backup dancer for a sexy female pop sensation. As the tale unfolds, so does his struggle with society’s expectations of him as a flamboyant, feminine and overweight male dancer.

This one is for the eager beggar. The regretful thug. The plus-sized backup dancer, and the refugee brimming with heart. Take a second glance, for you have met them before. This program follows the stories of envelopepushing outcasts: the deviants, outsiders and iconoclasts who force us to question one another and ourselves.

Shorts

WYSIWYG (What You See Isn’t What You Get) SAT MAR 16 | 4:20 PM | NEW PEOPLE SUN MAR 17 | 5 PM | KABUKI THU MAR 21 | 9 PM | KABUKI 89mins DAWN USA 2012 | 10mins DIRECTOR: Leon Le While riding home on public transit, Tye interprets racism from another passenger’s glance, and decides to follow and confront him. But in the outcome of this unpredictable standoff, all assumptions are shattered, and the parties realize they share something big in common.

AT YOUR CONVENIENCE USA 2012 | 22mins DIRECTOR: Raymond C. Lai At a neighborhood convenience store run by two best friends, everything is twisted. Starring Randall Park and Dwayne Perkins, this unusual sitcom (originally produced as a TV pilot) plays with stereotypes and more, all in front of remarkable CGI environments.

...OR DIE USA 2012 | 13mins DIRECTOR: Gregory Bonsignore What happens when three brown men pitch their own funny idea to a show producer? What price must they pay to achieve YouTube success? Sarcastically hilarious but at the same time darkly sad, ...Or Die is based on real events.

FOOTSTEPS South Korea 2012 | 25mins | Korean w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Thomas Hyungkyung Kim It’s all fun and games when a group of North Korean schoolboys dares a social outcast to cross a beach under the nose of an armed guard. As the tide rolls in, however, this dare quickly turns into a diplomatic dispute.

MORE THAN A FACE IN THE CROWD USA 2012 | 25mins DIRECTOR: Samantha Chan When Harry Met Sally and The Birds: these two films seem unrelated, but they have one thing in common: actress Jane Chung, filmmaker Samantha Chan’s 100-year-old greataunt. In this witty, curious, and warm-hearted personal journey, Chan explores her aunt’s life and career in more than fifty films and TV series.

SCREAMING IN ASIAN USA 2012 | 11mins DIRECTOR: Joyce Wu Facing rude casting agents and indifferent friends, aspiring actress Sophie is plagued with indignities and misfortunes until she finally breaks down. Teeming with frustration and painful truths, Screaming in Asian is still darkly funny.

LITTLE MAO Canada 2012 | 7mins DIRECTOR: Allan Tong After a pop fly, a twelve-year-old baseball novice is suddenly transformed into Chairman Mao. SHAYA USA 2012 | 19mins DIRECTOR: Amir Noorani A Pakistani family is swept from the terrifying wilderness of war to the streets of Los Angeles. Adversity strikes as the head of the household is left to navigate the customs and culture of this new country. —Curated by Elizabeth Cabrera, Kyle Casey Chu

MOTHER AND CHILD USA 2012 | 5mins | English & Tagalog w/E.S. DIRECTOR: Jocelyn Saddi-Lenhardt Successfully building a life with her young son in the United States, a Filipina woman must reorganize everything to prepare for the return of her traditional husband. Short, precise and poignant, this film masterfully demonstrates the facades that people build in everyday life.

Whether pursuing success in media or simply desiring peace at home, the subjects of these films are faced with fulfilling an image of who they should be and how they should act. This program seeks to answer whether it is best to fight, give in or just give up.

TAIWANFAMOUS Taiwan 2012 | 13mins | English & Mandarin w/E.S. DIRECTORS: Sarah Tadayon, Dave Frazier After a chance appearance on a popular Taiwanese talk show, Chinese-Iranian-American actress Sarah Tadayon decides to pursue her dreams in Asia. This personal, fascinating story reveals that leaving Hollywood does not mean escaping typecasting and stereotypical ideals of beauty. — Curated by Julie Hwang, Youngbin Kwon

CAAMEDIA ORG 71

72 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Board and Staff

MENG LI

CHAIR

DIPTI GHOSH

KAREN LUONG

VICE CHAIR

DAVID LEI

TAMMY YAN

SECRETARY

JOHNNIE D. GILES

ASHLYN PERRI

TREASURER

MYONG LEIGH

CORA WANG

MEMBERS

JAMES BAO

HANEUL KIM

CHRISTINE CHEN

JESSIE WANG

RANA CHO KEN IKEDA

YEJI LEE SCREENING COMMITTEE

ROGER CHUNG

KATHY IM

KAREN DATANGEL

BILL IMADA

VICKI HSU

PHILOMENA KING

JAMES KIM

ROGER KUO

ANDREA KWON

KONRAD NG

RINCHEN LAMA

FRANCE VIANA

KYUNG LEE

MONA LISA YUCHENGCO

VALERIE LO

CAAM STAFF

NATALIE MULFORD

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STEPHEN GONG

ATSUSHI MURASE

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

KAR YIN THAM

CLAY NGO

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

DON YOUNG

JASON NOU

FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

LUI GONZALES

DIANNE QUE

HERNAN LAVIN

NAWNEET RANJAN

THERESA CHIU

NANI RATNAWATI

JENNIFER CHU

TONILYN A. SIDECO

CHERIE COLMENARES

LAUREN WINSOR STENMOE

DEBBIE NG

BENITO VERGARA

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

DIGITAL AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA

MICHAEL KWAN

PROGRAM MANAGER

DAVIN AGATEP

EDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

JAMES SCRIVANO

SHWETIKA BAIJAL

FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONS

CHRISTINE KWON

ELIZABETH CABRERA

MASASHI NIWANO

KYLE CASEY CHU

ELLEN PARK

JULIE HWANG

SAPANA SAKYA

YOUNGBIN KWON

MEDIA FUND

TAMMY YAN SHORTS CURATORS

MUNIRA LOKHANDWALA

FESTIVAL STAFF FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

MASASHI NIWANO

FESTIVAL MANAGING DIRECTOR

CHRISTINE KWON

OPERATIONS MANAGER

KIM GARCIA

OPERATIONS ASSISTANT

KAI YEU SUNG

MARKETING COORDINATOR

PRIYA GUPTA

MARKETING COORDINATOR

ERICA JOHNSON

PUBLIC RELATIONS COORDINATOR

LIN KUNG

CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER

PHILANA WOO

PUBLICATIONS COORDINATOR

MORDECAI STAYTON

GUEST SERVICES COORDINATOR

DON CHAN

PRINT TRAFFIC COORDINATOR

MARIAMA NANCE

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

DANIEL SASSON

SPONSORSHIP ASSOCIATE

SIERRA LEE

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

TRACEY BORNSTEIN

SENIOR FESTIVAL PROGRAM CONSULTANT

LINDA BLACKABY

PROGRAM ADVISOR

WAJAHAT ALI

PUBLICATIONS EDITOR

JASON SANDERS

ADAM ASHWORTH JAMIE GAARD

INTERNS

GERALDINE AH-SUE

CHADWICK AHN SONNY AGUIRRE LORRIE ASPIRAS CHRISTINE ESPINA VICKI HSU JAMES KIM FENGYI KUANG TOMMY KWAN

R.J. LOZADA MARK V. REYES MORDECAI STAYTON NATALIE TSUI VU T. THU HA BOX OFFICE

BEN ARMINGTON, BOX CUBED MITCH VAUGHN, BOX CUBED

DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

MARY NICELY, NICELY DONE SOLUTIONS

FESTIVAL IDENTITY AND DESIGN

CREATIVE B'STRO

FESTIVAL TRAILER

KONTENT FILMS & EDITORIAL

FESTIVAL WEBSITE

JESSICA YAZBEK, GALA FESTIVAL ENGINE

PROJECTIONISTS

HUGH ROBBINS HAL ROWLAND JON BASTIAN

PUBLICIST

LARSEN & ASSOCIATES

SPECIAL EVENTS PRODUCTION SPECIAL PROGRAM CURATORS

MARKY ENRIQUEZ THY TRAN

THEATER OPERATIONS STAFF

CANDACE ROBERTS JILL BROOKE JONATHAN WOO KIMBER HIGHTOWER NADINE JOHNSON SHAWN YEE GLYNDA COTTON ANTHONY NOCEDA AMY CHAN

CAAMEDIA ORG 73

THANK YOU CA AM MEMBERS & DONORS We are grateful for the generous support of the following foundations, government entities, partners, members and donors. Contributions received from Oct. 1, 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sept. 30, 2012. We would also like to express our gratitude to the many members and donors at the Friend, Student and Senior Levels. We regret any errors.

Thank You VISIONARY GOLD Walter Hansell VISIONARY SILVER Denis Bouvier Bill Imada Roger Kuo Mona Lisa Yuchengco ADVOCATE Dipti Ghosh & Meggy Gotuaco Johnnie D. Giles Kathy Im Myong Leigh Ann Sung-Ruckstuhl & John R. Ruckstuhl BENEFACTOR Ravi Chandra, M.D. Desmond D. Chin Rana Cho & Matt Small Jerry Hiura, Pres. of CATS & Lucia Cha Ken Ikeda Bernadette Kim & Len Christensen David and Linda Lei Karen Solidum France Viana Susan Willemsz-Geeroms

74 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

DIRECTOR Lalit Balchandani Yi-Lun Ding Philomena King Peter R. McGrath & Han Y. Wang Robert Nishi Vincent Pan Leroy & Claudia Quan Christine Tsai Jean Tsien Calvin & Emma Yee PATRON Christine Chen Jason Cheung Doug Chin, in Memory of Janice Sakamoto Derek Chung David & Cheryl Jackson Takuji & Harumi Kasamatsu Russell & Sherlyn Leong Jennie Lew & Cary Fong Pamela Matsuoka Dale Minami Alex Randolph Arthur Rothstein Dr. Marvin Sommer Victoria S. Taketa Diane Tokugawa Edward Wong Bryan Yagi

Steven Yang Erik Young Alon & Margo Yu SUPPORTER Anonymous Asian Law Caucus, INC Christopher Au & Cindy Lee Kathryn Chan Andrew Chih-Liang Chang Michael Chao Jennifer Chu Laurie Coyle Danita Delce Maria Fedel Thomas K. Fujisaka Robert Gagnon Kay Gamo Leslie Griep Cari Gushiken Aaron Herskowitz Frederick Ignacio In memory of Janice Sakamoto Don Joe Masa Jow Liz Keim Arlene Kimata Larry Kitagawa Ms. Donna Kotake

Bonnie Kwong Willis Lai Monica Z. Lam Stephen Lawson Matthew Ledesma Francis Lee Hatty Lee Michael Lee Claudia Leung Felicia Lowe Susan McCabe Harry Mok Janet Nagamine Stephen Naventi Edmund W. Ow Susan Parini & Stefan Gruenwedel Frances Pomperada Jeanette Roan Indigo Som & Donna Ozawa Yu Tsai Tai TisBest Philanthropy Janet Tom Wayne Wada Raymond and Kay Woon Daniel Yu Phil Yu Lin Yuan Helen Zia & Lia Shigemura Mike Zimmerman

CAAMEDIA ORG 75

Acknowledgements Elgin Aguilar | Pacific Arts Movement Nishita Bakshi Eagle Press Matt Bertens Richard Blonski Antonella Bonfantil | Prelinger Archives Lynn Caffrey | Caffrey Insurance Solutions April Candelaria Ravi Chandra Rose Chang | Indiestory Inc. Nicholas Chee | Sinema Media Jason Cheung | ISU Insurance Services Aseem Chhabra Dick Chhetri Karin Chien Chris Chin Rana Cho Kevin Chow | Titan Erica Chueh-Chu Lin | CNEX Brian Collette | Castro Theatre Santhosh Daniel | The Global Film Initiative Lindsay Dedo | Cinema Guild Dewey Family Delphine Eon | Beta Cinema Violet Feng | CNEX Abraham Ferrer | Visual Communications Leanne Ferrer | Pacific Islanders in Communications Michael Fimognari Susan Fincham | Did Shapira & Associates Kristen M. Fitzpatrick | Women Make Movies Reverend Norman Fong Julie Fry | The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Roger Garcia | Hong Kong International Film Festival

76 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAMEDIA ORG 77

Print Source

Print Source THE ANTI-VERSARY

Aaron Au Titlecard Pictures Inc. PHONE: 778.388.8355 EMAIL: aaron@titlecardpictures.com

AT YOUR CONVENIENCE Raymond C. Lai CFI Productions PHONE: 310.437.3577 EMAIL: ray@raymondclai.com

BENCHMARK

Vincent Lin Valiant Pictures PHONE: 917.826.4255 EMAIL: vince@valiantpictures.com

BIGGER THEY COME

Patricio Ginelsa Kid Heroes Productions PHONE: 323.516.6042 EMAIL: info@kidheroes.net

BOLLYWOOD INVASION

Shaan Dasani Karma Theory Films PHONE: 323.393.0679 EMAIL: karmatheoryfilms@yahoo.com

BORN TO DANCE THIS WAY Jerrell Rosales PHONE: 310.617.2035 EMAIL: rosalesjerell@gmail.com

BUBBLE

Robert Joe PHONE: +821044424300 EMAIL: robotjoe@gmail.com

THE CHEER AMBASSADORS Jason W. Best / Luke Cassady-Dorion EMAIL: lukecd@gmail.com

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

David Magdael EMAIL: dmagdael@tcdm-associates.com

78 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

DEAD DAD

Kelly Calligan EMAIL: deaddadmovie@gmail.com

DILLI DREAMS

Etienne Sievers PHONE: +447923289241 EMAIL: etiennesievers@hotmail.com

E HAKU INOA: TO WEAVE A NAME

IF I FOUND THE PLACE

Leeroy Kang PHONE: 206.491.4588 EMAIL: dearleeroy@gmail.com

INHERITANCE

Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz PHONE: 678.200.9996 EMAIL: aeb95@temple.edu

Christen Marquez Paradocs Productions PHONE: 917.428.4984 EMAIL: christen.marquez@gmail.com

INSIDE OUR HEARTS

FOR HIRE

INVOKING JUSTICE

Varun Chawla Dottedbox PHONE: +919819717031 EMAIL: info@dottedbox.com

GO GRANDRIDERS

Ben Tsiang CNEX EMAIL: contact@cnex.org.tx

GRACELAND

Rebecca Lundgren Imprint Pictures EMAIL: Rebecca.lundgren@gmail.com

HARANA

Benito Bautista Wanderlustproject Films PHONE: 619.421.2063 EMAIL: wanderlustprojectfilms@gmail.com

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

Stephen Maing Mud Horse Pictures, LLC PHONE: 617.304.6316 EMAIL: hightechlowlifefilm@gmail.com

HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE Shang-Sing Guo PHONE: +886937142736 EMAIL: KPTMovie@gmail.com

John Liau PHONE: 408.893.5938 EMAIL: chunny@johnliau.com Kristen Fitzpatrick PHONE: 212.925.0606 x312 EMAIL: kf@wmm.com

JISEUL

Kate Won INDIESTORY Inc. EMAIL: kate@indiestory.com

KIMCHI FRIED DUMPLINGS Jason Karman PHONE: 604.329.9099 EMAIL: jason.karman@gmail.com

THE LAND OF HOPE

Hiromitsu Senoo Pictures Dept. Co. Ltd. EMAIL: picturesdept@picturesdept.com

LATE SUMMER

Michael Graziano EMAIL: graziano@ujifilms.com

LET'S PLAY MUSIC! SLACK KEY WITH CYRIL AND FRIENDS Na’alehu Anthony ‘Oiwi Television Network PHONE: 808.536.8978 EMAIL: naalehu@oiwi.tv

LINA’LA’ LUSONG

Leaane Ferrer Pacific Islanders in Communications PHONE: 808.591.0059 EMAIL: lferrer@piccom.org

Print Source

LINSANITY

Brian Yang EMAIL: brian@408films.com

MAMORI

Ben Wang EMAIL: bmw3030@gmail.com

MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER ON A VOYAGE Mona Lisa Yuchengco EMAIL: myuchengco@yahoo.com

MEKONG HOTEL

Richard Lormand EMAIL: intlpress@aol.com

MEMORY OF FORGOTTEN WAR Deanna Borshay Liem EMAIL: borshay@mindspring.com

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN

Mark Urman Paladin PHONE: 212.337.9500 EMAIL: assistant@paladinfilm.com

THE MOSUO SISTERS

PERSIMMON

Dean Yamada PHONE: 213.631.3326 EMAIL: yamada@alumni.usc.edu

PIKO

Leaane Ferrer Pacific Islanders in Communications PHONE: 808.591.0059 EMAIL: lferrer@piccom.org

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO David Bauduin The Match Factory EMAIL: festivals@matchfactory.de

PRETTY PICTURES

Christina Sun Kim PHONE: 512.228.6766 EMAIL: c.sun.kim@gmail.com

SECRETS OF THE MONGOLIAN ARCHERS

Jacob Burnett Supply & Demand Integrated PHONE: 310.956.3500 EMAIL: jburnett@sdintegrated.com

Marlo Poras Marlo Poras Productions EMAIL: marloporas@aol.com

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE

MOTHER’S MILK (SUA ME)

SEEKING HAVEN

Andy DeJohn PHONE: 773.732.2519 EMAIL: amdejohn@gmail.com

NICE GIRLS CREW 2

Center for Asian American Media PHONE: 415.863.0814 EMAIL: nicegirlscrew@gmail.com

OLD ROMANCES (RETROSPECTIVE) Leong Puiyee Objectifs Films Pte. Ltd. PHONE: +6562939782 EMAIL: puiyee@objectifs.com.sg

Debbie Lum EMAIL: info@seekingasianfemale.com Hein S. Seok Two Fish Pictures, The Chosunilbo EMAIL: creature@gmail.com

SHAYA

Amir Noorani PHONE: 607.227.1407 EMAIL: amir.noorani@gmail.com

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW Nadine Truong PHONE: 310.613.0815 EMAIL: grenadine54@gmail.com

THE SUGAR BOWL

Shasha Nakhai Squire Entertainment PHONE: 416.823.2369 EMAIL: shasha@squireentertainment.com

SUNSET STORIES

Silas Howard Plain View Pictures PHONE: 323.445.9427 EMAIL: silashoward@gmail.com

TOM/TRANS/THAI

Jai Aru Ravine PHONE: 510.705.2774 EMAIL: eucalyptusraven@gmail.com

TULE LAKE

Michelle Ikemoto PHONE: 408.439.7619 EMAIL: michelle.ikemoto@gmail.com

TWO FOR DEPARTURE

Kevin Chatupornpitak PHONE: 626.532.0847 EMAIL: kevinwchat@gmail.com

WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED Ritu Sarin EMAIL: ritu10zing@gmail.com

WHEN I WALK

Eseel Borlasa EMAIL: eborlasa@tcdm-associates.com

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

Yeoun Yang Jeonju International Film Festival EMAIL: jiff_film2@jigg.or.jr

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS Icarus Films PHONE: 718.488.8900 EMAIL: mail@icarusfilms.com

X-MAS WITHOUT CHINA

Alicia Dwyer Dwyer & Xia, LLC EMAIL: xmaswithoutchina@gmail.com

CAAMEDIA ORG 79

Program Index by Title

PAGE 27 27 71 35 37 46 62 70 36 22 22 71 58 58 69 68 68 70 69 69 59 59 68 70 46 68 33 69 32 29 36 71 69 60 69 47 69 34 52 70 52 60 70 54 68 60 61 68 68 68 61 70

PROGRAM 15 881 …OR DIE (BITTER)SWEET (COOK SALON) 2013 READY, SET, PITCH! PANEL ABIGAIL HARM ADVANTAGEOUS ANTI-VERSARY, THE ASIAN CHOPS ASTRO BOY: 60TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION ASTRO BOY: THE MOVIE AT YOUR CONVENIENCE BEAUTIFUL 2012 BEIJING FLICKERS BENCHMARK BIGGER THEY COME, THE BOLLYWOOD INVASION BORN TO DANCE THIS WAY BROKEN MAIDEN BUBBLE CHEER AMBASSADORS, THE COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING CRAFTSMAN DAWN DEAD DAD DILLI DREAMS DIRECTIONS IN SOUND DISTANCE DOSA HUNT (NEW DIRECTIONS LAUNCH) E HAKU INOA: TO WEAVE A NAME FESTIVAL SOCIAL CLUB FOOTSTEPS FOR HIRE GO GRANDRIDERS GOT A JOB! GRACELAND GREAT BIG LIGHTS OUT GROOVE SALON HARANA HEART’S MOUTH, THE HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE IF I FOUND THE PLACE INHERITANCE INSIDE OUR HEARTS INVOKING JUSTICE JISEUL JUDY KAE KIMCHI FRIED DUMPLINGS LAND OF HOPE, THE LAST TEA PARTY

80 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

PAGE 47 29 29 18 70 70 68 53 62 37 20 19 35 28 71 53 71 68 23 69 27 18 68 29 62 70 25 24 71 69 54 54 54 58 71 69 48 68 48 71 70 63 69 34 69 69 63 55 64 64 55

PROGRAM LATE SUMMER LET'S PLAY MUSIC! SLACK KEY W/CYRIL PAHINUI... LINA’LA LUSONG LINSANITY LITTLE MAO LOVE BANG MAMORI MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER ON A VOYAGE MEKONG HOTEL MEMORY OF FORGOTTEN WAR MEMORIES TO LIGHT MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN MIXING MASALA MONKEY KING 3D, THE MORE THAN A FACE IN THE CROWD MOSUO SISTERS, THE MOTHER AND CHILD MOTHER’S MILK NICE GIRLS CREW 2 NO LONGER THERE OLD ROMANCES OPENING NIGHT GALA PERSIMMON PIKO POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO PRETTY PICTURES RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, THE SCREAMING IN ASIAN SECRETS OF A MONGOLIAN ARCHER SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE PANEL SEEKING HAVEN SHANGHAI STRANGERS SHAYA SIX FROM CERTAIN SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW SUGAR BOWL, THE SUNSET STORIES TAIWANFAMOUS TOM/TRANS/THAI TOUCH OF THE LIGHT TULE LAKE TURN IT UP TO 11 PART 2: WILD DAYS TWO FOR DEPARTURE UNMENTIONABLES WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED WHEN I WALK WHEN NIGHT FALLS WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS XMAS WITHOUT CHINA

Film Index by County

BELGIUM 59

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

CAMBODIA 70

PHILIPPINES 47

GRACELAND

HARANA

SUGAR BOWL, THE

LOVE BANG

SINGAPORE

CANADA

ANTI-VERSARY, THE

881

CHEER AMBASSADORS, THE

BROKEN MAIDEN

KIMCHI FRIED DUMPLINGS

LAST TEA PARTY

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN

OLD ROMANCES

WHEN I WALK

SOUTH KOREA

CHINA

BUBBLE

BEAUTIFUL 2012

FOOTSTEPS

BEIJING FLICKERS

GREAT BIG LIGHTS OUT

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

JISEUL

MONKEY KING 3D, THE

SEEKING HAVEN

MOSUO SISTERS, THE

TURN IT UP TO 11 PART 2: WILD DAYS

SHANGHAI STRANGERS

TWO FOR DEPARTURE

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS

GOT A JOB!

GRACELAND

HARANA

HEART’S MOUTH, THE

IF I FOUND THE PLACE

INHERITANCE

INSIDE OUR HEARTS

JUDY

KAE

LATE SUMMER

LET'S PLAY MUSIC! SLACK KEY W/CYRIL...

LINA’LA LUSONG

LINSANITY

LITTLE MAO

MAMORI

MARILOU DIAZ-ABAYA: FILMMAKER...

MEMORY OF FORGOTTEN WAR

MEMORIES TO LIGHT

MORE THAN A FACE IN THE CROWD

MOTHER AND CHILD

MOTHER’S MILK

NICE GIRLS CREW 2

PIKO

PRETTY PICTURES

RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, THE

GERMANY

GO GRANDRIDERS

DILLI DREAMS

HOW I LEARNED TO TELL A LIE

TAIWANFAMOUS

TOUCH OF THE LIGHT

SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL, THE

SCREAMING IN ASIAN

THAILAND

SECRETS OF A MONGOLIAN ARCHER

SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE

HONG KONG 63

TAIWAN

USA, CONTINUED 69

TOUCH OF THE LIGHT

INDIA

MEKONG HOTEL

DILLI DREAMS

TOM/TRANS/THAI

SEEKING HAVEN

FOR HIRE

SHAYA

INVOKING JUSTICE

UNITED KINGDOM

SIX FROM CERTAIN

RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, THE

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW

WHEN HARI GOT MARRIED

MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN

SUNSET STORIES

TULE LAKE

USA

UNMENTIONABLES

WHEN I WALK

XMAS WITHOUT CHINA

INDONESIA 62

POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO

…OR DIE

ABIGAIL HARM

JAPAN

ADVANTAGEOUS

LAND OF HOPE, THE

ASTRO BOY: THE MOVIE

NO LONGER THERE

AT YOUR CONVENIENCE

PERSIMMON

BENCHMARK

BIGGER THEY COME, THE

MONGOLIA

BOLLYWOOD INVASION

SECRETS OF A MONGOLIAN ARCHER

BORN TO DANCE THIS WAY

CHEER AMBASSADORS, THE

NORTH KOREA 59

COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING

VIETNAM 68

MOTHER’S MILK

CRAFTSMAN

DAWN

DEAD DAD

PAKISTAN

DISTANCE

RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, THE

DOSA HUNT

E HAKU INOA: TO WEAVE A NAME

CAAMEDIA ORG 81

asian pop culture art cinema design graphics toys t shirts visit us

www.giantrobot.com

82 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

APAPA is proud to support CAAM

www.apapa.org Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association

www.apapa.org

4000 Truxel Rd, Suite 3, Sacramento, CA 95834 Tel: (916) 928-9988 Empowerment of Asian & Pacific Islander Americans

Interactive scheduling and engagement of your people. Empowered team communications, qualifications, and reporting database â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in the cloud, on the go.

shiftboard.com CAAMEDIA ORG 83

84 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

Eagle Press is a proud sponsor of the 2013 CAAM Film Festival! Single-source Provider

Leading-edge Technology

Customer-driven Solutions

Best Overall Value

Digital Printing Leader

Strong Business Partner

Start maximizing your marketing budget today by contacting Charlene Bernhardt at 408.540.9707 or cbernhardt@eagle-press.com to learn how you can partner with Eagle Press to grow your business!

CAAM Ad.indd 1

CAAMEDIA ORG1:1985 1/22/13 PM

86 CAAMFEST 2013 FILM. MUSIC. FOOD.

CAAMEDIA ORG 87

CENTER FOR ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM CAAM Members are a vital part of who we are and what we do. JOIN US and bring our Stories to Light. FRIEND Single $50 / Dual* $95 STUDENT / SENIOR Single $35 / Dual $65 • Subscription to CAAM Connect, CAAM’s bi-weekly electronic newsletter • Invitations to year-round events, including exclusive members-only screenings & receptions and advance screenings of theatrical releases & work in progress projects, discussions, panels and receptions • CAAMFest Program Guide mailed right to your home • Discount on tickets to CAAMFest • Members-only advance CAAMFest ticket purchasing period • Discount on CAAM and CAAMFest merchandise • Recognition on the CAAM website SUPPORTER Single $100 / Dual $190 All Friend level benefits, plus: • Two general admission CAAMFest tickets** • Access to CAAMFest Press Screenings • Complimentary limited edition CAAMFest shirt • Recognition in CAAM printed publications PATRON Single $250 / Dual $480 All Supporter level benefits, plus: • Two tickets to CAAMFest Opening Night Screening and Gala Reception

DIRECTOR Single $500 / Dual $950 All Patron level benefits, plus: • One Festival Weekend Pass*** • Two additional general admission CAAMFest tickets BENEFACTOR Single $1,000 / Dual $1,950 All Patron level benefits, plus: • One Festival Fast Pass*** • Two additional general admission CAAMFest tickets ADVOCATE Single $2,500 / Dual $4,900 All Benefactor level benefits, plus: • One additional Festival Fast Pass • Opportunity to program a Members-only screening VISIONARY CIRCLE Join CAAM’sVisionary Circle and become a part of an elite circle of individuals dedicated to building the future of Asian American media. FILMMAKER Filmmakers at any membership level receive these additional benefits: • Waived CAAMFest submission fee • Invitation to the CAAMFest Filmmaker Brunch • Invitations to competitive scholarships and educational workshops for filmmakers

For more information, contact membership@caamedia.org. * Dual memberships are available only to members residing at the same address ** Tickets are subject to availability and are only valid on regularly priced screenings and panels *** Festival Passes are eligible to members only and exclude Opening and Closing Night screenings and galas. The Festival Fast Pass is an all-access pass that grants admission to all screenings.The Festival Weekend Pass grants admission to the Sunday screenings held at the Castro Theatre for the first weekend of the Festival, complimentary admission to the CAAM Salons, and priority seating at the Castro Theatre. Seating is guaranteed up to twenty minutes before published show time.

FAME. INFAMY. IMMORTALITY.

CHINA’S TERRACOTTA WARRIORS THE FIRST EMPEROR’S LEGACY ASIAN ART MUSEUM FEB 22 — MAY 27, 2013 www.asianart.org This exhibition was organized by the Asian Art Museum in partnership with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Centre, People’s Republic of China. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of East West Bank, Fred Eychaner, Education Programs Sponsor Douglas A. Tilden, Robert Tsao, Joie de Vivre Hotels, United, Silicon Valley Bank, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Art: Armored military officer, Light infantryman, Armored infantryman, Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). China. Terracotta. Excavated from Pit 1, Qin Shihuang tomb complex, 1976, 1980, 1978. Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi.

Presenting Sponsor

Media Sponsors

Official Hotel

Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 415.581.3500