FILM SCHEDULE:
All screenings take place at the UltraStar Mission Valley (7510 Hazard Center Dr. #100), except for the Monday, April 23 ULAM: MAIN DISH Film & Feast event, which takes place at the San Diego Natural History Museum (1788 El Prado).
Thursday, April 19
7:00PM MEDITATION PARK (Canada)
Friday, April 20
6:00PM WARU (New Zealand) 7:55PM KIKO BOKSINGERO (Philippines) 9:55PM MYSTERY KUNG FU THEATER
Saturday, April 21 1:00PM 3:30PM 5:45PM 8:25PM This Spring Showcase, we invite you to gaze into the distance. See unto forever. Picture a cinema with endless possibilities, a utopia of representation outside the washed-out mainstream. Creativity, entertainment, and inspiration in perpetual motion. On one hand: the time loop of the omnibus film WARU, in which every short film starts at 10:00AM on the same day, tracing the boundless emotional possibilities of a single cross-section of time. On the opposite end: visions of the infinite in Yayoi Kusama’s polka dots and mirror
rooms, recounted with wonderment in KUSAMA - INFINITY. In between: the time travel rom-com TAKE ME TO THE MOON, a circular tale of what-ifs. Or the quiet magic of Yasmin Ahmad’s films: the flash-forward visions in MUKHSIN, or the lights that, one by one, shut to black only to begin a new story at the end of her final feature TALENTIME. Imagine because we must: images that rewind history, music that never dies, and tastes that cross oceans. To survive and to resist means aiming beyond the horizon. Together, we won’t miss.
LOVE EDUCATION (China) TAKE ME TO THE MOON (Taiwan) 1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES (South Korea) THE THIRD MURDER (Japan)
Sunday, April 22 1:00PM 3:10PM 5:00PM 7:35PM
MUKHSIN (Malaysia) MUALLAF (Malaysia) TALENTIME (Malaysia) YASMIN-SAN (Malaysia, Japan)
Monday, April 23
5:40PM TAKE ME TO THE MOON (Taiwan) 6:30PM ULAM: MAIN DISH (USA)* 7:55PM 1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES (South Korea)
Tuesday, April 24
6:15PM MINDING THE GAP (USA) 8:40PM ULAM: MAIN DISH (USA)
Wednesday, April 25
5:25PM LOVE EDUCATION (China) 7:55PM THE THIRD MURDER (Japan)
Thursday, April 26 Periodical Statement
Address:
San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase,
Pacific Arts Movement
April 19-26, 2018, Issue No. 3.
2508 Historic Decatur Road #140,
Published annually
San Diego, CA 92106
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7:00PM KUSAMA - INFINITY (USA) *Monday screening of ULAM: MAIN DISH takes place at the Natural History Museum 3
TICKET INFORMATION Tickets for all film screenings and special presentations are now available at sdaff.org. All UltraStar Mission Valley screenings will also be available at the UltraStar box office starting April 13. Ulam: Film & Feast tickets will also be available to purchase at the Natural History Museum box office one hour before the event.
Film Screenings General................................................................................ $12 Member............................................................................... $9 Student/Senior/Military................................................ $10 Group 10+........................................................................... $9/ticket
Ulam: Film & Feast (Monday, April 23) General................................................................................ $32 Member............................................................................... $24 Group 10+........................................................................... $29/ticket
Free Screenings
The screening of MINDING THE GAP is free for Pacific Arts Movement members. Show your membership card at the UltraStar box office to get your free ticket. The screening of YASMIN-SAN is free for attendees of MUALLAF, MUKHSIN, or TALENTIME. Free tickets to YASMIN-SAN will be distributed following each of the three screenings on Sunday, April 22.
All-Access Pass
The best way to experience the SDAFF Spring Showcase is with front-of-line access to all films and events! $75 for Pac Arts members and $110 for non-members. Contact krystel@pacarts.org for more information. 4
OPENING NIGHT PRESENTATION MEDITATION PARK Director: Mina Shum Canada | 94 min | 2017
Thurs, April 19, 7:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Cheng Pei Pei, Tzi Ma, and Sandra Oh headline Mina Shum’s latest, a comedy of self-discovery set in and around Vancouver’s Chinatown. Cheng plays 60-year-old Maria, whose marriage to Bing seems the paragon of happiness. While doing laundry one day, Maria finds in Bing’s pants pocket a piece of women’s underwear much more neon and youthful than any she would wear. First, she feels paralyzed by the discovery. Then, she comes into her own as an amateur sleuth, ducking around town for clues of adultery and learning to ride a bike so she can shadow her husband, who has in recent days been prone to “working late.”
As Maria takes her marriage into her own hands, she learns to value life on her own terms, from her relationship with her adult children, to getting her first paying job in decades, to making new friends, including a clan of loudly vocal and loudly dressed neighborhood women who show her how to grow old with style. Her expanding world is rendered dearly under Mina Shum’s direction, from Cheng Pei Pei’s nervous gait to Tzi Ma’s petulant flapping of his feet in bed. These are legends doing what they do best, and MEDITATION PARK is just the old-fashioned comedy to let their talents shine.
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FALLING FOR ANGELS:
THE FILMS OF YASMIN AHMAD
CLOSING NIGHT PRESENTATION KUSAMA - INFINITY Director: Heather Lenz USA | 78 min | 2018
Watching Yayoi Kusama draw lines is a revelation. Here is an artist who’s never been bounded by a canvas. Her lines could go on forever. And yet here they are, the blueprint for the galaxies in her mind, translating hallucinations into three-dimensional experiences and infinity rooms. That she was once born, that she was a child in Japan and later a budding artist sending fan mail across the sea to Georgia O’Keefe, seems all too mundane for a visionary whose work transcends the boundaries of life and stardust. Nevertheless, here is her story, told on film. KUSAMA - INFINITY. As a young artist, Yayoi struggled with convention and family, before making
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Thurs, April 26, 7:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley her way to New York, where she shopped her work gallery by gallery, in search of a supporter who could see her as more than just a woman or Japanese. While her paintings strove for nothing less than to rewrite art history in the United States, she was marginalized, her ideas stolen by the famous men of modern art. Her journey from obscure outsider, to art scene trouble-maker, to one of the most iconic artists of her generation, is a true inspiration. Her life is polka-dotted with conflict and mental illness, in addition to the unparalleled successes. But as with her wondrous art, the constellation of life events is a sublime sight, best experienced on the biggest screen possible.
A director like Yasmin Ahmad doesn’t come around often. Not just because she is a successful Muslim woman director in Southeast Asia, or that she is as much a household name amongst ordinary Malaysians as she is amongst followers of Asian art cinema. Rather, Yasmin somehow transformed the way Malaysia looks at itself, as fervently as she found a cinematic voice that is uniquely hers. In other words, she married form and content, the political and the personal, and the populist and the erudite in a way that should be the envy of any director.
surprise that is most magical about Yasmin’s work, which jauntily skips from comedy to melodrama, and from observant realism to romantic fantasy.
Yasmin’s is an unabashedly passionate cinema, devoted to love, family, god, and community. In her legendary commercials, she jerks tears not just through the efficient melodrama onscreen, but also through our jubilation in seeing a master storyteller so committed to the prospect of making us swoon and cry. In her features, too, we so often find ourselves stopped in our tracks, surprised by the sensation of our feelings, wondering where within us that untapped, buried sentiment is flowing from. And it’s that
And so, FALLING FOR ANGELS: THE FILMS OF YASMIN AHMAD presents her work — her three final features, her last short, an assortment of her commercials — in only the third-ever retrospective of her work in the U.S. On the occasion of a new documentary about her legacy, we remember Yasmin the way she wanted to be remembered: through her films, which continue to stir the heart.
Her films famously tackle inter-ethnic romance to explore how a nation can learn to love itself in all of its imperfections. Feeling most at home in the romance genre perhaps accounts for why she’s not well known in the more cynical international art cinema circuit, though her films were regular fixtures of European film festivals.
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MUKHSIN
TALENTIME
Sun, April 22, 1:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Sun, April 22, 5:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley
At school and on the soccer field, ten-year-old Orked prefers to tumble with the guys, though things get complicated when she meets Mukhsin, a boy with a quiet, gentle smile. Between bike rides and tree climbs, Orked and Mukhsin develop what adults would call love. But in director Yasmin Ahmad’s eyes, their budding relationship is something at once more chaste and more profound: the discovery of one’s capacity to impact another life.
It’s talent show time! The Chinese Kahoe puts pressure on himself to beat his Malay rival. Melur keeps her auditions a secret from her ever-judgy family. And the handsome Mahesh, who can’t hear or speak, intuitively comprehends every heart-pounding note pouring out of Melur’s songs. “I’m falling for an angel,” she sings to him, her mouth pointed to his face across the room so he can read her lips. And so the stage is set for young love, family discord, and the music that binds everyone together.
MUALLAF
YASMIN-SAN
Sun, April 22, 3:10PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Sun, April 22, 7:35PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Rohani and Rohana are new to town, possibly runaways. Rohani, the elder, is Muslim but works at a pub. The young Rohana talks back at school by citing verse numbers nobody can decode. Schoolteacher Brian, a lapsed Catholic, takes an interest in the sisters, lending a watchful eye. Befitting Yasmin Ahmad’s unique empathy, MUALLAF is at once tenderly religious and secularly political, and she holds both together with her signature brand of light humor and delicate sentimentalism.
In 2016, Japanese director Isao Yukisada went to Malaysia to make a short film. YASMINSAN captures filmmakers from two cultures with a torturous colonial history coming together as collaborators, not unlike the surprising friendships in Yasmin Ahmad’s multicultural dramas. Less a documentary about Yasmin than a documentary about her enduring spirit, YASMIN-SAN honors her through the films that, nearly a decade after her passing, continue to bear her name.
Director: Yasmin Ahmad Malaysia | 95 min | 2006
Director: Yasmin Ahmad Malaysia | 80 min | 2008
Director: Yasmin Ahmad Malaysia | 120 min | 2009
Director: Edmund Yeo Malaysia, Japan | 70 min | 2017
Preceded by: CHOCOLATE Director: Yasmin Ahmad | Malaysia | 3 min | 2009 Hurt may beget hate, but it’s worth remembering the friendship that could have been. 8
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SPECIAL PRESENTATION
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
ULAM: MAIN DISH
ULAM: FILM & FEAST
Director: Alexandra Cuerdo USA | 80 MIN | 2018 Mon, April 23, 6:30PM NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (FILM & FEAST)
In the spirit of ULAM: MAIN DISH, we present a kamayan-style feast to elaborate upon the film’s themes of authenticity, localization, and Filipino American culture. Immediately after the film and Q&A on Monday, April 23, some of the brightest Filipino American culinary talents in the San Diego restaurant scene will offer their own interpretations of the kamayan “ulam,” showcasing not just the fabulous mutations of taste across cultural lines, but also the unique personalities of the artists.
Tues, April 24, 8:40PM ULTRASTAR MISSION VALLEY (FILM ONLY)
Scheduled chefs include:
Chicken adobo with heirloom tomatoes. Guyabano sorbet. Egg noodle pancit. This ain’t your lola’s Filipino food. It’s the culinary imagination of the secondgeneration Filipino American dropouts and dreamers who found in cooking a way to document personal journeys. They are united by similar beginnings washing dishes at American or European restaurants while asking a common question: what about Filipino food? To which they all responded with a common answer: why not?
Mike Arquines (Mostra Coffee)
Filmmaker Alexandra Cuerdo captures the implications of that response through interviews with some of the top Filipino American chefs in the country as they reflect on how the second generation imagines home, be that in terms of cultural pride or the memory for that which is no longer there.
Marlaw Seraspi (Open House)
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Chris Aure (Zarlito’s) Tress Balch (Happy Sushi) Jonathan Bautista (George’s at the Cove) Evan Cruz (Arterra) Phillip Esteban (Consortium Holdings) Craig Jimenez (Nom Nom Bento) Tara Monsod (Tender Greens) Danilo “DJ” Tangalin Jr (Bivouac Ciderworks) Marcus Twilegar (Parq Restaurant)
Kristianna Zabala (Nomad Donuts)
All tickets for the Monday, April 23, 6:30PM screening include a seat to the post-film dinner. 11
1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES
LOVE EDUCATION
Sat, April 21, 5:45PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Sat, April 21, 1:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Director: Jang Joon-hwan South Korea | 129 min | 2017
Mon, April 23, 7:55PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Director: Sylvia Chang China, Taiwan | 122 min | 2017
Wed, April 25, 5:25PM UltraStar Mission Valley
The death of a college student by anti-communist witch hunters sparks a community of knowing and unintentional protestors. A rogue prosecutor deviates from the party line. A prison guard crosses the bars separating criminal and civilian. A student falls in love with a campus organizer. As the drama escalates in scope and complexity, the film intensifies with a poignancy far more convincing and urgent than most flag-waving works of Korean nationalism.
A comedy of bureaucratic absurdity and a drama of long-dormant romance, LOVE EDUCATION tenderly showcases the face-off between distant relatives battling for the right to move the grave of a family member. Director and star Sylvia Chang captures the tenacious desires of three generations of women who discover that love is a lifelong education resilient to cultural transformation and social upheaval.
KIKO BOKSINGERO
MINDING THE GAP
Director: Thop Nazareno Philippines | 80 min | 2017
Director: Bing Liu USA | 98 min | 2018
Fri, April 20, 7:55PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Tues, April 24, 6:15PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Every afternoon, young Kiko jabs at a punching bag with red mittens he wishes were real boxing gloves. He’s not just training to be a boxer. He’s auditioning for the role of son to the ex-boxer father who’s been absent his entire life. When they fatefully meet one afternoon, they’re ready to step into the ring and into each other’s lives. KIKO BOKSINGERO refreshes definitions of family and inspires us to cherish all the care we have around us.
Growing up in an old Illinois factory town, Bing was always the videographer for his skateboarding friends, a group of misfits who saw in the broken bones and camaraderie a feeling of selfhood and freedom. As the three friends transition into adulthood, Bing’s camera starts to observe new experiences: young fatherhood, a first job. And soon, they Director: Alexandra Cuerdo broach new topics, including the one that brings three young men together: specters USA | 80 min |all 2018 of domestic abuse.
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TAKE ME TO THE MOON Director: Hsieh Chun-yi Taiwan | 105 min | 2017
Sat, April 21, 3:30PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Mon, April 23, 5:40PM UltraStar Mission Valley
The time travel teen musical rom-com you’ve been waiting for is here. In 2017, a fateful encounter gives the dejected Cheng-hsiang the chance to go back in time twenty years, to when he and his high school compadres were in a rock band called Moon, graduation was imminent, and his lifelong crush Emma hadn’t yet gotten away. Cheng-hsiang has three days to relive his youth and re-route history to prevent the tragedies ahead that only he knows will befall his best friends.
WARU
Director: Briar Grace-Smith, Casey Kaa, Ainsley Gardiner, Katie Wolfe, Renae Maihi, Chelsea Cohen, Paula Jones, Awanui Simich-Pene New Zealand | 86 min | 2017 Fri, April 20, 6:00PM UltraStar Mission Valley This stunning presentation of eight short films which take place at 10AM on the same day tells the semi-interlocking stories of Maori women, each dealing in their own ways with the death of a child in the community. All playing out in real time, they depict the profound simultaneity of hurt and healing of women who enter a new day with a simmering intensity, whether that is the devastation of their complicity or the clarity of their convictions.
THE THIRD MURDER Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda Japan | 124 min | 2017 Sat, April 21, 8:25PM UltraStar Mission Valley
Wed, April 25, 7:55PM UltraStar Mission Valley
It’s a cut-and-dry case for Shigemori and his law firm, which has been assigned to defend an ex-convict who has already confessed to murder. But Shigemori starts detecting holes in his client’s statements, which have the unfortunate effect of both undermining his credibility while raising doubts about his guilt. Can Shigemori continue down the pragmatic line of “good legal strategy”? Or must he sink into the murky waters of truth and justice? 14
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SPECIAL THANKS: ©2018 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Union Bank 8914103 is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank, N.A. 16
Pearl Chan, Rey Cuerdo, Richard Go, Deborah Hall, Heejeon Kim, Earl Laxamana, Tan Yew Leong, Lidia Martinez, Tim Moon, Sam Mousavi, Tony Olaes, Greg Penetrante, Jayrell Ringpis, Jorge Silva, Lorna Tee, Pete Teo, Rami Waiche, Candice Woo 17
MOVING PICTURES, MOVING MINDS ABOUT PACIFIC ARTS MOVEMENT Pacific Arts Movement (Pac Arts) is one of
the largest media arts organizations in North America that focuses on Asian and Asian American cinema. Our mission is to present Pan Asian media arts to San Diego residents and visitors in order to inspire, entertain, and support a more compassionate society.
OUR PROGRAMS Pac Arts is committed to sharing powerful stories with audiences year-round through the San Diego Asian Film Festival, SDAFF Spring Showcase, Spotlight Screenings, Outdoor Screenings, Chew The Scene and other community events. From our award-winning high school documentary program Reel Voices to Youth Days at the festival, we are also dedicated to nurturing a new generation of creative leaders and storytellers.
19TH ANNUAL SAN DIEGO ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL, COMING NOV. 2018 North America’s most comprehensive snapshot of contemporary Asian and Asian American cinema returns for its 19th edition.
YOUTH DAY Two days of free youthoriented film screenings to educate and enhance local students’ film and cultural literacy.
REEL VOICES A 10-week summer documentary program training local high school students to become sociallyconscious digital storytellers. A year-long version of this program, Reel Voices Monarch, is a collaboration between Pac Arts and Monarch School that empowers students impacted by homelessness to share their stories through film.
YEAR-ROUND SCREENINGS Pac Arts presents year-round film programs such as Spotlight and Outdoor Screenings throughout the county of San Diego.
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As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the support of our sponsors, grants, donors, and members to fulfill our mission.
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NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 2787 San Diego, CA
8TH ANNUAL SAN DIEGO ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
APRIL 19-26, 2018 ULTRASTAR MISSION VALLEY NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
MEDITATION PARK
TAKE ME TO THE MOON
KUSAMA - INFINITY
CONNECT WITH US! sdaff.org @PacArtsMovement #SDAFFSpring
2508 Historic Decatur Rd. Ste. 140 San Diego, CA 92106
LOVE EDUCATION