save the dates, we have a great and exciting line up of films
this year!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 16:04:47 EDT
From: APAFirstWeekend@...
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: [VC] VC Film FestLA Asian Film Festival May 17 - 24
VC Film Fest - the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival Turns
Sweet 16
LA Premieres and World Premieres of Over 80 Films and Video Works and the
25th Anniversary of a Landmark Film Will Celebrate Over 30 years of Asian
American Media
Los Angeles, CA April 25, 2001 Mark your calendars for VC FilmFest 2001:
The Visual Communications Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival,
set for May 17-24, 2001. Now in its 16th year, the Festival will unreel over
90 films and videos will at the Directors Guild of America, The Village at Ed
Gould Plaza, and the Japan America Theatre.
"This year's VC FilmFest is representative of the coming of age for many
of our under represented Asian American communities" said Festival
Co-Director David Magdael. "A majority of our festival films reflect the
changing face of Asian America, as well as a growing cosmopolitan profile
of Asian communities including the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, and the gay Asian communities. This year’s featured
Asian American directors have served up a variety of works that pull no
punches in being distinctly American while keeping true to their Asian
roots."
Bookending the Festival will be the Los Angeles Opening Night Premiere
of "Green Dragon" by Timothy Linh Bui (co-producer and co-screenwriter of the
multi-award-winning "Three Seasons") on Thursday, May 17 at the Directors
Guild of America; and a special rare showing of John Korty's 1976 telefilm
"Farewell to Manzanar" on Thursday, May 24 at the Japan America Theatre.
Starring Forest Whitaker, Patrick Swayze, Don Duong, and Hiep Thi Le, "Green
Dragon" (an official selection of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival) is a
moving, multi-part story that tells the tale of the first wave of Vietnamese
refugees who were housed in camps across the southwestern deserts of the
United States in 1975. And "Farewell to Manzanar," based on the book by
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James Houston, is perhaps the first
feature-length film to tell the story of the WWII internment of Japanese
Americans from a unique firsthand perspective.
Other works by Asian American makers include:
o The Los Angeles premiere of Anurag Mehta's Slamdance Film Festival
favorite, "American Chai," a coming-of-age comedy of a young college student
torn between traditional Indian values and the pursuit of his rock ’n roll
dreams (Fri., 5/18, DGA).
o Rod Pulido's much-anticipated "The Flip Side" will also make its Los
Angeles premiere on Saturday, May 19 at the DGA. The first feature effort by
a Filipino American filmmaker invited to the Sundance Flim Festival, "The
Flip Side" tells the story of a young college student dealing with his new
found Filipinoness and trying to get his own family to recognize their own
selves.
o The highly acclaimed underground animation hit, "Wave Twisters," from DJ
Q-Bert (Sat., May 19, DGA), "Roads and Bridges," the electrifying first
feature by Robert Altman protege Abraham Lim (Sun., May 20, DGA), the L.A.
premiere of Amy Chen's "The Chinatown Files" (Sun., May 20, DGA), and the
World Premiere of "Daughters of the Cloth" by Seung-Hyun Yoo.
International works include the Los Angeles premieres of Yongyooth
Thongkongtoon's highly acclaimed "The Iron Ladies," Kaze Shindo's
"Love/Juice," Djinn's "Return to Pontianak," "Spinning Gasing" by Teck
Tan, and "The Wrestlers" by Buddhadeb Gasgupta. Other international
highlights include "Anino" by Raymond Red, the first Filipino film to win
a coveted Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Short films and videos, traditionally the backbone of VC FilmFest, will
be represented by the likes of returning artists Francisco Aliwalas, Leo
Chiang, Kip Fulbeck, Richard Fung, Jane Kim, Richard Kim, Ellie Lee, Young-mi
Lee, Thomas Moon, Stann Nakazono, Fatimah Tobing Rony, Angel Velasco Shaw,
and many others. They will be joined by first-time Festival artists Rima
Anosa, Tammy Apana, Cynthia Ignacio, Juli Kang, Anne Misawa, Sara Takahashi,
Noriko Takabishi, Lito Torres, and others.
In addition to a full slate of seminars and panel discussions, the
Festival will once again present the annual Golden Reel Award, and will
additionally present the Asian Avenue.com Award to one of three distinctive
productions by Asian American filmmakers. And finally, in association with
the Japanese American National Museum, the Festival will present the premiere
of the three-part educational series, "Once Upon a Camp" on Saturday, May 19
at JANM.
"This year's festival will offer new voices from our own community,"
states Abraham Ferrer, festival co-director. "It's going to be a very
exciting showcase because the talent pool of Asian American filmmakers is
turning out some great works. We are no longer hiding or crouching. We are
representing!"
Visual Communications programs are funded in part through grants from
the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, National Endowment for
the Arts, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Arthur
M. Blank Family Foundation, Eisner Foundation, Entertainment Industry
Foundation, Getty Grant Program, Weingart Foundation, and corporate and
individual donations.
The Festival is additionally sponsored by (as of April 25, 2001):
Platinum Sponsors: Directors Guild of America, KSCI-TV-Channel 18; Gold
Sponsors: AsianAvenue.com, Screenplay Systems; Silver Sponsors: Japan
America Theatre, Los Angeles Times, Samy's Camera; Bronze Sponsors: Fox,
Hitachi, LTD. Screen Actors Guild; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Travel
Sponsor: Cathay Pacific Airways; Spirit of the Festival: Chivas Regal;
Program Support: Japan Foundation.
VC FilmFest 2001 takes place May 17-24, 2001. See more films and
save money by purchasing a special VC Festival pass online at $25 for 5
programs and $50 for 10 programs. For online program and ticket info and
purchase, visit the Festival's website at: www.vconline.org; for phone
orders w/credit card, call the Japan America Theatre Box Office at: (213)
680-3700 ### . .
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