San Diego Asian Film Festival 2008

One of the top grossing romantic comedies in South Korean history, 200 POUNDS BEAUTY is based on a best-selling Japanese comic book series that centers on the life of Hanna, an extremely overweight singer with an unbelievable voice. Although she had dreamed of becoming a pop-singer, her appearance always stood in the way. Instead, she is hired as a faceless singer, providing vocals for pop-star Ami, who lip-syncs because she can’t carry a note to save her life. As Hanna is targeted with countless jokes about her full figure, she remains lighthearted and works hard to please Ami’s music producer, Sang-jun, with whom she has developed a secret crush. Ami sees that Sang-jun is being kind to Hanna, and in a fit of jealousy, humiliates Hanna in front of him, causing her to run away. Fed-up of being ill-treated due to her weight, Hanna undergoes an extreme makeover which changes her life and her identity. While 200 POUNDS BEAUTY will make you laugh, it ultimately pokes fun at society’s obsession with plastic surgery, while challenging viewers to seek the meaning of one’s true beauty. Screening Sponsored by KCCLA Co-presented by: San Diego Meetup of Asian Professionals National Association of Asian American Professionals - San Diego Chapter

364 CRANES is a story of a young couple whose turn of lucky ultimately tests their commitment and changes their fate forever. It is a story about love and pain. It is a story about the things you hold on to and things you lose.

A gritty urban street drama in the style of ???Reservoir Dogs??? and ???Man on Fire???, in which a young man, Sonny, and his two childhood friends pull off the heist of a lifetime, only to then fall out over the proceeds. And as his friend???'s betrayal leads to cold-blooded murder, Sonny must re-examine his notions of good and evil versus his desire for personal revenge. Will his decision lead to redemption, or ultimately his own damnation?

A romantic comedy set on the Golden Gate Bridge.

A Filipino woman launches a bid for the California state legislature, but faces a tough challenge: bringing out the API vote.

In the same vein as Always: Sunset on Third Street, ACCURACY OF DEATH is a charming tale about the Grim Reaper and his talking dog that celebrates the idea that life is worth living. Taiwanese/Japanese heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro (The Returner) plays an angel of God who is assigned to spend a week with the unfortunate humans chosen for a sudden demise. His task is to decide whether the person deserves a second chance, or if he is to “proceed.” Stretched across thirty years – in which Kaneshiro’s character never ages – the charismatic but lonely Grim Reaper encounters three lost souls. In 1988, he considers the case of a young office lady who lives an unlucky life she hardly considers worth living. In 2008, he has to judge the death-worthiness of a middle-aged yakuza trapped in the middle of a gang war. And in the future, he meets a feisty hair stylist who has reached the end of her life but also managed to alienate her entire family. Kaneshiro, who has appeared in films by Wong Kar-Wai, Zhang Yimou and John Woo, takes an unpromising part and turns in an amazing performance, telegraphing emotion with a well-timed tilt of the head or a slight smile. By the time the movie ends, he has single-handedly sold the audience on the idea that death is an inevitable part of being alive and there’s never a need to fear the reaper. Co-presented by: Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana San Diego Japanese Language & Culture Meetup Group

A hapless karate fighter meets his biggest and baddest opponent.

In 1989, Peruvian artist Alfredo Marquez was sentenced to 20 years in prison for depicting a lipstick-wearing Chairman Mao in his artwork. The reason was that Mao has been the symbol for the guerilla organization the Shining Path, which has battled against the Peruvian government for decades. However, this specific instance of artistic repression soon became a symbol for the important role that artists have had as a leading force for political activism in Peru. For six years, filmmaker Ann Kaneko traveled throughout Peru during the aftermath of the regime of Alberto Fujimori, the Japanese Peruvian former President of Peru, whose brutal authoritarian rule did much to inspire brave acts of protest from Peruvian artists. AGAINST THE GRAIN highlights several of these Peruvian artists who have helped shape social consciousness in Peru, including Marquez and Japanese Peruvian artist Eduardo Tokeshi, who had suffered from the anti-Japanese backlash of the post-Fujimori era. Through the telling of their stories, AGAINST THE GRAIN helps us gain a greater appreciation for the freedom of expression and its role in facilitating change. Co-presented by: The House of Peru Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana Media Arts Center San Diego San Diego Latino Film Festival