San Diego Asian Film Festival 2009

Festival Favorite (and Audience Award Winner!) WHITE ON RICE, is opening in San Diego this weekend. What does that mean exactly?



Well, very few independent films see the light of day beyond film festivals. For the few and the lucky that make it beyond and acquire distribution, they get to see a limited run for theatrical premieres in some choice cities.

WHITE ON RICE has done just that and will be opening up in San Diego this Friday at the Gaslamp Reading Cinemas in Downtown. It's very important that we go and support this film as it makes it's debut. Not only is it a very funny and well deserved project- BUT- if it does well during opening weekend, they'll decide to keep it at the theater longer (which in turn gives hint to the Theater management that Asian American independent cinema is profitable in San Diego- and will allow for other films of this nature to be premiered!)

So go and see it this weekend! Opens TODAY and runs for a week.

*SPECIAL DISCOUNT: If you mention SDAFF you'll receive a discounted ticket- ONLY $7 (USUALLY $11!!!).

* CAST AND CREW will be in attendance too for Q+A on Saturday Night- 5:45 and 7:40 showings of the film.

Fifteen days. We. Are. Done.

Last night was so fetch. The staff and volunteer leads were all dressed up, the theater was buzzing with people from everywhere, and the adrenaline was pumping. Part of the staff piles into theater seven, before the screening of IP MAN begins. Phil does a quick introduction for our chairman Dan Hom who proceeds to thank the board members and patrons. He then recognizes the four women in his life, mother, daughter and wife. And then of course, Lee Ann. Lee Ann gives thanks to everyone who makes this festival possible, and has the staff come to the front of the theater to be recognized. It feels good to know that we are making a difference and that our efforts are appreciated.

Hung out in the lobby for about an hour or so before we can go set up at All American Grill. Karin Anna Cheung is hilarious and she has some really funny behind the scenes stories of THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH. Then my friend and I were looking for my name on the stars from the star campaign. Genius that I am, I’m walking around looking up at the stars instead of where I’m going. I end up completely running into the chairs we have in the Ikea Lounge and made this loud scraping noise before losing my balance and falling into them. I stood up and started cracking up. My friend’s like, did you just trip over those chairs? I nodded, still laughing, and he tries to convince me that no one saw. It’s ok if you laugh at me. If I can’t laugh at myself for being a klutz, I wouldn’t have nearly as much fun as I do. Anyway, we didn’t find my star. Sad. But it was cool looking at all the different stars we had up.

Then hung out at the Toyota booth for a while before going upstairs with Karin, Mark, Chi and Eugene. Took a trip to YogurtLand and just kicked it until we could get into All American Grill. As soon as that place opened for us to set up, we took over. Food stations, go. DJ table and equipment, go. Silent auction, go. Add patrons and mix well for a good time.

The night went very smoothly and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We even had stars from WHITE ON RICE, THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH, and ALL ABOUT DAD come back to celebrate the closing night of our tenth anniversary. Thank you guys for making the trip! It’s much appreciated =)

Then cleaned up a bit before heading out to Chorus for some karaoke-ing. Good times.

Much thanks to:
Volunteers (this festival would not happen without you guys)
Staff (this festival would REALLY not happen without you guys)
Lee Ann Kim (this festival wouldn’t even exist without you)
Board of Directors (you guys rock!)
Sponsors (we love you guys!)
Community Partners (thanks for supporting!)
Patrons (we do this for you! Hope you all enjoyed it!)
Industry Guests (we do this for you too! Thanks for coming out!)
Our wonderful, wonderful, wonderful host, UltraStar Cinema and their staff

Tonight? Well, if the party don’t stop, then Megan’s farewell party is the place to be. And tomorrow night? That’s Halloween, silly. I’m sure you’ll find something to do. And Sunday? If you’re suffering from SDAFF withdrawals, go see Ong Bak 2 (it actually opens today at the Landmark Hillcrest Theater). If we can create enough demand for Asian film, we’ll send a message to the big wigs that we want to see Asians on screen! Thereby creating opportunities for Asian actors (Ok, so it’s a bit of a stretch, but we can try). And next weekend? WHITE ON RICE plays in theaters nationwide! As a bonus for the San Diego crowd, the cast will be back! Gaslamp Reading Theater.

Take care, SDAFFers!

One of this year’s most engaging topics at the SDAFF were the various films and forums that discussed the rampant and tyrannical regime that exists in North Korea and how that Communist country is currently being ruled by a man in which part of his name pretty much describes the situation of the people of N. Korea…ill.

Kim Jong-il, son of N. Korea’s first god complex president Kim Il-sung, became president of North Korea October 8th, 1997, three years after Il-sung passed away in 1994 from a heart attack.

One could possibly say that if Il-sung thought he was a god, his son Jong-il must have been a connoisseur of cheese, thus the crazy notion that Jong-il’s motto could have been “cheeses saves.” But Jong-il also had a god complex and legend has it that he too can control the weather.

However, apparently he must have been sleeping during the 1990s as he was not able to bring about the needed weather pattern changes to nullify the great famine between 1995 and 1998, that was brought on by drought and flooding.

Seriously, all kidding aside, it does not matter how much the West pokes away at Kim Jong-il, he will merely poke away at his own people until they burst and deflate into nothingness.

Where Tibet has Gere, Dafur has Speilberg, and even Bangladesh had the Beatles, no celebrity is willing to speak out for the dying, starving and oppressed people of N. Korea.

Yet there are filmmakers and others trying to get the word out, to let the world know what the frick-frack is going on over in N. Korea as their pseudo-smiling president has become famous to American teens for his persistent bad hair days as depicted in the puppet-comedy TEAM AMERICA, and the too well known to the discerning public for the hair raising fear he instills upon the his people, and his hair-brained nuclear weapon schemes.

They are a different brand of celebrity, ones who are willing to speak for the N. Koreans who needlessly die in concentration…oops…I mean labor camps for committing deadly crimes like reading a bible, stealing a slice of bread for a meal, being a friend or relative to someone who said something negative about N. Korea or “god forbid” about Kim (which of course he does forbid).

I have already written about the powerfully emotional treatise on the plight of a N. Korean man trying to save his dying wife by sneaking into Communist China to get medicine and the subsequent events that affected him, his wife and only child in CROSSING.

Over the weekend, there were two main events that were a must see: The eye opening documentary film KIMJONGILIA, directed by N.C. Heikin; and the NORTH KOREA: IN FOCUS panel featuring Heikin, UCSD’s Professor Stephan Haggard and human rights activist for the N. Korean people Hannah Song.

In the heart wrenching KIMJONGILIA, a handful of Korean refugees who escaped the damning clutches of N. Korea reveal through personal accounts of life North of the 38th Parallel, a life that in no way parallels anything we are accustomed to in the United States.

What makes this film more powerful than any of those documentaries that bludgeon you with images of inhumane suffering and archive footage of violence gone awry, is that via dance and the compelling stories of these brave men and women that fled N. Korea, you get drawn into the film and hear what is being said, so you tune in rather than get turned off.

What was disappointing (but expected) to hear was how the Chinese treat the N. Korean refugees. Although they are required by international law to protect these defectors, the Chinese gladly send them back to N. Korea, knowing full well that they will be killed upon their return.

The Chinese claim that the N. Korean’s are a burden on that part of the country’s economy. It must also be a burden getting all that money through a growing economy compliments of Western Capitalism…oops, wrong…that doesn’t exist in a Communist country…right?

The NORTH KOREA: IN FOCUS panel further discussed and analyzed these above topics and much more as I was able to weasel in a final comment at the end of the panel when I summarized, “So what you are all saying, is that North Korea needs a career (Korea) change.”