San Diego Asian Film Festival 2009

While creating a crude origami swan or crane is a common childhood art experience, the hyper-detailed world of paper folding can be jaw-dropping. The only rule: each work begins with just a single square of paper. But from this simple start, artists create brilliantly complex works inspired by all aspects of nature, as well as abstract models worthy of regard as among the best of modern art. BETWEEN THE FOLDS takes a look at the many international practitioners of paper folding, and their varied and fascinating creations. What seems like a deceptively simple art form is actually a tool highly sought-after for a variety of fields, including education, mathematics, engineering, technology, and science. Results in each of these areas are both surprising and breath-taking. Filmmaker Vanessa Gould has taken the intricacy and delicacy of origami and made a highly engaging and inspiring documentary. – Steve Norwood, Asian Film Festival of Dallas Director Vanessa Gould scheduled to attend Oct 24 and 25 screenings. Co-presented by: Buddhist Temple of San Diego Mingei International Museum Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana UCSD Math Club Triton Engineering Student Council

THE CLONE RETURNS HOME, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a compelling meditation on the paradox of life and death, and the meaning of love and family. Set in an imaginary future, this quiet film transposes complex emotional drama into the realm of science fiction by exploring the influence of cloning on human memory and experience. In a career performance, Mitsuhiro Oikawa plays Kohei Takahara, a Japanese astronaut who is killed in an accident in the line of duty. But fortunately, scientists have been able to clone Kohei in a radical experimental procedure to bring him back. But contrary to their expectations, the clone awakens with his consciousness is trapped in a period of his childhood when his twin brother dies in a tragic accident. One day while walking in the forest, the clone finds his legacy human’s body and carries it off in a journey, believing it to be the body of his deceased twin. Filled with stunning imagery and haunting stillness, THE CLONE RETURNS HOME combines subtly nuanced sci-fi with a uniquely Japanese perspective on themes of family, love, life and death. Award-winning director Wim Wenders ( Wings of Desire ) served as executive director on the film. And CLONE’s director Kanji Nakajima received the prestigious Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award for the original screenplay. Co-presented by: Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana San Diego Film Critics Society Japan Film Society