Ninth Annual Vancouver Asian Film Festival Brings Top North American Asian Filmmakers To City
Sunday October 30, 2005
Vancouver, BC – The Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF) is back for its ninth exciting year of showcasing independent Asian filmmakers from North America and highlights from Asia with four days of features, shorts and documentaries. This year’s Festival runs November 4-7 with 12 selected program screenings covering 38 films at the Cinemark Tinseltown Theatres (88 West Pender St.).
On-site tickets and memberships are available at the VAFF Registration desk prior to the screening, and advance tickets may be purchased online at www.vaff.org beginning Oct. 21st. Attendees must show a current VAFF membership ($1 fee) and be 18 years of age or older to attend. The VAFF Online Hotline is: info@vaff.org.
Opening Gala Presentation: This year’s Festival opens with the Canadian premiere of the Sundance Film Festival award-winning feature film, THE MOTEL – about a young adolescent growing up in the worst possible place for a teenager – a sleazy motel. In attendance will be NY director and screenwriter Michael Kang, who will be recounting his experiences workshopping the screenplay at Robert Redford’s Sundance Filmmakers Lab. Preceding this is the animated short WHAT ARE YOU ANYWAYS? – Jeff Stearns’ humourous story about growing up half-Japanese in Kelowna. Afterwards, the Gala reception will be held at WILD GINGER, located in the Tinseltown complex.
Closing Night: The Festival closes on November 7th with two programs, all by Asian Canadian filmmakers, and both examining matters of the heart. Cal Garingan’s NFB documentary WHY THEE WED?, asks eight gay couples what it means to walk down the aisle, amid the politics and protests and Marcus Sim’s romantic comedy SAM AND JESSIE is his first feature film attempt. And a selection of Asian Canadian shorts round out these two programs: Desiree Lim’s video letter about the twists of romance LOVE/CENSORED/TRUTH, Norman Yeung’s MARNIE LOVE, about the collapse of an open marriage, and Junga Song’s LOVE RECIPE, a comedy about a young man defying his male Korean traditions by cooking for his wife for the very first time.
Two Panel Discussions & Screenings: A pair of Program screenings is accompanied by two panel discussions to help educate the public at large and to establish on-going dialogue between filmmakers and the various Asian communities. The notion of living in a diverse culture and how that diversity is perceived is shown in Linda Lee’s SCREEN TEST, Ming Lai’s PAWNS OF THE KING, Kevin Lee’s DASTAAR: DEFENDING SIKH IDENTITY and Mimi Gan’s WITH HONORS DENIED – followed by a discussion panel with NFB filmmaker Cal Garingan, multicultural programmer and broadcaster Prem Gill, actor Judy Lee, journalist and author Gurpreet Singh, and moderated by Zool Suleman, a prominent immigration lawyer campaigning to stop racial profiling in Canada.
Asian youths growing up in diverse cultures and their reshaping of that diversity is shown in Amir Motlagh’s MY BREAK UPS INTO A MILLION PIECES, Huy Chheng, Anjali Nath, Long Trinh, and Ryan Masaaki Yokota’s ARNOLD MORENO = π, Janet Ip’s WE DON’T LIVE IN IGLOOS: INUVIK YOUTH SPEAK OUT and Rani Sandhu’s GETTING MARRIED – followed by a discussion panel with cultural studies instructor Rita Wong, physician and filmmaker Janet Ip, convention and youth organizer Melinda Lau, filmmaker and producer Nilesh Patel, and moderated by radio broadcaster and immigration activist, Imitiaz Popat.
Filmmakers By The Boatload: A record number of filmmakers are scheduled to be in attendance at this year’s Festival accompanying their films. With over 50% of directors attending, the 4 days promises a melting pot of North America’s emerging Asian filmmaking community. The independent filmmaking process and all of its frustrations is highlighted in Kevin Desmond’s feature FILM 101. As well, 3 short films will precede, with Cole Walliser’s delightful action flick NIGHT & DAZE, Rajkumar Viswanath’s sweet ALL IN TIME, and Eunhee Cha’s BLUE BIRD OF HAPPINESS, a hilarious look at non-Asians who adopt Asian children. These were the top 3 prize-winning films from this summer’s inaugural Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon, a 7-day short film competition amongst local Asian filmmakers.
International Spotlights: The international spotlight this year falls on the Philippines, a country whose films have not received much attention in Canada as yet. SIGAW (aka THE ECHO) is director Yam Laranas’ foray into the supernatural, horror genre. Another international highlight is the gorgeous Taiwanese feature 20:30:40, directed by well-known actress Sylvia Chang (EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN) about 3 women whose lives are in transition.
Asian Love: Beyond the search for identity, Asian filmmakers also turn to the search for love and relationships unique to their North American experience. Richard Cranor’s feature SIMPLY FOBULOUS is about a reluctant daughter who’s being matched with an F.O.B (fresh off the boat) Vietnamese mail-order husband. Taien Ng-Chan’s THE RED RIBBON incorporates an old Chinese fairytale about the god of love. And J.P. Chan’s TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT shows us briefly a young woman preparing for a blind date and all the possibilities she can imagine.
O Canada: The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) continues to support Asian filmmakers. Producer Germaine Ying Gee Wong and director Beverly Shaffer’s MR. MERGLER’S GIFT shows the relationship between a dying piano teacher and his 9-year-old child prodigy. Cal Garingan’s WHY THEE WED? asks eight gay and lesbian couples what it meant for them to defy the law in order to exchange marriage vows. And in the strong NFB tradition of animation, Monica Rho’s STATIONERY explores the twists of modern life as a woman searches for paperclips, and featuring the voice of Sandra Oh.
The Animated Asian: This year’s Festival brings a considerably strong lineup of animated films. In addition to Monica Rho’s STATIONERY, Jeff Chiba Stearns hand-drawn documentary of his life growing up half-Japanese in redneck Kelowna BC is contrasted by Justin Henton’s computer animated ESC where a 3D character comes to life. And the moody, futuristic love story SKY BLUE is an ambitious feature film from South Korea and the US that combines 2D and 3D animation with miniatures and live action.
The Horror, The Horror: Asian filmmakers tackle the horror genre with twin directors Albert and Herbert Leung’s JINN, a twist on a woman, an old lady and an apple, Chris Jun’s THE MAIN CHARACTER who gives up his body in order to live forever, Jimmy Ren’s urban legend STRANDED, and Yam Laranas’ haunted apartment Filipino feature SIGAW.
Best Canadian Short Award: This year marks the Festival’s second annual award for BEST CANADIAN SHORT, which is accompanied by a $500 cash prize. The qualifying films are Oscar Nam’s two shorts REMEMBER ONE and RESIDUE, Sui Ta’s KATA PRACTICE, Deborah Chow’s THE HILL, Michael Melski’s FOCUS GROUP THERAPY, Hong-Sik Kim’s KING OF SUSHI, Albert and Herbert Leung’s JINN, Linda Lee’s SCREEN TEST, Taien Ng-Chan’s THE RED RIBBON, Justin Henton’s ESC, Janet Ip’s WE DON’T LIVE IN IGLOOS: INUVIK YOUTH SPEAK OUT, Rani Sandu’s GETTING MARRIED, Desiree Lim’s LOVE/CENSORED/TRUTH, Junga Song’s LOVE RECIPE, and Norman Yeung’s MARNIE LOVE.
Judges for this competition are producer Shan Tam, NFB cultural diversity producer Selwyn Jacob, Citytv broadcaster and host Tasha Chiu, The Province newspaper movie columnist Glen Schaefer, and independent film producer Sylvia Jonescu Lisitza. The award will be announced at a filmmaker luncheon on Nov. 6th.
The Vancouver Asian Film Festival Society (VAFF) is a not-for-profit organization that provides a forum for independent North American Asian filmmakers to showcase their work to both Asian and non-Asian audiences. The aim of VAFF is to foster an understanding and appreciation of these filmmakers and providing them a springboard to larger film festivals. And the Society endeavours to represent the often-ignored North American Asians caught between two cultures.
The Vancouver Asian Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Destination Toyota Burnaby, Citytv, BMO, Anne Marie’s Incredible Goodies, Panasonic, The City of Vancouver, Canada Council for the Arts, and the National Film Board of Canada.
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