PING PONG PLAYA RETURNS TO CINEMARK TINSELTOWN - NOV 14 to 25
Tuesday November 11, 2008 by editor1
Did you miss seeing PING PONG PLAYA at VAFF?
Following two sold out shows at VAFF and due to popular demand, Cinemark Tinseltown Theatre will present PING PONG PLAYA from Nov 14 to 25.
Please tell your friends about this terrific family comedy (rated PG) and help us promote the film on behalf of director Jessica Yu and star of the film Jimmy Tsai.
Please check the Cinemark Tinseltown Theatre website for showtimes and ticket information or call 604-806-0799
Show your support for independent films from Asian North American filmmakers!
Here is a message from Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Wu, members of the PING PONG PLAYA Production….
“We are extremely thrilled to write to you about the upcoming release of our movie PING PONG PLAYA beginning November 14th! It’s an exciting time—but here’s where we need your help. We’ll let the movie speak for itself (if the reactions of people who have seen the movie is any indication, we firmly believe you won’t be disappointed), but we need your help to spread the word about the release of the movie. Independent movies don’t have the marketing budget to compete against the mammoth studio movies, but what we do have is intense, strong word-of-mouth (just check out any of a number of our reviews—from outlets large and small, from critics, bloggers, and chat room posters alike).
Please help us continue to spread the word and come check out the movie opening weekend”
Our website: www.pingpongplaya.com
And if you know of any friends w/ websites or blogs that want to support the film by putting up our banner ads, please download here:
www.pingpongplaya.com/PPP_FlashUnits.zip
See you at the theaters soon,
Jimmy Tsai
Writer/Co-Producer/2nd Assistant Production Accountant
Jessica Yu
Director-Writer
Joan Huang
Producer
Anne Clements
Producer
Jeffrey Gou
Executive Producer
WEST 32nd CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING SOLD OUT!
Monday November 10, 2008 by editor1
Last night’s closing night screening with the lovely and talented Grace Park in attendance was a sold out show. Grace was introduced to the audience by her friend and fellow actor Olivia Cheng (much to Grace’s surprise). An engaging Q&A with Grace followed the screening.
CLOSING NIGHT AT VAFF WITH GRACE PARK
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Sun. Nov. 9th, 7:00 PM
Canadian Premiere | Grace Park in Attendance
Our Festival closes with VAFF 2005 alum Michael Kang’s second feature film, WEST 32ND. John Cho and Jun Kim star in this story about an ambitious lawyer who finds himself thrust into a sordid world of hard realities and moral compromises. Also featuring Vancouver talent, Grace Park, WEST 32ND takes us inside New York’s gritty Koreantown underworld. Preceding is the stylish PERMUTE, about an animated woman caught within a film noir setting and the journey within.
Director: Michael Kang | Producers: Teddy Zee, Miky Lee | Writers: Michael Kang, Edmund Lee
Narrative | DigiBeta | Colour | 2007 | 91 minutes | USA
When John (John Cho), an ambitious young lawyer, takes on a pro bono case to exonerate a fourteen year-old boy from a first-degree murder charge, he finds a world he never knew existed in the underbelly of Manhattan.
Infiltrating the knotty and complex realm of organized crime to search for clues, he meets his match, Mike (Jun Kim), a rising soldier in the syndicate. Recognizing John’s determination and daring, Mike brings John into his confidence, furtively drawing him into his own plans to rise within the underworld. Though they become fast friends, they just as quickly end up trying to use each other as they discover they’ll both do anything to win.
Previous Screenings: Tribeca Film Festival, Pusan Int’l Film Festival, DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, Newport Beach Int’l Film Festival, San Francisco Int’l Asian Film Festival
Tickets available only at the door. $15
NOTE: Student/Senior discount and ADMIT ONE vouchers not applicable for this special closing screening
preceded by:
Permute
Director/Writer/Producer: Lydia Fu
Animation | Beta SP | B&W | 2008 | 5 minutes | Canada
Our existential heroine, Lulu, attempts to discover a cryptic fate that she is only able to discover through the oblique vignettes of a film noir cityscape.
Director In Attendance
VAFF CLOSING NIGHT WRAP PARTY AT TUNNEL - Sunday - 9pm
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Sunday Nov. 9th, 9:00PM – 1:00AM
$15 door
Tunnel Multi-Lounge
622 West Pender Street, Vancouver
Join us at TUNNEL after attending the Canadian Premiere of WEST 32ND. Dance the night away to hot urban mixes spun by Tunnel’s own DJ.
Celebrate the four days of exceptional films, brilliant filmmakers and memorable events that make up the 12th Vancouver Asian Film Festival. Enjoy exotic sips and chill out at Vancouver’s newest hotspot where vintage meets sophisticated sound and light technology. With its sleek interiors and amazing luxurious lounge, VAFF’s Wrap Party at TUNNEL will set the scene for a spectacular closing evening for all Festival attendees, visiting celebrities, filmmakers, and staff.
And don’t forget – your VAFF VIP Pass gets you in the door first!
Please note that there are a limited number of tickets available at the door – subject to venue capacity.
Must be 19 years or older to attend – ID may be requested
ENCORE SCREENING - WEST 32nd - Sunday - 9:30PM
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Program 13: Closing Night Encore
Sun. Nov. 9th, 9:30 PM
Enjoy the encore presentation of VAFF alum Michael Kang’s second feature film, WEST 32ND. John Cho and Jun Kim star in this story about an ambitious lawyer who finds himself thrust into a sordid world of hard realities and moral compromises. Also featuring Vancouver talent, Grace Park, WEST 32ND takes us inside New York’s gritty Koreantown underworld. Preceding is the stylish PERMUTE, about an animated woman caught within a film noir setting and the journey within.
Director: Michael Kang | Producers: Teddy Zee, Miky Lee | Writers: Michael Kang, Edmund Lee
Narrative | DigiBeta | Colour | 2007 | 91 minutes | USA
When John (John Cho), an ambitious young lawyer, takes on a pro bono case to exonerate a fourteen year-old boy from a first-degree murder charge, he finds a world he never knew existed in the underbelly of Manhattan.
Infiltrating the knotty and complex realm of organized crime to search for clues, he meets his match, Mike (Jun Kim), a rising soldier in the syndicate. Recognizing John’s determination and daring, Mike brings John into his confidence, furtively drawing him into his own plans to rise within the underworld. Though they become fast friends, they just as quickly end up trying to use each other as they discover they’ll both do anything to win.
Previous Screenings: Tribeca Film Festival, Pusan Int’l Film Festival, DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, Newport Beach Int’l Film Festival, San Francisco Int’l Asian Film Festival
Tickets available only at the door $10
Students/Seniors $7
preceded by:
Permute
Director/Writer/Producer: Lydia Fu
Animation | Beta SP | B&W | 2008 | 5 minutes | Canada
Our existential heroine, Lulu, attempts to discover a cryptic fate that she is only able to discover through the oblique vignettes of a film noir cityscape.
MEMORABLE INDUSTRY LUNCHEON AT DR. SUN YAT SEN GARDEN
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
VAFF had the distinct pleasure to have Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism join us for an informal luncheon with over 100 industry guests at the beautifully serene Garden. Minister Kenney greeted the guests with a warm and welcoming speech that was very well received.
This was the Mr. Kenney’s first public engagement in Western Canada since becoming the new minister following the recent federal election.
One last social networking left to mix and mingle with the celebrities. See you at the VAFF WRAP Party at TUNNEL tonight! Tickets $15 available at the door.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON PROGRAMS - NOV 9 - 4 PM
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Program 11: The Pawns Of Politics
Sun. Nov. 9th, 4:00 PM
History repeats itself all too often, and sometimes when that happens, the consequences can strike at the core of a family, or a whole community – or an entire culture. However, in the end, the resilience of people and their commitment to their community prevail against all odds. In David Yun’s THE PAIN OF BEING THIRSTY, wartime policies today are eerily mirrored by the past disregard of freedoms and rights. KORYO SARAM: THE UNRELIABLE PEOPLE, is a survival story of how Soviet Koreans were forced into harsh exile but ultimately thriving today with their culture intact. And in VINCENT WHO?, a movement of social and cultural activism emerges from a travesty of justice.
THE PAIN OF BEING THIRSTY
Director/Producer: David Yun | Writer: Babar Ahmad
Experimental | Beta SP | Colour | 2007 | 6 minutes | USA
A film that juxtaposes found footage of Japanese Internment camps in Arizona with a found letter written by a Muslim prisoner accused of running Al-Qaeda websites and awaiting extradition to Guantanamo Bay. In linking the two, the film traces a connection between the way Japanese Americans were perceived during World War II and how Arabs and Arab Americans are being treated in a post-9/11 world while raising larger questions about the fragility of our own freedoms.
Previous Screenings: Int’l Asian American Film Festival (NY), Int’l Documentary Festival Amsterdam, European Media Arts Festival
KORYO SARAM: THE UNRELIABLE PEOPLEDirectors: Y. David Chung, Matt Dibble | Producer:* Y. David Chung | Writers: Japhet Asher, Meredith Jung-En Woo, Y. David Chung
Documentary | Beta SP | Colour | 2007 | 60 minutes | USA | Russian and Korean, with English subtitles
In 1937, Stalin began a campaign of massive ethnic cleansing and forcibly deported everyone of Korean origin living in the coastal provinces of the Far East Russia near the border of North Korea to the unsettled steppe country of Central Asia 3,700 miles away.
Koryo Saram (the Soviet Korean phrase for Korean person) tells the harrowing saga of survival and the sweep of Soviet history through the eyes of these 180,000 deported Koreans, who were designated by Stalin as an “unreliable people” and enemies of the state. Through recently uncovered archival footage and new interviews, the film follows the deportees’ history of integrating into the Soviet system while working under punishing conditions in Kazakhstan, a country which became a concentration camp of exiled people from throughout the Soviet Union.
Previous Screenings: San Francisco Int’l Asian American Film Festival 2007, Asian American Showcase, Toronto Reel Asian Int’l Film Festival – NFB Best Doc Award
Canadian Premiere | Director In Attendance
SUNDAY AFTERNOON PROGRAMS - NOV 9 - 1:30PM
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Program 10: Our Fair City – Local Truth
Sun. Nov. 9th, 1:30 PM
Open up any of the local papers around town and discover Vancouver has her share of sordid stories which lead to dramatic headlines. These local documentaries dig deeper past the sensationalism to explore the complicated people behind the sound bites. SCHOOL OF SECRETS exposes a Vancouver teacher’s systemic seduction of his students and how it affected them as grown women. WARRIOR BOYZ examines South Asian gangs and the youth attracted to the violent lifestyle.
SCHOOL OF SECRETS
Director/Writer: Melanie Wood | Producer: Eunice Lee
Documentary | DigiBeta | Colour | 2007 | 60 minutes | Canada
SCHOOL OF SECRETS, a documentary by Vancouver filmmakers Melanie Wood and Eunice Lee, presents a tale of truth – and its consequences – in the story of a Vancouver teacher and the teenage girls he seduced. Kept secret for decades, it’s a story that, when finally exposed, stunned the community.
Previous Screenings: CBC – “The Lens”
WARRIOR BOYZ
Director/Writer: Baljit Sangra | Producers: Baljit Sangra, Cari Green, Selwyn Jacob (NFB)
Documentary | DigiBeta | Colour | 2008 | 43 minutes | Canada
Looking at some of the challenges that South Asian youth are facing today, WARRIOR BOYZ sets out to understand why they are vulnerable to the allure of gang culture. In the past decade over a hundred Indo-Canadian youth have been killed as a result of gang violence. Most of the victims came from middle class families within a tight knit community. This documentary follows two teenagers over a semester in a predominately South Asian school in a suburb to find out why youth continue to be vulnerable to this lifestyle.
Previous Screenings: DOXA Documentary Festival
VAFF ATTENDEES GET THEIR FLAUNT ON
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Over 300 guests enjoyed themselves at VAFF’S FLAUNT IT Party at Edgewater Casino last night. Some very beautiful Asian dresses were worn by the ladies and not to be outdone many of the gentlemen looked pretty sharp in their Asian style suits.
We had more lucky winners at the casino too!
One more party to enjoy…
See you at TUNNEL for the VAFF Wrap Party tonight!
Encore Screening of PING PONG PLAYA SOLD OUT in record time!
Sunday November 9, 2008 by editor1
Last night’s encore screening of PING PONG PLAYA was the second sell out for the film at VAFF. And the audience was treated to a surprise appearance by Academy Award winning director Jessica Yu and the star of the film Jimmy Tsai for an inspiring Q&A after the screening.
Thank you all for your wonderful support of this terrific film!
Be sure to tell your friends that Cinemark Tinseltown Theatre will bring PING PONG PLAYA back for a limited theatrical run from Nov 14 to 20.
