IT’S ALL ABOUT SOME KINDA LOVE AND KEEPING YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE
Take a look at the great films Chi-hui Yang (former SFIAAFF Festival Director) has programmed on Cinema Asian America for the month of June:
(…and yes, that is award winning playwright David Henry Hwang holding an Asian Pride Porn box in the picture below)
Part 1: Some Kinda Love
ASIAN PRIDE PORN
Directed by Greg Pak
In this infomercial spoof, playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, FOB) promotes Asian Pride Porn. Smart Asian women? Sexually empowered Asian men? Good politics. Great porn.
BOMBAY SUMMER
Directed by Joseph Matthew
Bombay Summer explores the delicate friendship between three young people and its eventual disintegration in the face of betrayal. Set in contemporary Mumbai, the film subtly mirrors the turmoil within tradition bound Indian society as it struggles to cope with rapid modernization and social change.
FORMULA 17
Directed by Yin-Jung Chen / Taiwan
A 17-year-old boy goes searching for love and adventure in the summer heat of Taipei, but finds himself attracted to the biggest playboy known to mankind. Will he be able to change this playboy into a stable boyfriend? FORMULA 17 is the cool recipe for a hot summer.
KISSING COUSINS
Directed by Amyn Kaderali
Kissing Cousins is a romantic comedy about a cynical bachelor, Amir (Samrat Chakrabarti), who decides to appease his relationship-minded friends by recruiting his beautiful British cousin, Zara (Rebecca Hazlewood), to pretend to be his girlfriend. This Indian-American production boasts supporting turns by David Alan Grier, Jaleel White (Family Matters’ Urkel), and Gerry Bednob (best known for his scene-stealing role in The 40-Year-Old Virgin).
LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
Directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang / Thailand
A suicidal, obsessive-compulsive Japanese librarian is forced to hide out with a pot-smoking Thai woman at her shabby beachside home.
NEVER FOREVER
Directed by Gina Kim
When an American woman begins a dangerous relationship with an attractive immigrant worker, in order to save her marriage, she finds her true self.
RELATIVELY ROMANTIC: LOVE 101 with Amyn Kaderali
Directed by RJ Lozada
SPIDER LILIES
Directed by Spider Chou / Taiwan
Taipei tattoo artist Takeko finds herself smitten with Jade, a girly teenager who’s come to her shop seeking a spider-lily tat like the one that graces Takeko’s arm. Present secrets and past desires spill out in this dreamy exploration of childhood crushes, adult guilt and erotic longing.
Part 2: Eyes On The Prize
A CONVERSATION WITH AASIF MANDVI
Directed by RJ Lozada
This lively and humorous interview was conducted by former Festival Director, Chi-hui Yang, at the 2010 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Aasif Mandvi discusses his acting career, touching on everything from working with Jon Stewart to making an indie “food film,” to his role in M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER.
HANA
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda / Japan
In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn’t an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.
THE LXD: THE UPRISING BEGINS
Directed by Jon M. Chu
Two long-time enemies, Tendo and Spex, face-off in an action-packed after-hours showdown. Only one will emerge victorious, but the message is clear–the Uprising has officially begun and The LXD must be reassembled.
THE LXD 2: SECRETS OF THE RA
Directed by Jon M. Chu
This season, Dance goes evil. The forces of good and evil go head to head towards an explosive showdown and true heroes are revealed
SAMOAN WEDDING
Directed by Chris Graham / New Zealand
Sione is getting married. But there’s a problem, well actually, there are four problems – Sione’s brother Michael and his three best mates Albert, Stanley and Sefa; the ladies’ man, the good boy, the weird one and the party boy. They’re 30-something, but they still act as if they’re 16.They get drunk, they chase the wrong women and they have a remarkable record of causing chaos at every wedding they attend. But when Sione bans the boys from his wedding, they know something has to change. The boys have one last chance; find girlfriends to take to the wedding or be left out in the cold. Their lives are about to get turned upside down. How hard can it be finding a girl in the world’s biggest Polynesian city when you’re young, gifted and brown?
SUMMER WARS
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda / Japan
Kenji Koiso, an eleventh grade math genius, agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natuski. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of the family matriarch. His job is to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes a parallel world’s collision with earth.
TODAY’S SPECIAL
Directed by David Kaplan
In this super-feel-good foodie comedy, young Manhattan chef Samir rediscovers his heritage and his passion for life through the enchanting art of cooking Indian food.
TRIANGLE
Directed by Janice Ahn
A girl named Chelsea waits for her turn to plays the triangle at the very end of a long symphony. Her whole life’s private moments, baited breath, and yearning, culminate in a moment…A visual tone poem bridging the narrative and lyrical, Triangle is writer-director Janice Ahn‘s meditation on women and waiting.
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Comcast customers can find Cinema Asian America by pointing their menus to:
On Demand >> Movies >> Movie Collections >> Cinema Asian America
Related links:
more on Cinema Asian America:
http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/blogs/category/cinema-asian-america/
Asian American Cinema Gets an Exciting New Home
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-heymont/asian-american-cinema-get_b_803439.html
