Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: Debbie Lum
Executive Producer: ITVS, KQED
Presented by: Center for Asian American Media

Screenings:
Friday May 11, 7pm
Saturday May 12, 3pm

http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/seeking_asian_female_2012
http://www.seekingasianfemale.com/

“mesmerizing… nearly every assumption at the film’s beginning is ultimately countered and overturned”
- Jeff Yang, Wall Street Journal

Synopsis written by: Sarah Kim

When 60 year-old Steven, a Caucasian male looking for a young Chinese bride, roams dating websites to find yet another Chinese woman to fulfill his romantic quest, he finds 30 year-old Sandy. Sandy lives in China and quickly responds to Steven’s emails. Before long, Steven visits Sandy in China and brings her back to the United States to get engaged. Sandy’s life is suddenly flipped around as she tries to adjust to a new country and its culture through her possible new husband, who she has only recently met. Sandy doesn’t speak English and Steven doesn’t speak Chinese.

The two communicate through a language of their own- through gestures, presents, physical affection and picking up on each other’s moods. Obviously, this creates an unimaginable level of frustration and misunderstandings between the couple, which is how the Chinese American filmmaker, Debbie Lum, starts to mediate their relationship as their translator. As Debbie’s involvement in the couple’s relationship deepens, the trio creates a new dynamic relationship where each is dependent on the other. All the while, the filmmaker’s role documenting her subjects has become questionable as she has become an active influence in her subjects’ lives. As the filmmaker tries to distance herself from the role she has fallen into, their fragile relationship is even further upset. Will the relationship survive or come to a hopeless wreck as skeptics predict? The documentary reveals a close look at the personal stories of the characters, as we come to understand who they are and what drives them to be in this relationship.

An interesting look into the world of online dating where anyone can be as racially specific and biased as they want, SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE reveals how as strange albeit common fetishes and obsessions are encouraged and sought after, this is an example of people finding what they are looking for through these means. The documentary analyzes the mentality behind the mysticism and notions of seeking an Asian woman and what this represents in American culture.

See other CAAM funded or produced films at LAAPFF here!

Here are a few exciting highlights of events featured at ACAW.  View the full lineup of events through their website! http://www.asiancontemporarysf.org/acaw

As part of ACAW-SF and the 8th annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration, the Center for Asian American Media (in coordination w/ 3rd i South Asian Film Festival) is showcasing the Asian Heritage Street Celebration Cinema Showcase (5/19).

PHANTOMS OF ASIA (Launch Party!)
at the Asian Art Museum

May 17, 2012
7:30 PM-Midnight

200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

www.asianart.org/phantoms/party

Life. Death. The cosmos. What’s it all about? Provocative contemporary art alongside exceptional artworks from the museum’s own collection explore spiritual and supernatural roots, cosmologies, and rituals in Asia. The Asian Art Museum’s newest exhibit, Phantoms of Asia, features more than 60 works by 31 living artists, including Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japan/USA), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Raqib Shaw (India), Adeela Suleman (Pakistan), and Choi Jeong-Hwa (Korea), alongside 90 objects from the museum’s collections—some dating back 2,000 years Phantoms of Asia challenges visitors to view traditional objects not as relics of the past, but as vibrant connections to the present. Pause and reflect on your own existence in the universe, all while taking in some amazing new art.

The exhibit officially opens on May 18th, but get ready to get down with Phantoms! The Asian Art Museum will be celebrating the opening of the exhibit by dimming the lights and turning up the volume with DJ Vin Sol and DJ King Most for a special evening of mingling, beats, and art. Saddle up to the bar for drinks and nibble on yummy bites. All that gallery hopping and revelry got you feeling hunger pangs? Step into the cafe for substantial refueling. Mix and mingle with artists whose works are on view in Phantoms, and above all, take in some incredible art. An exciting celebration for an exciting exhibition.

SCREENING of SUPER 8
at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

May 17 – 20, 2012
701 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
www.ybca.org

Takehito Koganezawa curates the Tokyo series of the YBCA’s Super 8 series, coinciding with Asian Contemporary Art Week. Koganezawa has developed a diverse art practice united by a minimalist aesthetic, and the Tokyo series will be featuring Koganezawa’s SEA OF BILLS (Thursday 5/17), Tatsuo Majima’s CALIFORNIA (Friday 5/18), Yuki Okumura’s ANATOMY FICTION – ZENZBEI’S EYEBALLS (Saturday 5/19), Mai Yamashita & Naoto Kobayashi’s, DOGSLED (also on Saturday 5/19), and Meiro Koizumi’s PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG SAMURAI (Sunday 5/20). View details and showtimes at ACAW’s website.

artMRKT
at the Concourse Exhibition Center

May 17-20, 2012
620 7th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
www.art-mrkt.com/sf

artMRKT San Francisco, the Bay Area’s premier contemporary and modern art fair will showcase historically important work alongside relevant contemporary pieces and projects, from 70 highly reputable galleries. artMRKT will create an ideal context for the discovery, exploration, and acquisition of art.

GALLERY TALK
at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

May 18, 2012
2626 Bancroft Way
Berkeley, CA 94720
www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Xiaoyu Weng will talk informally about three major works by celebrated Chinese artists that are displayed in the museum lobby specially for Asian Contemporary Art Week. She will explore the multi-valent meanings of the monumental photograph To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond by Zhang Huan; Xu Bing’s Scroll (from The New English Calligraphy series); and Li Jin’s large hand scroll Harvest II. All three artworks are part of the Berkeley Art Museum’s collection.

Xiaoyu Weng is the director of the Asian Contemporary Arts Consortium San Francisco. She is also an independent curator, whose recent projects have been featured at the Minsheng Art Museum in Shanghai and the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, and a writer, whose work has been published in Artforum online, Leap, and Art World Journal.

Despite the challenges our communities face even in the 21st century, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are no strangers to overcoming hardship and excelling despite the odds.

Being that this Asian Pacific American Heritage Month’s theme is “Striving for Excellence in Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion,” we are proud to provide such an extensive wealth of resources through CAAM Films, a collection of over 250 titles that seek to span the breadth of our stories and experiences.

Through the month of May, receive a 40% discount off the list price for the films below by entering this code at checkout: APAHM2012 (Available for K-12, colleges, universities, public libraries and qualifying community organizations.)

We are excited to bring our stories to light in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and far beyond.  From Toshiko Akiyoshi‘s grand ascent into the world of American jazz to the legacy of Vietnamese refugees in America, we are proud to offer a special promotion on some of our most seminal titles including:

• 62 Years and 6500 Miles Between
  Asking her grandmother what advice she has for young people, filmmaker Anita Chang receives a simple reply: “Politics!” Despite a third stroke and a century of struggle, “Democratic Grandma” remains true to the ideals that earned her acclaim and a memorable nickname in Taiwan…

• Assimilation/A Simulation
  
  Assimilation, best practiced blissfully and blindly, is the compliant response to systems of cultural dominance. Through various disturbing perspectives of women, men, self and mom, Chien portrays the dilemma of internalized expectations in regard to definitions of beauty and gender roles.

• A Song for Ourselves
  During the 1970s when Asians in America were invisible to the country — and more importantly even to themselves — the late Chris Iijima’s music provided the voice and identity an entire generation had been in search of.

• Arirang Part I & II
  
  Korean Americans are a long-time, widely dispersed presence in the United States. Yet for most Americans, they remain a people without a story

• Bui Doi: Life Like Dust
  Life for most young Vietnamese youth in the United States is a “life like dust.” This film goes inside the mind of Ricky Phan, once a gang leader in Southern California and now serving an 11-year sentence for armed robbery.

• Blue Collar Buddha
  
  This dramatic documentary explores America’s most recent refugees, struggling against the mounting tension of a post-Viet Nam era filled with guilt and anger.

• China 21
  
  This eye-opening documentary follows four Chinese families as they step into the 21st century. Working without official permits, the filmmakers used compact digital video gear to record intimate portraits of ordinary people..

• Daughters of Everest
  DAUGHTERS OF EVEREST brings a unique flavor to the familiar story of the attempt to climb Mount Everest. In 2000, the first-ever expedition of Sherpa women to climb Everest was organized.

• Fishbowl
  From the late Kayo Hatta, the director of the award-winning ‘Picture Bride,’ comes FISHBOWL, a comical coming-of-age tale based on Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s novel, ‘Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers.’

• Hapa
  
  According to 2000 Census statistics, nearly 7 million Americans identify themselves as multi-racial, or ‘hapa.’ This engaging first-person documentary is about marathon runner and TV producer Midori Sperandeo’s struggles to come to terms with her hapa identity.

• Imelda
  
  IMELDA explores the life and psychology of the First Lady who reigned besides president-turned-dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1965-86.

• In No One’s Shadow
  This video recounts Filipino American history from the 1900s to the present, exploring many of the contributions that Filipinos have made to this society in fields such as agriculture, arts and politics.

• Jazz Is My Native Language
  This is the heroic story of Toshiko Akiyoshi – artist, wife, and mother – and her ascent into the American jazz world.

• Passing Poston
  
  During World War II, almost 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated and spent the war years in one of ten internment camps located in remote and desolate areas throughout this country.

• Passing Through
  
  Fresh out of college, Adolfson – a Korean adoptee who grew up in Coon Rapids, Minnesota – decides to return to his land of birth for fun and new experiences.

• Spirit of Taiko
  Hosted by percussionist Sheila Escovedo, a.k.a. Sheila E, THE SPIRIT OF TAIKO chronicles “taiko” drumming in the United States over the past 40 years through the reflections and memories of both American and Japanese artists.

• Saigon, U.S.A
  Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees have nurtured a community known as Little Saigon in Orange County, California.

• Turbans
  
  Based on the memoirs of the filmmaker’s grandmother, TURBANS explores the inner struggles of an Asian Indian immigrant family torn between their cultural traditions and the desire for social acceptance in America.

• Whatever It Takes
  WHATEVER IT TAKES chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the very first year of the Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics, an innovative public high school set in NYC’s South Bronx.
• When the Storm Came
  The women of Kunnan Pushpora trek through the jungle to collect firewood for fuel in the militarized valley nestled at the foothills of the Himalayas in Kashmir. But they are haunted by a night now deeply entrenched in their collective memory.

For more information on CAAM Films, click here.

To be added to the CAAM Film Distribution newsletter, click here. (No spam, we promise!)

Nice Girls Crew

Directed by Tanuj Chopra
Created by Christine Kwon (CAAM Festival Managing Director)
Screening: Tuesday, May 15, 7pm

https://www.facebook.com/ngcseries

“I wanted to create something that wasn’t censored and gave women of color the opportunity to spit, barf and swear all over the screen with the freedom of any Judd Apatow or ‘Hangover’ dude-crew,”
- Christine Kwon, the “Nice Girls Crew” creator and writer.

Synopsis written by: Anderson Le

Synopsis written by: Vera deVera

This character study of former New Orleans Congressman Ahn Joseph Cao offers a refreshing look behind the scenes of American politics despite his short tenure (2008-2010) in the House of Representatives. In an unlikely victory over Democratic political veteran Congressman William J. Jefferson in 2008, all eyes in the Asian American community were on newly-elected Congressman Cao, who was the first Vietnamese American ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Landing in Congress during his community’s fragile post-Katrina economy and thrown smack into the middle of the national health care reform debate, one can sympathize with the difficult choices Congressman Cao faced as an Asian American Republican representing a largely Democratic district comprised of 62 percent black and 31 percent white residents. To call it a “delicate balancing act” doesn’t do justice to the complexities of economic, ideological and racial issues that confronted Congressman Cao. And having beaten a longtime incumbent partly due to questionable ethics of the veteran politico, how did ethics play out in Congressman Cao’s own bid for a second term against an opponent with a checkered past?

Veteran documentary filmmaker S. Leo Chiang (TO YOU SWEETHEART, ALOHA, Festival 2005; A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES, Festival 2010) brings us yet another captivating look into a character and a community faced with a complex set of competing issues and interests. As the story of Congressman Cao’s political stint reveals itself, it brings to question how difficult it is to maintain one’s sense of integrity and reality in the ever-churning barrel of power politics. Set against the ever-evolving ethnic landscape and fickle political alliances in both the regional and national political arena, MR. CAO GOES TO WASHINGTON is an engaging case study of American politics sure to please both political novices and seasoned hacks.

Watch an interview with Director Leo Chiang at Full Frame Documentary Festival
Mr. Cao Goes to Washington receives Inspiration Award at Full Frame Festival. Read about all the winners!

Seeking Asian Female

Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: Debbie Lum
Executive Producer: ITVS, KQED
Presented by: CAAM

http://www.seekingasianfemale.com/

“mesmerizing… nearly every assumption at the film’s beginning is ultimately countered and overturned”
- Jeff Yang, Wall Street Journal

Synopsis written by: Sarah Kim

When 60 year-old Steven, a Caucasian male looking for a young Chinese bride, roams dating websites to find yet another Chinese woman to fulfill his romantic quest, he finds 30 year-old Sandy. Sandy lives in China and quickly responds to Steven’s emails. Before long, Steven visits Sandy in China and brings her back to the United States to get engaged. Sandy’s life is suddenly flipped around as she tries to adjust to a new country and its culture through her possible new husband, who she has only recently met. Sandy doesn’t speak English and Steven doesn’t speak Chinese.

The two communicate through a language of their own- through gestures, presents, physical affection and picking up on each other’s moods. Obviously, this creates an unimaginable level of frustration and misunderstandings between the couple, which is how the Chinese American filmmaker, Debbie Lum, starts to mediate their relationship as their translator. As Debbie’s involvement in the couple’s relationship deepens, the trio creates a new dynamic relationship where each is dependent on the other. All the while, the filmmaker’s role documenting her subjects has become questionable as she has become an active influence in her subjects’ lives. As the filmmaker tries to distance herself from the role she has fallen into, their fragile relationship is even further upset. Will the relationship survive or come to a hopeless wreck as skeptics predict? The documentary reveals a close look at the personal stories of the characters, as we come to understand who they are and what drives them to be in this relationship.

An interesting look into the world of online dating where anyone can be as racially specific and biased as they want, SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE reveals how as strange albeit common fetishes and obsessions are encouraged and sought after, this is an example of people finding what they are looking for through these means. The documentary analyzes the mentality behind the mysticism and notions of seeking an Asian woman and what this represents in American culture.

What’s in store for this year? “For the 2nd Annual AHSC Cinema Showcase, it’s our intention to celebrate the breadth of talent we have here in the Bay Area,” says Masashi Niwano, Festival Director for CAAM. “We have selected a collection of fantastic shorts films & music videos from many local cities including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Fremont and Palo Alto. These emerging mediamakers have new stories and voices that will surely entertain and inspire the audience.” Additionally, we are excited to have this year’s programming curated in collaboration with our friends at the Third I Film Festival.

The Asian Heritage Street Celebration Cinema Showcase will be held at the Asian Art Museum’s Samsung Hall on Saturday May 19^th from 2PM to 4PM. Admission to the museum will be free all day, courtesy of Target and there will be no cost to watch the films.

This event is held also in celebration of Asian Contemporary Art Week.

CAAM presents AHSC CINEMA SHOWCASE

Date: May 19, 2011
Time: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location: Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco.

MY NAME IS SEVEN dir. by D. B. Cheng

TERRA COTTA dir. Yasmine Gomez

PROGRAM GUIDE: 

MY NAME IS SEVEN, Dir. D.B. Cheng, 7 min.
Seven is a true B-boy deep inside, but will his moves impress the girl of his dreams? Steven Terada and Brian Hirano, members of QuestCrew, join the cast of this fun short film.

TERRA COTTA, Dir. Yasmine Gomez, 6 min.
“Maybe sometimes… you need something to unsettle. Maybe that something is the best part.” Watch what happens when one roommate gets fed up with the status quo.

ROOTS OF LOVE, Dir. Harjant Gill, 30 min.
Told through the stories of six different men ranging in age from fourteen to eighty-six,Roots of Love documents the changing significance of hair and the turban among Sikhs in India. The choice of cutting one’s hair is one that not only concerns the individual and his family, but an entire community.

MELODY WALKS, by DreamDate, Produced by Heather MacLean, 3 min.
Set at the scenic Pacifica Pier, this music video features a live performance from the indie/folk-trio.

LOVE HACKING, Dir. Jenni Nelson, 21 min.
A virtual relationship becomes a reality when a robot inventor falls in love online and journeys to Nepal to meet his fiancé for the first time.

MAKING NOISE IN SILENCE, Dir. Mina T. Son, 3 min.
Class is in session at the California School for the Deaf; it’s a typical American high school, with jocks, nerds, misfits, cheerleaders, and new kids. In Making Noise in Silence, follow two Korean American teens as they discover what it means to be both deaf and Korean.

IT’S BEAUTIFUL, By Hopie ft. Luckylam, Dir. Stretch, 5 min.
Northern California meets Southern California on this fun, upbeat music video featuring Living Legends rapper, LuckyIAm.

LADY RAZORBACK, Dir. Laura Green, 4 min.
When a group of Pacific Islander women struggles to start a rugby team in East Palo Alto, they find the field to be an unexpected sanctuary.

RELATED LINKS

Asian Heritage Street Celebration website
http://asianfairsf.com/

2012 Fair Information
http://asianfairsf.com/fair-info/

About 3rd i
http://www.thirdi.org/about/

About the Asian Art Museum
http://www.asianart.org

Asian Contemporary Art Week
http://www.asiancontemporarysf.org/acaw/

“Shot during the 2010 mass protests calling for the demilitarization of Kashmir, Musa Syeed’s feature film debut narrows in on Gulzar, a boatman, and his childhood friend Afzal, planning their escape to New Delhi. When a military-imposed curfew delays their departure, they encounter a young visiting scientist (played by Kashmiri TV actress Neelofar Hamid) who is studying the environmental impact of urbanization on the lake.  With a cast dominated by nonprofessional actors and set against real-time events, Valley of Saints feels as much like a documentary as fiction, bearing intimate witness to a world on the cusp of change while slowly revealing how that change, even as it is propelled by disaster, also holds promise.

—Shari Kizirian” (via Valley of Saints page on SFIFF)

During this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (4/19 – 5/3), where Valley of Saints had two sold-out screenings, CAAM’s Festival Managing Director Christine Kwon met with Musa Syeed and producer Nicholas Bruckman who gave an overview of the film, their intentions behind it, and how the team has been using other forms of media to promote the film and show the story of Kashmir:

Musa: “I think what the film wants people to know is that there is still life, beauty, amidst the destruction and death of the conflict. People still persevere and are resilient through this conflict.”

Musa Syeed was also recently at this year’s 30th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (presented by CAAM), speaking at our Present/Future Summit on bridging the gap between film and “interactive media”, and his previous projects including Valley of Saints, 30 Mosques project, and the Kashmir is Beautiful Facebook game (in development).

More :

Trailer for Valley of the Saints
https://vimeo.com/34875661

National Geographic – Valley of Saints:  Finding The Beauty In Kashmir
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/15/valley-of-saints-finding-the-beauty-in-kashmir/

A Filmmaker’s Embrace of Nonlinear Storytelling
http://beyondthebox.org/a-filmmakers-embrace-of-nonlinear-storytelling/#.T6RReSPbJEI

From this year’s Present Future Summit, we heard from two trailblazers in media making who are telling stories from the APA community through sustainable platforms. The first speaker is Na’alehu Anthony, CEO of OiwiTV in Hawaii, the only all-Hawaiian culture & language station in Hawaii. The second is Shinae Yoon, the Executive Director of Visual Communications, which produces the Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival (taking place May 10 – 20!)

Former SFIAAFF Director Chi-hui Yang introduces the speakers, and begins with Lehu who is on the forefront of developing tools to look at audiences and how to reach them.

From the organization framework of Visual Communications, Shinae Yoon discusses how VC has had to adjust and “re-make” themselves.

Below is the Q&A with  Na’alehu Anthony and Shinae Yoon.

The first question is from Phil Yu (aka Angry Asian Man) who asks if film festivals are still relevant.

Other questions pondered:
Do filmmakers need a win from Sundance?
Do we need “feature films”?
Where should filmmakers find validation?

See all of the blog posts on Present/Future
Present/Future playlist on our YouTube CAAM Channel

Looking for more great programming resources during APA Heritage Month? Check out KQED’s APA Heritage programming, with a handy guide to Asian Pacific American TV & Radio Programs and Resources.

Check it out:

Summer Pasture

by Lynn True and Nelson Walker
May 10th, 10 PM on Independent Lens

“SUMMER PASTURE is beautiful and important. For me, the best documentary of 2010.”
-Albert Maysles, Filmmaker (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter)

Summer Pasture is a feature-length documentary that chronicles one summer with a young family amidst this period of great uncertainty. Locho, his wife Yama, and their infant daughter, nicknamed Jiatomah (“pale chubby girl”), spend the summer months in eastern Tibet’s Zachukha grasslands, an area known as Wu-Zui or “5-Most,” the highest, coldest, poorest, largest, and most remote county in Sichuan Province, China.

The story of a family at a crossroads, Summer Pasture takes place at a critical time in Locho and Yama’s lives, as they question their future as nomads. With their pastoral traditions confronting rapid modernization, Locho and Yama must reconcile the challenges that threaten to drastically reshape their existence.

http://www.summerpasturefilm.com/

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/summer-pasture/

Made in India

Produced and directed by Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha
Available on PBS stations beginning May 1st

“The benefits and perils of medical tourism are amply illustrated…an engrossing feature.”
- Variety

Made in India is a film about the human experiences behind the phenomenon of “outsourcing” surrogacy to India. It follows the journey of an infertile American couple, an Indian surrogate and the business of reproductive tourism that brings them together. Weaving together these personal stories within the context of a growing international industry, the film explores a complicated clash of families in crisis, assisted reproductive technologies and personal choice from a global perspective.

http://www.madeinindiamovie.com/

Don’t Lose Your Soul

By Jim Choi and Chihiro Wimbush
A CAAM Production
Premiering on KQED in San Francisco on May 13, 11pm

Don’t Lose Your Soul is a portrait of bassist Mark Izu and drummer Anthony Brown, two founders of the Asian American Jazz Movement. The film traces their personal histories and the origin of their partnership; forged in the crucible of the ethnic identity movements of the 70s, through the political force of their band United Front, and their seminal tribute to the Japanese internment experience, Big Bands Behind Barbed Wire.  Their musical journey culminates at Sanju, honoring the 30th Anniversary of the Asian American Jazz Festival and bringing back one of their musical heroes, George Yoshida, for one electric night of performance at Yoshi’s.

http://www.kqed.org/tv/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=20758

Patrick Wang’s new film IN THE FAMILY is an outstanding, original American masterpiece, opening across the country this month, and at the Metreon in San Francisco on April 27th, 2012. (It will play for 3 days, and if it does well, will be extended.) Set in Martin, Tennessee, the film explores the meaning of family and relationship, and finds that the path to wholeness lies in overcoming adversariality and kindling connection.

That it does this through a gay protagonist makes it more than a film – it is a remarkable lens on current social issues that makes it clear: only through the heart, and through understanding, can we resolve our differences. The film has won a slew of awards, including the Emerging Filmmaker and Best Narrative Award at the 30th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), the “Cannes of the Asian American Film circuit.” It was also a NYTimes Critics’ Pick”.

In a nutshell, the exquisitely paced, nearly 3-hour long film showcases a two-daddy family with a young son; there is a tragedy in which one partner dies, and a custody battle ensues over their son, Cody. I saw the film at this year’s SFIAAFF, and spoke with director/writer/actor Patrick Wang. He had a lot to say about his own artistic journey, and about “Daddy Love”.

His film gives ample opportunity for the audience to connect with memories of their own families and fathers, and process them in the container of the loss, rift, adversarial escalation and reconciling de-escalation of the film. As Wang said, the performance of the actors is just one piece of what happens – the rest comes from the “generosity” of the audience to put themselves into the space, “next to these people”. “That’s what deepens the connection to the characters. It feels like a real luxury (to have) three hours to think about our families, and our losses. In a lot of people’s lives, these things don’t get addressed for years – for decades.”

IN THE FAMILY is a very therapeutic film. The director talks about people who deal with loss “elegantly, and keep moving forward…it’s never about them…In the same way, the film has a lot of ache, but it moves forward, with hope and companionship.” He also emphasizes that while the film deals with a gay relationship, “it’s not a message piece – it’s a portrait, on a range of feelings, on a range of topics.”

His experience as a creative individual speaks volumes as well. He developed a film he absolutely loved, and then for six months, had to face a chorus of voices discontented with the length – a process he considered strengthening. “This is why a lot of new things don’t come into the world. Because there is a lot of fear. It’s always difficult – the new and different things are never blessed upon sight. (Laughs) They always have a different and very unique path. But it’s beautiful, that uniqueness…It’s worth it to give people this experience in a theater.”

Wang says, “I don’t care so much for movies that, as honest as they are, show us how broken we are and the terrible things we do to each other. I like things that show us a little hope and some organizing principle or some way forward.”

Audience members will be glad that he stuck to his vision – and be glad for “new things in the world.”

Here is an excerpt of my interview with Patrick Wang, a rising director to watch.

RC: Patrick, you went to MIT where you majored in Economics and had a concentration in Music and Theater Arts. How did you get from the sciences to the arts?

PW: There’s a lot of creativity in the sciences, and there is a lot of analysis in the arts. They’re not all that separate – it’s only been a couple of centuries since the renaissance. I think they’re very related. The skills I used at MIT, I find I use in filmmaking, too. But the journey is a series of accidents. When I was in college, I found my way to some of the small theater companies in Boston. I started volunteering, watching plays – and I kind of fell in love with the theater. I started a theater company out of school, and that’s where I learned to direct. That taught me a lot of the skills for making films. I learned to work with actors, I learned about design – from very generous designers that would sit you down, this new director who didn’t have any background in visual arts, and they would just talk you through what they see, and what their work is, what it entails. I think it was through their generosity I learned a lot about what allowed me to make this movie.

RC: What went into your decision to go into the arts?

PW: I don’t know, I think it was curiosity, it was different…To start a theater company, you see things and wonder, “Why is it done this way?” And as you go through it and do it yourself, sometimes you learn a little of why it’s done that way (laughs) and then sometimes you realize that an outsider’s perspective brings something new and that works. So I’ve always had a lot of fun coming into something as an outsider, learning a lot very quickly. I find that that’s just the most exciting environment. And so I did that with theater, and I feel like that was the case with film, too. I didn’t grow up wanting to make films, or even knowing that was an option, or even watching a lot of films. I wasn’t until later that you discover this art form, and you wonder what it will be like to jump in. There’s a risk – and I love risk.

RC: I also really loved the “Daddy Love” element of this film. It’s kind of rare to see that, in the media. You usually see men portrayed very differently (as tough guys, buffoons, larger-than-life superheroes, or even cruelly aggressive). Tell me about where that comes from.

PW: Thank you. I also feel it’s kind of rare in films. We have a lot of things about mothers and other kinds of relationships, but fathers get ignored a little bit. There’s a wonderful Argentine Director, Adolfo Aristarain, who I think makes wonderful family portraits. He focuses a lot on father-son relationships. When I was 15, I was an exchange student to Argentina, and I think that experience really woke up something within me, my perspective of family. I had such a loving family there, that expressed themselves so differently than my family here. I loved them in these different, wonderful ways…

RC: What way did they express themselves differently?

PW: You know – they’re very Italian – in Argentina (laughs)! A lot is said very emphatically – whereas with my family I grew up with in Texas, there weren’t as many words, it wasn’t as demonstrative, but they were there in the acts, they were there in the support, that was unconditional. So there were different forms of expressing love, and I think that having both these wonderful families, both these wonderful fathers – in having this family in Argentina where I realized it’s just how you treat people – gives you that feeling of family. I think that underlies a lot of what I see in the film. Both of these wonderful fathers that work…with great integrity, great love, were my foundation for the father-son relationship in the movie.

RC: I’m sorry to hear about your father passing away a few years ago.

PW: That was actually one of the motivations for making the film. I had already written the script, but my father was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and was given a couple months to live. It was a wake up call, as unfortunately these situations often are, for me, my brother and sister. We looked at our lives thinking “what is it for?” You never know how much time you have left. I wanted to do something meaningful. I didn’t know what that was right away, but I had this script, and I have the ability to make it – what am I waiting for? (My father) was a big part of motivating that, he was very supportive. I loved talking to him about it, hearing him say the names of the characters in my movie. Unfortunately, he passed away just a couple weeks after we finished shooting, so he never got to see the film, but we got to talk about it. What was wonderful about it was that we had a relationship that was very much at peace. It’s not like there was a lot of things that were unsaid. We had a good relationship. We were very lucky. In the end, he had much more than three months. He had 18 months. It felt like a luxury, in many ways. We made wonderful stuff of a painful situation.

RC: Thank you for sharing all of that. You went the entire film without mentioning the word “gay”. Tell me about that choice.

PW: Yes, that’s true. I had started noticing that, in the writing, that that word did not come up. I had finished writing at that point, and I thought “this is interesting.”…I liked that. There are some people who don’t use those words, day-to-day. They use them at some point in their lives, but in the scenes, in the moments that we’re with them, it didn’t make sense for them to come up. And it didn’t make sense for them to sit down and talk about their identity with anyone, and to use any real political terms in their lives. That’s not to say that’s true of all people in this situation every day of their lives, all people in this place but in these scenes for these particular people, it felt right. It felt honest to how they spoke and how they thought of themselves and sometimes how they didn’t think of themselves. I liked that – I think it makes the characters a little bit more full, and you use your imagination a little more about them, rather than someone coming and saying “I am this”.

I highly recommend this extraordinary, psychologically rich film.

Ravi Chandra, M.D. is a psychiatrist and writer in San Francisco. You can find more of his writing and spoken word performances at www.RaviChandraMD.com. His blog for Psychology Today, The Pacific Heart, is here http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-pacific-heart. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/going2peace

WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE

Friday, April 27
AMC Metreon 16 in San Francisco
Director: Wei Te-Sheng, Executive Producer: John Woo

Wei Te-sheng’s epic film reclaims an extraordinary episode from 20th-century history which is little-known, even in Taiwan. Between 1895 and 1945, the island was a Japanese colony inhabited not only by the majority (Han Chinese Immigrants) but also by the remnants of the aboriginal tribes who first settled the mountainous land. In 1930 Mouna Rudo, the leader of the Seediq tribe settled on and around Mount Chilai, forged a coalition with other Seediq tribal leaders and plotted a rebellion against their Japanese colonial masters. It was to begin at a sports day meeting where the assembled tribesmen were to attach and kill the Japanese officials and would then broaden to sieges on police stations and local government offices in the region. The initial uprising took the Japanese by surprise and was almost entirely successful. But the Japanese soon sent in their army to crush the rebellion, using aircraft and poison gas.

Mouna Rudo knew from the start that the relatively small force of Seediq tribesmen stood no chance of defeating the might of Japan. But he and his allies were sustained by the beliefs and myths which had nourished their tribes since time immemorial. Young males in the tribes had to undergo a rite of passage to become adult men, which gave them the right to have their faces tattooed. In the tribal language, they became Seediq Bale – heroes of the tribe. Their belief was that their ancestors would lead the spirits of the Seediq Bale across a rainbow bridge to the summit of the mountain when their time came. And so whatever the result of their uprising against Japan, they would march in victory across the rainbow bridge. The heroism and fortitude of the Seediq warriors and their womenfolk shocked even the Japanese, and won them enduring respect.

WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE
Opening Night, co-presented by CAAM: Friday, April 27 | 7:00PM
Limited theater run following opening night. Please visit the AMC Metreon site for screening days/times.

*psst: want to win a pair of tickets to Opening Night? Visit our Facebook page for contest details!

Related Links:

WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW
View the trailer and more information about the film
http://www.warriorsoftherainbow.wellgomovies.com/