Student Delegate Blog: “If You Want, You Can”
BREAK UP CLUB features mainstream Chinese actor Jaycee Chan and popular TVB actress and singer Fiona Sit in a romantic, bitter sweet comedy.
BREAK UP CLUB features mainstream Chinese actor Jaycee Chan and popular TVB actress and singer Fiona Sit in a romantic, bitter sweet comedy.
For my last evening in dreamy San Francisco, I decided to expose myself to as many artists’ work as possible. I went to see TAINTED LOVE and SILENT RITUALS AND HOVERING PROXIES back-to-back – two collections of shorts offered by SFIAAFF.
The weekend wrap up of the 29th annual SFIAAFF in San Jose had a great turn=out despite the rainy weather overhead! Many films were screened in the South Bay at Camera 12 theaters such as MADE IN INDIA, WHEN LOVE COMES, SURROGATE VALENTINE and BREAK UP CLUB.
First things first: I am a hopeless romantic. I swoon at musicals, clutch my heart during quirky rom-coms, break out the tissues during tear-jerking scenes. That said, I accidentally-on-purpose chose to back-to-back, love-themed screenings: TAINTED LOVE (the cleverly named shorts program) and SURROGATE VALENTINE (the closing night film).
FutureStates is rare; public television rarely ever ventures into the genre of science-fiction, let alone sci-fi as social commentary (the program is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting). Political and universal issues are being explored, such as global warming, refugees, the gay gene, and family.
SURROGATE VALENTINE is the SFIAAFF Closing Night film for San Francisco. Bay Area music stalwart Goh Nakamura plays “Goh,” a low-key indie rocker on tour with a sycophantic Hollywood actor. When he reconnects with a longtime friend (Lynn Chen), he is forced to make some bold decisions about his life. From the director of WHITE ON RICE.
LIVING IN THE SEDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES – A cerebral work by the auteur filmmaker Ian Gamazon takes the audience into a different cinematic realm. The quirky narrative keeps the audience on the edge.
Over the course of one’s life, one will encounter numerous Chinatowns—each with its own peculiarities. Be it the historical importance of a long-gone Laundromat or the specific taste of your favorite egg tart, each Chinatown evokes a different series of emotions and memories in each person.
If you missed the world premiere of AMIN in San Francisco, you can catch a screening of the documentary in San Jose. Director Shahin Parhami will be in attendance.
If I could hear neurons firing, they must sound like the live musical accompaniment by Jack Tung and Arthur Yeung for SUITE SUITE CHINATOWN. Neurons fired, and patches of grey matter lit up: memories, habits, foods, families – a “mind space” of Chinatown, as Supervisor David Chiu put it in the panel discussion afterwards, moderated by CAAM Board Member Dr. Konrad Ng.
First of all, Chuck Mitsui is a cool dude. The delegates had brunch with him and got to ask the burning questions we had about his film, One Kine Day
Watch The “Issues” Issue: Decoding Race and the American Immigrant Experience in Comic Books panel.