Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival kicks off Thursday, April 30

on Sunday, April 26, 2009 10:05AM

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival kicks off Thursday nite, April 30, with one of Ningin’s film favorites CHILDREN OF INVENTION. Directed by Tze Chu, COI has been garnering praise film festival after film festival. No doubt you can expect it to be showing at a theater near you after it’s incredible festival run. So Yong Kim’s endearing TREELESS MOUNTAIN will be the centerpiece spotlight film, and the Oscar-winning Japanese film DEPARTURES will close the festival. In between those great films will be over 175 other features, shorts and documentaries showcasing the best Asian cinematic talent.

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival has presented over 3000 films and videos by Asian international and Asian American artists since 1983. This year the Film Festival will have a special programming block of Japanese Cinema, including DEPARTURES, winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film — the first non-honorary Oscar winner for a Japanese feature.

Tickets are on sale now at http://vconline.org/festival/tickets.cfm.

Below is only a partial listing of films for the Film Festival. For complete program information on over 175 films, visit http://vconline.org/festival/program.cfm

My personal pick is KUNG FU GRANNY, screening Saturday, May 2, as part of the 12:15pm “Life Begins As…” short film programming block. Peter Chin who shot the Wonder Girls in NYC video segment and myself both worked on this short fun film mixing family and kung fu.

KUNG FU GRANNY Synopsis:
(USA, 2008) Dir.: Myra Sito Velasquez
Video, 14 mins, Color, Narrative, English
The notorious Pangolin crime ring is out for revenge and the first on their list is one of NY’s finest, Vice Cop Sergeant Randall Leung. But little do they know that behind Sergeant Leung is his grandma, the one and only KUNG FU GRANNY!
http://vconline.org/festival/program.cfm?program_id=11

I also recommend A GREEN MOUTAIN IN THE DRAWER, directed by Hwa Jun Lee and shot in both South Korean and the US. It’s screening in the same “Life Begins As…” short film segment as KUNG FU GRANNY — Saturday, May 2, 12:15pm. It’s quite the opposite of KUNG FU GRANNY, but you cannot have laughter unless you have tears…

A GREEN MOUTAIN IN THE DRAWER Synopsis
(South Korea/United States, 2008) Dir.: Hwa Jun Lee
Video, 30 mins, Color, Narrative, English
Soon-Rae, an elderly Korean American woman living in San Francisco, knits baby blankets for charities somewhat isolated, but content with her life. She plans one last trip to her homeland, not knowing that her son and his wife—who live in San Jose—plan to visit her on her 76th birthday, two days after she has left for Korea.

ASIAN AMERICAN FEATURE FILMS
NARRATIVES
CHILDREN OF INVENTION – Tse Chun
DIM SUM FUNERAL – Anna Chi
ALL ABOUT DAD – Mark Tran
I AM THAT GIRL – B. Hayward Randall (written by Grace Rowe)
KARMA CALLING – Sarba Das
SHIRO’S HEAD – Don Mun; Kel Muna
TREELESS MOUNTAIN – So Yong Kim
WHITE ON RICE – David Boyle

DOCUMENTARIES
CLOSEST MEXICO TO JAPAN – Shinpei Takeda
MANILATOWN IS IN THE HEART – Curtis Choy
PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY – Kimberlee Bassford
THE REAL SHAOLIN – Alexander Lee
SOMEPLACE ELSE – Kai Duc Luong; Avisheh Mohsenin
TIGER SPIRIT – Min Sook Lee
VIETNAM OVERTURES – Stephane Gauger
WHATEVER IT TAKES – Christopher Wong
WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN – Christine Choy; Renee Tajima Pena

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILMS
100 – Chris Martinez (Philippines)
ALL AROUND US – Hashiguchi Ryosuke (Japan)
BURMA VJ – Anders Ostergaard (Denmark)
THE CONVERT – Yasmin Ahmad (Malaysia)
DAYTIME DRINKING – Noh Young-seok (South Korea)
DEPARTURES – Yojiro Takita (Japan)
THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON – Hara Kazuo (Japan)
FUJIAN BLUE – Robin Weng (People’s Republic of China)
GRANDMOTHER’S FLOWER – Mun Jeong-hyun (South Korea)
JAY – Francis Xavier Passion – (Philippines)
KOLORETTE – Ruelo Lozendo (Philippines)
KANCHIVARAM – Priyadarshan (India)
LALA’S GUN – Ning Jingwu (People’s Republic of China)
LEFT HANDED – Laurence Thrush (Japan)
LOVE EXPOSURE – Sion Sono (Japan)
THE RAINBOW TROOPS – Riri Riza (Indonesia)
WINDS OF SEPTEMBER – Tom Shu-Yu Lin (Taiwan)
YAMAGATA SCREAM – Naoto Takenaka (Japan)

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT – JAPAN
ALL AROUND US – Hashiguchi Ryosuke
DEPARTURES – Yojiro Takita
THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON – Hara Kazuo
LEFT HANDED – Laurence Thrush
LOVE EXPOSURE – Sion Sono
YAMAGATA SCREAM – Naoto Takenaka

If you missed it, check out our interview with CHILDREN OF INVENTION director Tze Chun!

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