Korean Title: 소년, 소년을 만나다 (Sonyeon, Sonyeon eul Man Na Da)

The Blatherings: This short film will be making its official debut into the theatrical world on November 20, 2008. Actually, this was introduced here way back in April with an interview from one of the stars in the film: Kim Hye Sung. Then last month, at the Pusan International Film Festival, the film made its “official” appearance there.

The film’s title explains the plot pretty obviously. Kim Hye Sung and Lee Hyung Jin play as two high school students who fall in love with each other. It’s considered “based on a true story”, and the film pretty much lacks one thing: dialogue. The director chose to film it in that manner because he wanted the actor’s facial expression and body language to tell the story. Whether or not this works, if it works, then kudos to the actors and the film makers for taking this angle. Actually, kudos to them for doing something like this. Korea needs to stop being so ultra-conservative! More »

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Thai Title: Rung tua thii paet khawng khwaam rak International English Title: Rainbow Boys: The Movie US DVD Title: Right by Me Regarding the image to the left, the boys are listed as follow (from left to right) - Ek, Tat, and Nat.

Premise: Based off of Alex Sanchez’s young adult fiction, Rainbow Boys, which is about three high school boys who have their own love triangle going on, are coming of age with their transition into adulthood and their sexual orientations, and go through other difficult issues like parental abuse and homophobic abuse.

In this Thai film, it’s pretty much the same thing, except replace high school with college, and obviously replace the American setting with a very Thai one. Tat (Jackie) and Nat (Pimpong Isarasena na Ayudhya) are best friends and polar opposites from one another except for their sexual orientations. Nat’s effeminate and out of the closet while Tat’s more studious and not out of the closet, especially towards his parents. Nat likes Tat. Tat, however, likes the basketball star, Ek (Palat Ananwattanasiri), who is supposedly straight, with a girlfriend, but that’s all pretty much questioned when Tat and Nat sees Ek at a gathering for gay youth. Later, Tat tutors Ek in math, Tat comes out to his parents, Tat helps Ek through his sexual identity crisis, and Nat comes to his own terms with his own life. More »

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The Korean American Film Festival NY (KAFFNY) is a one-day New York City showcase for emerging and established Korean filmmakers. KAFFNY 2009 is accepting short film submissions from filmmakers of ethnic Korean descent of any nationality around the world. All genres are welcome: narrative, animation, music video, documentary, experimental, etc. There is no entry fee. Submission deadline is November 30, 2008.

Please send DVD submissions, NTSC Region 0 or 1, to: KAFFNY c/o Barrel 23 W 36th Street, Suite 401 New York, NY 10018 USA

Dae Hoon Kim is one of the founders of the Korean American Film Festival New York (KAFFNY). Dae Hoon just wrapped up promoting his film “It Strikes Twice” at Pusan International Film Festival. He’ll be coming back to New York for KAFFNY in February 2009. We were able to catch up with him while he travels through Asia this month. More »

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Wayne Wang’s new feature film “The Princess of Nebraska” is hosted in its one hour and 19 minutes entirety on YouTube. At the time of this posting, it was on its way to 200,000 views since it’s debut two weeks ago. View counts on YouTube must be from a single unique IP address and a complete view. So with that in mind, that’s a lot of people who have sat down at their monitors and watched a movie about the identity differences of “New China” Chinese and Chinese-Americans who left “Old China.” (That’s my own take of the film. Wayne Wang’s interpretation, and yours, may be different. -David.)

It’s unclear what kind of business model this will evolve into for online distribution of films. Artistically, Wayne Wang has gotten more people to watch “The Princess of Nebraska” than a similar two-week art house run in LA and NYC could ever bring him. But these are 200,000 unpaid movie tickets. With an estimated quarter million production budget for the film, I’m sure YouTube and Magnolia Pictures will be doing some serious accounting on their returns on investment.

“The Princess of Nebraska” stars Li Ling, Brian Danforth, Pamelyn Chee, and Qing Lin. More »

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The New York - Tokyo Film Grand Prix (NYTFGP) 2008, New York-Tokyo’s annual film festival, is now underway with one more week of audience favorited Japanese films left. The NYTFGP2008 Festival represents the wide diversity of Japan’s creativity in film. The festival lineup of ten films is determined by audience votes and the New York-Tokyo staff.

Screening Schedule: * Monday, 10/13, 7pm, 77BOADRUM, Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City * Monday, 10/13, 9:15pm, 77BOADRUM (Appearance by Director Kawaguchi), Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City * Tuesday, 10/14, 7pm, BLOODY SNAKE UNDER THE SUN (Appearance by Actor Shogen), Anthology Archives, 32 Second Street, New York City * Thursday, 10/16, 7pm, KAMACHOP (Appearance by Director Matsumoto), Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street, New York City

For more details and to buy tickets, visit newyork-tokyo.com

“BLOODY SNAKE UNDER THE SUN” still image courtesy of Three Arrows Entertainment.

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Shi qi sui de tian kong is the original title for this 2004 Taiwanese film. All I can say is that I think I prefer the English title because it’s much easier to remember. However, I think the title should be called Taming of the Playboy instead. Now I am wondering, though, which is easier to tame: a playboy or a shrew? However, that rhetorical question needs to be put on hold while I review this film. And by the way, it’s a gay film, so if it’s not your cup of tea, don’t click to read more. More »

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As we gear up for next month’s release of Ping Pong Playa, here’s more of my conversation with Roger Fan. An interview is always about the artist’s thoughts. But we had such a great rapport, I couldn’t help but share a few of my own. Roger has a natural love for the human race that makes him an excellent listener. Here’s more on Asian film, American film, stereotypes, and Justin Lin.

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