Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Coming Soon
by Sydney Levine from SydneysBuzz The Blog
From April 27 to May 4, Los Angeles will showcase a wide array of films from that broad geographical area called Asia.
Join the kick-off of the 33rd edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival! Celebrate with some good food, music, and people. FRIDAY, APRIL 7th, 2017 6pm-9pm PICO HOUSE 424 N Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Food by The Park’s Finest During the event.
The two shorts programs were curated by Ariel Du, a student at the film school of Chapman University. Feminist AF SHORTS PROGRAMS / 98 MINS is an intersectional glance at the many facets of women’s experiences from Manila’s red light district to school girls filling the public swimming pool with goldfish: “I am JUPITER I am the BIGGEST PLANET”, “Maria”, Sleep Tight Maria”, “And So We Put Goldfish In the Pool”,”Cocoon”, “Tough”. And the other WTF Watch These Films which are bound to shock you…
In the context of a shifting America, the plan of the festival is to create spaces for connection and add to the dialogues of change. Opening Night is an intro/retrospective look at Justin Lin’s “Better Luck Tomorrow”, a landmark for Asian American cinema in 2002. Closing Night is Kogonada’s “Columbus”, featuring leading man John Cho. With these bookends, the question is posed: How far have we come? And how much further do we need to go?
The Centerpiece film highlight, Justin Chon’s “Gook”, commemorates the L.A. Riots on its 25th anniversary. In reflection of what transpired in 1992, the film is part of a series that looks at the intersection of place, race, and class. As we remember Rodney King and Latasha Harlins, we again ask ourselves, how far have we come? And how much further do we need to go?
Awards
The Film Festival confers a complement of awards for feature-length and short films. Awards are announced at a ceremony prior to Festival Closing Night; Audience Awards, determined by ballot, are announced shortly thereafter. Awards include:
• Festival Golden Reel Award — Excellence in Short Film
• Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award — Innovation in Short Film
• Grand Jury Awards — Feature-Length Film (Narrative and Documentary)
• Festival Audience Awards — Feature-Length Film (Narrative and Documentary)
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is an Academy Award®-qualifying festival for Short Film Awards. Recipient(s) of the Film Festival’s Golden Reel Award for Narrative Short Film will be eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film/Live-Action Short Film category of the Academy Awards®.
“With a 2018 Federal Budget looking to eliminate funding for organizations that have historically supported Visual Communications (such as the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, Institute of Museums and Libraries, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts), our communities will immensely feel that impact in the foreseeable future. Though the funding to perform our jobs will be taken away, our self-determination to keep doing what we do will always stay.”
Francis Cullado,
Executive Director
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