While it’s been a great year for Asian American talents in television with the orders of ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ and ‘Selfie,’ AA actors have also been landing some breakout roles in Hollywood blockbusters thanks to young adult novels.
Continue reading “Asian Americans in Young Adult Book-to-Movie Adaptations”
We’ve all seen the atrocities of Western appropriation of Asian culture in many music videos, such as Nicki Minaj’s “Your Love” and Gwen Stefani’s “Harajuku Girls.” But what about music videos that exhibit Asian culture without degrading it to Oriental set dressing?
Continue reading “3 Music Videos that Respectfully Depict Asian Culture”
Love horror films? Paranoid that one day you’ll be murdered by a serial killer? Well, good news! Filmmakers Viet Ngyuen and Christopher Dinh are making a feature-length version of their famed YouTube, comedy-horror short – Crush the Skull.
Continue reading “‘Crush the Skull’ Launches Kickstarter for Feature Film”
Globally acclaimed for his iconic, anime-inspired artworks, Takashi Murakami will be treating the U.S. to his latest venture, his debut feature film — Jellyfish Eyes. Starting from this month to early June, the film will be touring in select art museums in eight U.S. cities. Continue reading “Takashi Murakami’s Debut Film ‘Jellyfish Eyes’ Embarks on U.S. Tour”
After some fierce negotiations, ABC has finally closed a deal with 20th Century Fox TV and picked up the single-camera comedy Fresh Off the Boat. This is a big day for the Asian American entertainment world since the last AA family comedy to air on network prime-time TV was Margaret Cho‘s All American Girl, which aired 20 years ago and got cancelled after only 19 episodes.
Continue reading “ABC Orders ‘Fresh Off the Boat’ to Series”
HBO recently announced that Will Yun Lee has been casted for a major recurring role on the final season of the supernatural drama, True Blood.
It’s May, which means two things: 1) it’s Asian American Heritage Month, and 2) it’s that time of the year for that one event where celebrities, designers, and really rich people pay upwards of $25,000 per ticket just to get in. Ladies and funky gentlemen, the Met Gala happened yesterday. Continue reading “It’s an Asian Take-Over at the 2014 Met Gala”
To commemorate this year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) has partnered with Verizon to launch the #IAm Campaign, which showcases inspirational stories of various influential Asian American actors, musicians, and role models in entertainment and media. Continue reading “CAPE Launches #IAm Campaign For APA Heritage Month”
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) is once again leading the celebrations with another year of great films. Presented by Visual Communications, the LAAPFF is celebrating its 30th year anniversary with a variety of special events including panels, seminars, and of course, Asian Pacific American and Asian international films.
On Thursday, May 1st, the festival started off strong with its opening night’s film To Be Takei, a documentary that “follows noted actor and activist George Takei and his husband Brad as they prepare for Takei’s dream project, Allegiance, a musical based on his harrowing childhood experiences inside a Japanese American internment camp during World War II.”
Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot, the film offers a unique glimpse into Takei’s rise to stardom, advocacy for marriage equality, and also features interviews with Star Trek‘s William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and more. Opening night was definitely a star-studded one with George and Brad Takei present along with their family and friends. There were also many special guest appearances on the red carpet including John Cho, Justin Chon, and Jodi Long.
Other special feature-length presentations include How to Fight in Six Inch Heels, a rom com directed by Ham Tram that follows the story of a junior New York fashion designer who flies to Vietnam to uncover the truth about her fiance’s suspected affair with a supermodel. The film will be featured as this year’s Festival Saturday Evening Showcase on May 3rd.
The Festival Centerpiece Presentation, Farah Goes Bang, a coming-of-age road trip film directed by Meera Menon, will be presented on Sunday, May 4th. The film follows a young woman in her twenties who attempts to lose her virginity while on the road campaigning for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.
Closing out the festival on Thursday, May 8th will be Final Recipe, a Pan-Asian culinary melodrama directed by Gina Kim, which will be shown at CGV Cinemas. Final Recipe tells the tale of Mark (Henry Lau of Super Junior-M), a prodigy chef who secretly enters a prestigious culinary competition in Shanghai to save his grandfather’s restaurant. After Mark wins round after round, Julia (Michelle Yeoh), the contest producer, slowly realizes that the young chef resembles her husband.
There are many, many other special features I recommend you checking out, as the films mentioned are only a small fraction of what the festival has to offer. Whether it’s documentaries, features, shorts, panels, or parties you seek, LAAPFF has a bit of everything.
To learn more about the festival and/or buy tickets, please visit the LAAPFF website. Hope to see you there!
The Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles will be playing host to a different kind of film festival when the inaugural Comedy Ninja Film and Screenplay Festival comes to town later this spring! Originally founded by Quentin Lee (director of “White Frog” and “Shopping for Fangs”) and Chuck Parello, the three-day event is all about showcasing the most hilarious works of comedians, directors and writers from all over the world. There will be feature and short films screenings, stand-up comedian performances, surprise guests and more.
A Kickstarter campaign has since been started as the film festival is being launched without the help of outside fundings. While the submission fees and ticket sales will help, it is only to a small portion of the total amount needed. Even though the event will be happening regardless of the amount raised, the extra funding is to help with not only covering costs for this year, but also to help with continuing the festival for years to come.
So if you are interested in supporting this film festival, then be sure to go on over to the Comedy Ninja Film Festival Kickstarter campaign for more details on how to contribute. Be sure to also check out the film festival’s official website for more details on the event itself.