Festivals

S.F. Asian-American Film Festival
March 21-23, 2008 at Camera 12

The acclaimed San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival returned March 21-23 to Camera 12 Cinema in downtown San Jose. The premiere showcase for Asian American and Asian Films in North America, the festival presented more than 100 films and videos from March 13-23 at venues in San Francisco and Berkeley, as well as San Jose. The festival schedule at Camera 12 was as follows:

FRIDAY, MARCH 21

7:00pm -- Amal, dir. Richie Mehta, 101 mins.
A street-level fable of modern India as seen through the eyes of a kind-hearted rickshaw driver, a cantankerous millionaire-turned-homeless man and the man’s scheming, jaded family members.

SATURDAY, MARCH 22

12:00pm -- Wings Of Defeat, dir. Risa Morimoto, 90 mins.
Documentary tracing the history of the kamikaze pilots, explaining how and why the practice played such a compelling role in the previous century’s greatest war.
2:00pm -- Death Note, dir. Shusuke Kaneko, 126 mins.
Light Yagami, a brilliant law student disillusioned with Japan’s justice system, discovers one evening a mysterious book enabling him to kill anyone by writing a name into its pages.
2:15pm -- Ping Pong Playa, dir. Jessica Yu, 96 mins.
Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu delves into new territory for her first narrative feature, a sports comedy with an unlikely slacker hero.
4:30pm -- Santa Mesa, dir. Ron Morales, 85 mins.
A beautifully filmed coming-of-age tale of a young Filipino American who must return "home" to the Phillipines after the death of his mother.
4:45pm -- Behind Forgotten Eyes, dir. Anthony Gilmore, 76 mins.
Through the moving testimonies of “Grandmother Moon,” “Grandmother Park” and “Grandmother Kang,” chronicles the journey of "comfort women," held captive for the service of Japanese soldiers during World War II.
6:45pm -- 3rd I South Asian International Shorts 2008, video shorts, 98 mins
A compelling and inspiring array of South Asian short films from India, New Zealand and the United States.
7:00pm -- Happiness, dir. Hur Jin-Ho, 119 mins
In this old-fashioned yet original romance, a playboy’s heavy drinking sends him to a health clinic, where he meets an angelic beauty dying of a critical lung disease.
9:15pm -- Glory Boy Days, dir. Paul Justin Encinas, 100 mins.
A misfit crew of teens looks for answers -- or at least distractions -- in the South Bay in this coming-of-age portrait of disaffected suburban youth, mind-altering substances and love affairs.

SUNDAY, MARCH 23

12:00pm -- The Killing of A Chinese Cookie, dir. Derek Shimoda, 74 mins.
hat do Powerball, the planet Mars and sexual innuendos have in common? Filmmaker Derek Shimoda invites us to take a closer look at a little something taken for granted at the end of nearly every Chinese restaurant meal.
2:00pm -- Travelling With Yoshitomo Nara, dir. Koji Sakabe, 73 mins.
A rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of this critically acclaimed artist and pop culture figure, documenting Nara’s remarkable 240-day international road trip as he sets out to create an imaginary town populated by his iconic images and enigmatic sculptures.
2:15pm -- Three Days To Forever, dir. Riri Riza, 106 mins.
In this controversial coming-of-age story, two cousins embark on a road trip to a family wedding, enroute exploring the surrounding landscape and, eventually, each other.
4:15pm -- Actually, Love, shorts program, 97 mins.
These elegant, quirky tales capture many of love's twirls, its excitement, delicacy and disappointments, and the hope it engenders in us all.
4:45pm -- The Unseeable, dir. Wisit Sasanatieng, 97 mins.
When a young pregnant woman takes refuge in a dilapidated mansion, the lonely and eccentric inhabitants draw her deep into their ghostly world.
7:00pm -- Blood Brothers, dir. Alexi Tan, 95 mins.
A tale of unbridled greed, love and betrayal, exploring the glittering den of vice and sin that was 1930s Shanghai, through the story of three young men whose loyalty to one another is tested.
7:15pm -- The Voyeurs, dir. Buddhadeb Dasgupta, 107 mins.
In the chaotic streets of Calcutta, a surveillance-camera installer’s innocent crush on his actress neighbor turns tragic in this fantasy-tinged dissection of love in the age of terrorism.
9:15pm -- Pretty To Think So, dir. Francis Hsueh and Steven Hahn, 105 mins.
A dramatic love story moving from the streets of Chinatown to the law firms of Manhattan, pairing the agony and ecstasy of dot-com hysteria with the uncertainty of past and present love.

Go to S.F. ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL for more information.