Author name: PAAFF Admin

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor I attended the preview party for The 2018 11th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, presented by Comcast and held at Saigon Maxim Restaurant in South Philly. This year’s festival will run November 8-18, 2018 and feature over 80 films, the festival will include intimate discussions with filmmakers; celebrity chef catering; musical concerts; live theater performances by local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists; and more! Read the whole article on tinseltine.com.

  “You don’t have to be Asian to come to the Asian American film festival…these are American stories. The characters just happen to be Asian.” Festival Director Rob Buscher was interviewed by NBC’s Rosemary Connors last week about the festival’s 10 anniversary milestone and the art and the inspiration for the celebration of film. After catching up on the interview, be sure to grab your tickets for the plethora of events happening right now through Sunday, November 19th. On Friday the 17th join us for Shu-De!, the story of Balitmore’s beatboxer and vocal percussionist who has has spent his life mastering new sounds and fostering unlikely musical collaborations. Then dive into the world of Hip-Hop with 4 Pillars—a shorts program that explores the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop and the various Asian American communities that have immersed themselves in them. Don’t miss the incorporation of a special live performance by acclaimed Korean American rap duo Year of the Ox to follow. On Saturday the 18th, explore the struggle of one family to survive intact amidst a culture in which relationships and human connection are almost impossible to maintain with The Valley. Journey to Phnom Penh and shed light on the plight of Cambodian refugees caught in the school-to-prison-to-deportation pipeline with Deported. Resist the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II with Resistance at Tule Lake. Experience a a multi-media “Docu-Theatre” project that explores the intersectional identities of mixed-race Black & Asian individuals with Blasian Narratives. Witness the true story of Chinese American chemistry student, filmmaker Angie Wang, who became the largest supplier of ecstasy on the West Coast in the early 1980s with Cardinal X. Dance at the Cardinal X After Party in celebration of our 10 Year Anniversary! On Sunday the 19th, see Taiji transform into the go-to battleground for international anti-whaling activists with A Whale of a Tale. Get an intimate look at the rise of a new generation of French Chinese who identify with two cultures, speak two languages, and demand acceptance within contemporary French society with Paris Ni Hao. The festival will close this coming Sunday with a screening of The Soul of the Tiger, the movie that Rob speaks about with Rosemary in the interview. Don’t miss it!  

Check out this article by Drew Lasner published in the Inquirer this past week. Article Excerpt: In this current cinematic era, dominated by instantaneous iPhone streaming and Snapchat filters that turn you into Thor, a black-and-white silent picture produced nearly 100 years ago seems like a hard sell. So how does one get modern audiences engaged? For Rob Buscher, director of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF), it’s all about context — reminding us that just because a film is old that doesn’t mean it’s dated. Read the full article for insights and a detailed breakdown of the festival.

For the tenth time since its 2008 premiere, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF) will bring together film patrons, civic volunteers, and up-and-coming filmmakers. The eleven-day affair, which will run from Thursday, November 9th through Sunday, November 19th, is expected to attract thousands of guests and has been cited by many as one of the finest examples of Philadelphia’s culturally diverse arts movement. With dozens of films primed for screening and a devoted team of volunteers—the Philadelphia Asian American Film and Filmmakers—the festival will open at the Lightbox Film Center with William Worthington’s The Dragon Painter. Initially released in 1919 by Haworth Pictures Corporation, this screen classic has been resurrected by PAAFF nearly a century later. The Dragon Painter—a metaphysical drama based on the novel of the same name by Mary McNeil Fenollasa—has stunned audiences worldwide with its unique aesthetic. With a running time of fifty-three minutes, the story centers on a (possibly) delusional artist who seems unable to differentiate between his love for a dragon princess and his love for a young woman. Artistic journeyman Goh Nakamura will be providing an original live score for the film and also take part in a post-screening Q/A with the audience. The commissioned score will celebrate both PAAFF’s anniversary and the rapidly approaching 100-year anniversary of The Dragon Painter. Nakamura, the San Francisco based YouTube legend turned international folk star has awed audiences for the better part of the last decade. His musical credits include several collaborations with filmmaker Ridley Scott. Through this creative partnership, Nakamura’s take on music can be heard in several of Scott’s films, such as A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007) and Body of Lies (2008). Despite such an impressive resume, Nakamura remains humble. When asked what grounds him as a performer, he cites a “student mentality.” “I’m always learning and trying to be a better musician,” he said. “It’s an endless pursuit, but I just keep on going.” This year’s installment of PAAFF will mark the musicians first at the festival, but it’s not his first visit to the City of Brotherly Love. Nakamura has sporadically come for screenings since starring in 2011’s Surrogate Valentine, an existential comedy written and directed by Dave Boyle (of Man from Reno fame), along with the film version of his song of the same name, Daylight Savings in 2012. Nevertheless, he has expressed immense excitement about being involved with the festival and has even noted that he hasn’t toured much since last coming to Philadelphia in 2012. “It’s a tremendous honor to be part of the opening night event. I’m hoping that the Philly crowd will tell all their film and music loving friends to come out to support this Asian American festival and see these stories. I know Rob Buscher and his staff work really hard to make it great,” he said. When asked about his relationship with The Dragon Painter, he discussed the steps he had to take to work with the entirely silent film. “There’s pretty much music going throughout the first to last frame. I had to record a score to use as a metronome, but I’m going to be coming in and out on guitar and a Japanese instrument called the taishogoto, which is kind of a combination between a guitar and a typewriter. I’m hoping that the live aspect is invisible and the audience just gets lost in it,“ he said. Finally, the actor, writer, and musician turned his thoughts to his what the future holds—most notably if we can expect his presence at the 2018 installment of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival. “Maybe! If someone hires me to score or act in something, I’d love to,” he stated with a grin.

Thanks Philadelphia Inquirer!   The largest Asian American film festival on the East Coast kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday at International House in West Philadelphia. The eighth annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival will promote and explore Asian identity through a modern artistic lens. Running through Nov. 22, it features more than 60 films, filmmaker-led discussions, and programs on music, culture, and food. Guest speakers include actor Peter Shinkoda, from Netflix’s Daredevil, and spoken-word artist Michelle Meyers. “My idea has been to grow PAAFF from a city festival to a regional festival,” said its director, Rob Buscher. “As our community continues to grow, the festival is more symbolic of that.”