Bev’s Girl Films is delighted to be included in the inaugural San Francisco Chinatown Community Film Festival featuring works by Asian American filmmakers at Clarion Performing Arts Center, 2 Waverly Place, San Francisco, CA 94108, from Friday, March 20 – Sunday, March 22, 2020.
Over the course of three days, the filmmakers who will be showcased include Elaine Mae Woo, Arthur Dong, Rick Quan, Crystal Kwok, Lia Chang, Garth Kravits and Felicia Lowe. Q & A’s with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
Four Bev’s Girl Films shorts will be screened on Sunday, March 22 at 3pm. I’ll be participating in a Q & A following the screenings with writer/director Garth Kravits, and my castmates Virginia Wing and Jason Ma.
Tickets are $12 at Eventbrite.com. Students $5 at the door. Each ticket is good for the day of the festival. VIP tickets are $200 with two passes for the entire festival.
Below is the full lineup.
Friday, March 20, 2020
5:30 pm
Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
6:00 pm “Anna May Wong ~ Frosted Yellow Willows” Q & A with filmmaker Elaine Mae Woo.
With disarming sensuality and commanding presence, Anna May Wong defined the role of the ‘Dragon Lady’. Narrated by Nancy Kwan, “Anna May Wong ~Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times, and Legend” is a story about the first Chinese American woman who endured many hardships and heartaches to become an international film star. From humble beginnings in a Chinese laundry, she went on to star in pictures such as Technicolorʼs Toll of the Sea (1922), E.A. Dupontʼs Piccadilly (1929) and Josef von Sternbergʼs Shanghai Express (1932) with Marlene Dietrich. Never one to rest on her laurels, Anna would utilize her fame to aid her country and the country of her ancestors during times of war. Her body of work in film, radio, stage and television established her as a true pioneer of early cinema and the performing arts both in Hollywood and internationally.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
In the early 1990s, a well known director at a reception following the screening of a Kurosawa film brought Anna May Wong to Elaine Mae Wooʼs attention. Elaine admitted that she knew nothing about Anna. The director shook his head, said a couple of words and then walked away. It was at this point that Elaine swore that she would learn about Anna before she would ever see this director again. This is how the making of “Anna May Wong ~Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times and Legend” and Elaine’s first film began.
Nearly ten years in the making, this biographical documentary film was finally presented its world premiere at Italy’s famous Le Giornate del Cinema Muto – Pordenone Silent Film Festival in late 2007.
7:30 pm
The Chinatown Films of Arthur Dong: “Forbidden City, USA,” “Hollywood Chinese,” “Sewing Woman,” and “Living Music for Golden Mountains.”
Synopsis:
For the past 40 years, San Francisco native Arthur Dong has been a pioneer in the production of groundbreaking documentaries about the history and life in Chinatown, covering topics such as immigration, the bachelor society, sewing factories, Cantonese musical traditions, World War II nightclubs, and Hollywood’s mis-representations and stereotypes. To mark the inaugural Chinatown Community Film Festival, select scenes from his Chinatown-themed films will be screened, to be followed by an intimate on-stage conversation with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and Felicia Lowe. www.deepfocusproductions.com
9:00 pm Welcome wine reception to thank sponsors.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
5:30 pm Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
6:00 pm “Dorothy Toy Story”. Filmmaker, Rick Quan Q & A with Cynthia Yee, dancer.
7:00 pm “The Mistress” Filmmaker Crystal Kwok
Q & A with Crystal Kwok. Mimi Chin will talk about her Experiences as the former owner of Dragon A-GoGo and Gentlemen clubs.
Sunday March 22, 2020
2:30 pm Doors Open – Guzheng music during seating
3:00 pm “Hide and Seek” features Lia Chang and Garth Kravits, co-written by Lia Chang and Garth Kravits and executive produced by Lia Chang/Bev’s Girl Films.
Hide and Seek is a short film that speaks to the societal challenge that women, and especially women of color, endure every day. To look in the mirror and to hope to see a face other than your own. One that is closer to what magazines, television and movies define as beautiful or even normal. What face do you see when you look in the mirror?
Rom-Com Gone Wrong is a new comedy short produced by Bev’s Girl Films and Cut & Dry Films. Written and directed by Garth Kravits, the films stars Lia Chang, Eric Elizaga and Brian Kim.
A romantic encounter, ten years in the making.
Official Selection of Disorient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon and 10th Annual Queens World Film Festival.
Bev’s Girl Films presents Belongingness, a new short film starring Isabela Sanchez and Lia Chang.
Written, directed and edited by Cut & Dry Films’ Garth Kravits, Belongingness follows a young girl’s search for identity and a sense of belonging, which comes from an expected source. Original Score by John Tyler Kent. Official Selection of the Asian Film Festival.
Bev’s Girl Films presents WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG, starring Virginia Wing, Jason Ma and Lia Chang. The cast also features Jo Yang, Daniel Dunlow, Michelle Miller and Mark York.
When siblings Benjamin and Audrey return home to confront their Mother’s memory loss, they discover a hidden key to her past.
Written and directed by Garth Kravits, the film is Executive Produced by Bev’s Girl Films, with producers Garth Kravits of Cut & Dry Films and Eric Elizaga. Hair and makeup by Dorothy Bhadra.
I’ll be participating in a Q & A following the screenings with writer/director Garth Kravits, and my castmates Virginia Wing and Jason Ma.
Click here for cast and creative team bios.
4:30 pm “Chinatown” Filmmaker Felicia Lowe
“Chinatown” takes you inside the tumultuous and inspiring history to witness how the past and present live together inSan Francisco’s oldest neighborhood. Through a vivid mixture of personal recollections, archival photos, poetry and narration, “Chinatown” recalls the days when the neighborhood was shut out from society, a distinct ghetto and a refuge for new immigrants. Winner of EMMY for “Best Cultural Documentary.”
7:00 pm “Chinese Couplets”. Filmmaker Felicia Lowe
Part memoir, part history, part investigation, the filmmaker’s search for answers about her mother’s emigration to America during the Chinese Exclusion era reveals the often painful price paid by immigrants who abandoned their personal identity, the burden of silence they passed on to their offspring and the intergenerational strife between immigrants and their American born children.
www.chinesecouplets.com
Q & A with Filmmaker Felicia Lowe.
For more information on The Festival, Click on Clarionmusic.com.
All text, graphics, articles & photographs: © 2000-2020 Lia Chang Multimedia. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Lia Chang. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. For permission, please contact Lia at liachangpr@gmail.com
