DisOrient, a social justice film festival committed to the honest portrayals of the diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander American experiences, screened a curated collection of 14 feature films, 17 short films, and 2 music videos at Bijou Art Cinemas and Bijou Metro, Eugene, OR, from April 29-May 1, 2016.
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Lia Chang. Photo by Garth Kravits
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the filmsWolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
My Bev’s Girl Films partner Garth Kravits and I are delighted to have our short film, Hide and Seek as an official selection of the 11th Annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival in Eugene, OR., which screens in the Sunday Shorts Program: Conflict, on May 1, 2016 at Bijou Art Cinemas, 492 E 13th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401.
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Click To Get Your FREE Pass
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?
In addition to Hide and Seek, the Sunday Shorts Program: Conflict Lineup includes Distance Between, Christmas in America, Fishbone, Frank and Kass, I Hate the Color Red, Too Fast, Carnal Orient, Spaceship and The Waltz.
DisOrient, a social justice film festival committed to the honest portrayals of the diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander American experiences, will screen a curated collection of 14 feature films, 17 short films, and 2 music videos at Bijou Art Cinemas and Bijou Metro, Eugene, OR, from April 29-May 1, 2016. Over 25 filmmakers and actors will be in attendance for post-screening Q&A’s.
Check out the complete schedule below.
FRIDAY, April 29, 2016
BIJOU ART CINEMAS
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Bijou Art Cinemas
6:00 – 6:15 PM
Closing Night Reception – FREE
10:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Check www.disorientfilm.org for updates and schedule TBA. Purchase All Access VIP Passes for $75 in advance on www.brownpapertickets.com, or $80 at the door. The Opening Night Reception is at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art with a live musical performance by Portland band- The Slants, that is included with tickets to “TYRUS” or VIP Passes. Front man Simon Tam will also speak on “How Being Asian Got Me Into Trouble.” General tickets ($15) to the Opening Night show will be sold at the door at 8:45 pm. Admission to the Sunday Night Awards Gala at LZ Chinese Dish will be included with VIP Passes or ticket stub for “Comfort. Individual film tickets will be sold on-line starting in April or at the door until sold out. There is a Free Sunday Shorts program.
My Bev’s Girl Films partner Garth Kravits and I are delighted to have our short film, Hide and Seek as an official selection of the 11th Annual DisOrient Asian American Film Festival in Eugene, OR.
DisOrient, a social justice film festival committed to the honest portrayals of the diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander American experiences, will screen a curated collection of 14 feature films, 17 short films, and 2 music videos at Bijou Art Cinemas and Bijou Metro, Eugene, OR, from April 29-May 1, 2016. Over 25 filmmakers and actors will be in attendance for post-screening Q&A’s.
Tyrus Wong
The festival starts on Friday, April 29th at 6:00 pm with the Opening Night Film, Pamela Tom’s TYRUS, which presents the life and career of 105+ year old Chinese American artist, Tyrus Wong, from his immigration to the U.S. as a child to his artistic contributions to animation and classic American cinema, preceded by Ed Moy’s award-winning animated short, Up in the Clouds.
DisOrient’s Centerpiece Film, the epic and spectacular feature narrative Persona Non Grata – The Chiune Sugihara Story, produced by Cine Bazar will screen on Saturday, April 30th. Director Cellin Gluck is planning to attend for a highly anticipated Q&A after the film, which is based on the true historical accounts about a Japanese diplomat who, during World War II, faced a moral dilemma that affected the lives of thousands of European Jews in Lithuania.
Harvey leads his team in the haka, a traditional warrior dance.
A must see is the documentary In Football We Trust, which made its world premiere at Sundance and permits a rare and intimate access to the families of 4 Pacific Islander football players who have hopes of making it into the NFL.
DisOrient closes with Comfort, accompanied by Director William Lu and lead actor, Julie Zahn. Lu’s feature film debut brings Cameron (Chris Dinh) and Jasmine (Julie Zahn) together as they explore the after-hours food scene in LA while Cameron hides his dreams away in the darkness of the night.
Below is the complete lineup of films:
Up In The Clouds
TYRUS
Sakura Sakura
An American Hero:Shiro Kashino
Drone
Resilient
Moment
Meet Me At A Funeral
Goodbye
Right Footed
Someone Else
In Football We Trust
Persona Non Grata –The Chiune Sugihara Story
Cantonese Rice
To Climb A Gold Mountain
Painted Nails
Pali Road
Live From UB
Distance Between
Christmas In America
Frank and Kass
Too Fast
Fishbone
The Waltz
I Hate the Color Red
Carnal Orient
Hide and Seek
Spaceship
It Runs In the Family
Pamanhikan
9-Man
Breathin’: The Eddy Zheng Story
Comfort
Check www.disorientfilm.org for updates and schedule TBA. Purchase All Access VIP Passes for $75 in advance on www.brownpapertickets.com, or $80 at the door. The Opening Night Reception is at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art with a live musical performance by Portland band- The Slants, that is included with tickets to “TYRUS” or VIP Passes. Front man Simon Tam will also speak on “How Being Asian Got Me Into Trouble.” General tickets ($15) to the Opening Night show will be sold at the door at 8:45 pm. Admission to the Sunday Night Awards Gala at LZ Chinese Dish will be included with VIP Passes or ticket stub for “Comfort. Individual film tickets will be sold on-line starting in April or at the door until sold out. There is a Free Sunday Shorts program.
Danny Pudi checks out the goods in a scene from the film THE TIGER HUNTER – directed by Lena Khan – the Festival’s Opening Night and World Premiere. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
March 15, 2016 – LOS ANGELES Visual Communications (VC), the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, announced the Opening, Closing and Centerpiece film programs for the upcoming 32nd edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) running April 21-28, 2016. This annual film celebration will be presented across Los Angeles from Little Tokyo to Downtown Los Angeles to Koreatown and to West Hollywood featuring 140 films from over 20 countries.
VC will celebrate 32 years as Southern California’s largest and most prestigious film festival of its kind. The LAAPFF launches the pre-celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month through this year’s slate of over 130 films from both Asian Pacific American and Asian international directors from over 20 countries. For over three decades, the Festival has presented nearly 5,000 films and shorts by Asian American and Asian international artists.
Opening this year’s Festival at the Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo is the World Premiere of dramatic comedy THE TIGER HUNTER from an amazing new director Lena Khan. The film centers upon Sami Malik (Danny Pudi of NBC TVs – COMMUNITY), a young South Asian man who travels to America to become an engineer in order to impress his childhood crush and live up to the legacy of his father — a legendary tiger hunter back home. When Sami’s job unexpectedly falls through and he ends up living in a tiny co-op with two oddball roommates, he must resort to constructing an elaborate charade with the misfit accomplices in hopes of convincing his sweetheart that he’s far more successful than he truly is…or perhaps ever could be. As Sami tries to pull off the farce of a lifetime, what ensues is a series of adventures involving outlandish schemes, an arch-nemesis in an absurd office environment, and a somewhat functional Dodge Charger with a character of its own. Together, although their plans may contradict each other with terrible consequences, Sami and his rag-tag group must work together while meeting the usual host of obstacles — the “usual,” that is, if back-alley brawls, trips to prison, or catastrophic LSD-related misunderstandings are just your usual, everyday fare. The film also stars Rizwan Manji, Jon Heder, Karen David, Kevin Pollak, Sam Page and Iqbal Theba.
Jackson Rathbone and Michelle Chen in a scene from PALI ROAD – A FILM BY JONATHAN LIM is the Festival Closing Night film. Photo Courtesy of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Jonathan Lim’s powerful drama PALI ROAD starring Michelle Chen, Sung Kang, Elizabeth Sung, Tzi Ma and Jackson Rathbone will close out the eight – day film extravaganza at the Directors Guild of America on April 28, 2016. PALI ROAD centers on Lily (Michelle Chen), a Chinese doctor doing her residency in a Hawaiian hospital under Dr. Kayne (Sung Kang). She had fallen in love with schoolteacher Neil (Jackson Rathbone) — at least this is what she remembers. But after a terrible car accident, Lily wakes up to discover, in horror, a married life with Dr. Kayne, that includes a 5-year-old son she has never seen. With everyone around her denying Neil’s existence, Lily begins to question her own sanity, but memories of Neil force her to embark on a journey to retrace her past and discover the truth.
The amazing artist Tyrus Wong in his kite studio in a scene from the acclaimed documentary TYRUS – A FILM BY PAMELA TOM, the festival’s centerpiece film. Photo Courtesy of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
The LAAPFF Centerpiece offering this year is the moving and insightful documentary TYRUS on Saturday, April 23rd, from director Pamela Tom which brings the life of Chinese American painter, production illustrator, lithographer, and kite builder Tyrus Wong to the big screen. Wong is best known for his concept art for Walt Disney’s feature animated film BAMBI. His strikingly beautiful concept paintings and sketches continue to influence the work of generations of animators and production designers. TYRUS celebrates not only the beauty of his art, but reveals to a larger audience a lesser known part of the Chinese American experience — that of its artists and creators.
“We are excited and proud to present these three films as our celebrations,” states VC Executive Director Francis Cullado. “Having Lena Khan’s THE TIGER HUNTER as our opening, Jonathan Lim’s PALI ROAD as our closing night, and Pamela Tom’s TYRUS as our centerpiece film certainly highlights the amount of Asian American directorial talent out there. The big word this year in Hollywood has been ‘diversity’ and the Festival is one of the ways we address this issue at Visual Communications and for our community. For us, it’s not just about diversity – it’s about inclusivity. We will be releasing more of the Festival line up in the next week and everyone will be able to celebrate inclusion and diversity on the screen, as it should be.”
For program information, a complete listing of sponsors and partners, and to purchase tickets, log on to www.vconline.org/festival or contact Visual Communications at (213) 680-4462. Tickets are available to the general public on Monday, March 21st.
Screening Venues:
Aratani Theatre @ Japanese American Cultural & Community Center – Little Tokyo, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tateuchi Democracy Forum @ Japanese American National Museum – Little Tokyo, 111 N. Central Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Downtown Independent – Downtown LA (DTLA), 251 S. Main Street, (between 3rd and 2nd Streets), Los Angeles, CA 90012
CGV Cinemas – Koreatown – Mid-Wilshire, 621 Western Avenue (between 6th Street and Wilshire Blvd.), Los Angeles, CA 90005
The Great Company – Downtown LA (DTLA), 1917 Bay Street (between Wilson and Mateo Streets), Los Angeles, CA 90021
Directors Guild of America – West Hollywood, 7920 Sunset Blvd. (at Hayworth), West Hollywood, CA 90046
CAAMFest 2016 kicks off on Thursday, March 10, 2016, at7:00 pm with the Bay Area premiere of Pamela Tom’s TYRUS . The award‐winning documentary, showing at the majestic Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114, paints a beautifully intimate portrait of the 105‐year‐old subject Tyrus Wong, eloquently exploring his childhood, career, artistic legacy and the formation of what he views to be his greatest achievement, his family.
Tyrus Wong
TYRUS, THE MAN
Wong is a living testament to the American Dream, and his fascinating story is full of relevance, hard work and passion. From his arrival at the Angel Island Immigration Station as a nine‐year‐old and his battle for identity in the workplace, to the evolution of his voice and legacy, Wong’s ups and downs have shaped the previously undiscovered man into the courageous, funny and wise visionary that he is today.
Wong’s presence at Opening Night makes the event all the more meaningful as we celebrate his story and works. Leading up to Opening Night, Wong will sign a recently rediscovered painting that had been unidentified for decades. Immediately after the screening, let inspiration lead you to the incomparable Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102, for the Opening Night Gala, where the painting will be on display. View the dazzling exhibit, Hidden Gold, as you indulge in sweet and savory creations, sip a signature cocktail and dance to music from Traktivist, experiencing the best of the Bay Area.
BAMBI
TYRUS, THE LEGACY
Tyrus Wong is a pioneering icon whose art has touched millions through films like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and most famously, Disney’s BAMBI. His concept art provided the DNA for a distinct and unforgettable atmosphere in the Disney classic, and his legacy as an artist has helped pave the way for new media makers.
CAAMFest 2016 partners with Pixar Animation Studios and the Walt Disney Family Museum to present ASIAN AMERICANS IN ANIMATION, a special presentation inspired by the man himself, Tyrus Wong. The legacy of Wong has helped spawn new generations of artists and continues to this day. The ASIANS IN ANIMATION showcase kicks off with TYRUS and continues with BAMBI and THE SUPER STORY BEHIND “SANJAY’S SUPER TEAM.” Director Sanjay Patel and producer Nicole Grindle discuss the magic and inspiration behind Pixar’s first lead character of color in the Oscar®‐nominated short, SANJAY’S SUPER TEAM.
FESTIVAL TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for TYRUS Opening Night + Gala are $65 for general admission and $55 for Center for Asian American Media members. Pricing for all regular screenings: General admission tickets ‐ $14. Tickets for students, seniors (65+) and disabled adults ‐ $13 (Limit 1 per program with ID only). Tickets for Center for Asian American Media members ‐ $12 (Limit 2 per program per membership ID). Pricing excludes special events and galas. Tickets are available online. Tickets can be purchased in‐person at our CAAMFest box office at Alamo Drafthouse starting Thursday, March 3, 2016.
About CAAMFest:
CAAMFest, formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), takes place March 10‐20, 2016 in the Bay Area. CAAMFest is a celebration of film, music, food and digital media from the world’s most innovative Asian and Asian American artists.
About CAAM:
CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) is a non‐profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible. CAAM does this by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media. For more information on CAAM, please visit www.caamedia.org.
JASON D. MAK SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARD
Bev's Girl Films 