8th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration

Bay Area Filmmakers Showcased at Asian Art Museum

By Lloyd Alaban

The Center for Asian American Media is sponsoring the first ever Asian Heritage Street Celebration Cinema Showcase from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Asian Art Museum’s Samsung Hall on Saturday, May 21.

Admission to the museum will be free all day courtesy of Target and there will also be no cost to watch the films.

Thirteen handpicked short films and music videos from local filmmakers will be shown. While not as exotic as the international films of the Cannes and Sundance film festivals, the thirteen selections are just as diverse.

“This showcase will be of different communities, for everyone,” said Masashi Niwano, Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) festival and exhibitions director. “Whoever comes, I hope they get something good…We want to show how vibrant this community is.”

Niwano promises films that cover every generational issue from World War II to culture in today’s Japantown.

Twenty-nine years ago, CAAM established the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, one of the largest ethnic film festivals. Since then, CAAM has offered funding and fellowships for local Asian American filmmakers to hone their craft alongside the industry’s best directors.

For more information on CAAM, please visit their official website at caamedia.org.

C AAM presents AHSC CINEMA SHOWCASE

Date: May 21, 2011

Time: 1:00-3:30P.M.

Location: Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco.

SCHEDULE

1-2 p.m.

A Series of Seriesed Events by Secret Sidewalk, Dir. Aireen Almario, 9 min.

Drop You by Golda & the Guns, Dir. Wernher Von Goff, 3 min.

Virtues of Corned Beef Hash, Dir. Kerwin Berk, 22 min.  Shot almost entirely in SF Japantown, this touching film stars Asian American theater legend, Hiroshi Kashiwagi as an 87-year-old Nisei war veteran who is interviewed by a young reporter researching a story about WWII.

Wahid’s Mobile Bookstore, Dir. Anjoo Khosla, 10 min.  Film shows the young boy’s struggles and hopes through his own candid voice and resilient attitude.

Hip Star, Dir. Jason Nou, 4 min.  When some jeans don’t dry before a big date, a young man accidentally stumbles onto, and embraces, hipsterdom in the Mission district.

Everything is Fine by Digital Crafts Night, Dir. H.P. Mendoza, 4 min.  A music video by H.P. Mendoza featuring a sweet and melancholic song for the displaced by Digital Crafts Night.

2-3 p.m.

Be My Baby, Dir. Kevin Wong, 17 min.  When Angela returns from the Philippines to help care for her younger sister, she is forced to deal with a past she thought she escaped.

Boys and Girls, Dir. Chris Tipton-King, 4 min.  In this whimsical short, a boy and girl prepare for a big date and go about their grooming rituals with a warm and familiar anxiety.

The Oak Park Story, Co-Dir. Valerie Soe & Russell Jeung, 22 min.  Valerie Soe’s newest film documents a contemporary tenant community’s struggle to improve their living conditions in a slumlord-managed apartment complex in East Oakland.

Kuna Ni Nanang (My Mother Said), Dir. Jessica Sison, 5 min. Elena Bautista, 100 years old, reflects on the years of her life.

Surrogate Valentine by Goh Nakamura, Dir. Rich Wong, 3 min. A music video featuring Bay Area Indie rocker Goh Nakamura. The song is his newest hit from his latest album, “Daylight Savings.”

The Bus Pass, Dir. Narissa Lee, 3 min. A young woman anxiously tries to plot her first move when the person of her dreams gets on the bus in this amusing San Francisco-based short.

Surrogate Valentine by Goh Nakamura, Dir. Rich Wong, 3 min. A music video featuring Bay Area Indie rocker Goh Nakamura. The song is his newest hit from his latest album, “Daylight Savings.”

3-3:30 p.m.

PIA, Dir. Tanuj Chopra, 18 min.  Can an android have feelings? Can true love be resurrected through technology after death? Both ethereal and frighteningly cold, the future of Chopra’s PIA combines the sterility of science with the persistence of human emotion.

A Series of Seriesed Events by Secret Sidewalk, Dir. Aireen Almario, 9 min.

Drop You by Golda & the Guns, Dir. Wernher Von Goff, 3 min.