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Film Festival Reviews

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Puujee and Hip Hop Storm at the New Asia Film Festival

By Linda Chan

The New Asia Film Festival is having the first of their 2010 monthly movie screenings, Saturday January 23rd. They will be screening two audience choice award-winning documentaries that follow the lives of Asian young people, Puujee and Hip Hop Storm.

Puujee is a visually stunning film, that displays the effects of globalization on a young Mongolian girl and her family. Hip Hop Storm tells the turbulent story of the different struggles of two generations of Taiwanese hip hop dancers.

For more information please visit www.vnaff.com.

This event will be taking place at the Richmond Cultural Centre 7pm-10pm.

Posted by Schema Magazine | January 16, 2010 | Comments (0)

Tags: Asian, Commentary, Community, Culture, Film, International, Politics

Reel Asian - Day 1 | Overheard | Canadian Premiere

By Tamiko Ogura

It was sunny! Lucky Toronto. Glad to have left the soggy, grey, rainy west for a few days. Arrived just in time to get ready and head out to Bloor Cinema for the Opening Night Gala Premiere of Reel Asian with its Canadian premiere showing of Hong Kong's Overheard.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

Damn, a must-see film. What's not to love? - Suspense! Corruption! Greed! Money! Daniel Wu! Okay, I admit that I have no idea what makes a good film for the general masses, but I sure do know what I like and don't like and Overheard makes it on My Good List. Overhead is the latest feature from the folks behind the Infernal Affairs trilogy (which was, of course, remade by Hollywood as The Departed). Yeah, the write-up pretty much had me with "Infernal Affairs" - had to see it.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Terry Ting @ Reel Asian Flickr)

After bypassing the lineups due to my much cherished media-pass (thank you Reel Asian!), I snagged a seat with the lovely Lisa Marie Chen of Blink and her crew...and after a thankful dinner (yes, sadly) of Kernels popcorn, courtesy of Lisa, I sunk back into my seat to enjoy the film.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 15, 2009 | Comments (0)

Tags: Asian, Events, Film

Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2009 | Nov. 11-15

By Tamiko Ogura

Don't bother trying to shorten it with TRAIFF, this film festival goes by Reel Asian and in its 13th year the lineup has seen 49 East/Southeast Asian titles from 14 countries shown in a 5-day whirlwind - including its last day, tomorrow, Sunday, November 15th (don't forget to bypass the Santa Claus Parade).

Reel Asian was founded in 1997 by producer Anita Lee and journalist Andrew Sun, as a means to foster cultural and artistic exchange, provide a public forum for homegrown Asian media artists and their work, and fuel the growing appreciation for Asian cinema in Canada.

This year's selection of films include 12 World Premieres, 7 Canadian
Premieres, 17 Toronto Premieres and over 35 guests in Attendance. Oh, and those 14 countries? : Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia,
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), Singapore, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States of America.

It's not too late to support Reel Asian! Come out tomorrow for the rare screening of A Schoolgirl's Diary from North Korea (that's not a typo...yeah, NORTH Korea, DPRK); the Toronto premiere of the Indonesian film Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (is that character really eating firecrackers to expel ghosts? for real?); the world premiere of the Canadian supernatural tale The Ache (support the homegrown talent, y'all!); and the Toronto premiere of South Korean director Yang Ik-June's film Breathless (it's won a bazillion awards already).

For times, locations, and all else, click away to Reel Asian's homebase HERE.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 14, 2009 | Comments (0)

Tags: Asian American, Film, Toronto

VAFF 2009 | White on Rice

White on Rice
USA, 2009, 85min
DIR Dave Boyle

White-On-Rice2[1].jpg

Every family has one - the dorky, loser single uncle with a dead-end job who lives with some sort of relative. In White on Rice, the uncle in question is Jimmy. Jimmy is 40 years old, recently divorced, has no career, and freeloads off his sister, her young son Justin, and her very disapproving husband. Everyone in Jimmy's life is set on hooking Jimmy up with a new wife, however finding love is difficult - especially since Jimmy has the unfortunate habit of saying just the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Enter Ramona, the gorgeous niece of Jimmy's brother-in-law, Tak. Jimmy sets his sights on wooing Ramona, but he has competition in the form of Tim (James Kyson Lee, Heroes), his hunky buddy who just happens to have a past with Ramona.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 10, 2009 | Comments (0)

VAFF 2009 | The People I've Slept With

The People I've Slept With
USA, 2009, 86min
DIR Quentin Lee

People I've Slept With

Angela Yang does something we've seen a lot of in mainstream films and television - she has a lot of sex, with a lot of different people. The fact that she is a young Asian-American woman hypersexual is probably meant to put a sort fresh spin on a familiar idea - that people like this - 'sluts' and 'lotharios' - will eventually have to grow up or become sad cautionary tales. In Angela's case, an unintended pregnancy sends her down the unavoidable road to maturity. She doesn't know who the daddy is, but, thanks to her penchant for making post-coital polaroid baseball cards of her conquests, she can narrow it down to 5 possible men.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 10, 2009 | Comments (0)

VAFF 2009 | Children of Invention

By gloria wong

Children of Invention
USA, 2009, 86min
DIR Tze Chun

Children of Invention

In Tzu Chun's debut Children of Invention, single mother Elaine Cheng is having a rough time. Her savings have been sucked into a 'vitamin' pyramid scheme, and, after defaulting on her mortguage, she and her kids are getting kicked out of their house. A kind realtor friend lets the homeless family squat in a nearby condo development while it's being finished. It's clean and they have electricity and water, so things could be worse. He also encourages Elaine to get her realtor's license - a well-intentioned but somewhat misguided bit of advice given the climate of the real estate market. Unfortunately, Elaine needs money now. In between showing houses and answering phones at the real estate office, Elaine combs through newspaper classified ads for money-making 'network marketing opportunities'. Though the audience sees the family's impending disaster coming from a mile back, Elaine is too desperately in need - and, as an immigrant, unable to work legally in the U.S. - to change course.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 6, 2009 | Comments (0)

Vancouver Asian Film Festival

North Hollywood filmmakers, it's time to mark your calendars.

The Vancouver Asian Film Festival is right around the corner and films from award winners all around North America are going to be screened, with several directors and producers in attendance. From crowd pleasers like "The People I've Slept With" to hard-hitting dramas like "Children of Invention", you're bound to find something you like.

The festival goes from November 5th to 8th. Purchase tickets at the VAFF website.

Posted by Schema Magazine | November 3, 2009 | Comments (0)

Film Festival Reviews

Puujee and Hip Hop Storm at the New Asia Film Festival

Reel Asian - Day 1 | Overheard | Canadian Premiere

Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2009 | Nov. 11-15

VAFF 2009 | White on Rice

VAFF 2009 | The People I've Slept With

VAFF 2009 | Children of Invention

Vancouver Asian Film Festival

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