Lia Chang: Official List of Films for the 2009 San Diego Asian Film Festival

The San Diego Asian Film Foundation (SDAFF) will present the 10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, October 15-29, 2009. The mission of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation is to connect audiences to the human experience through the Pan Asian media arts. Here is the 2009 San Diego Asian Film Festival lineup. Check the official website for updates on the Festival.

NARRATIVE FEATURES
100 by Chris Martinez, Philippines
Afro Samurai by Fuminori Kizaki, Japan/USA
All About Dad by Mark Tran, USA
Beast Stalker by Dante Lam, Hong Kong
Best of Times by Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, Thailand
Before We Close by Joshua Tucker and Kendal Tuttle, USA
Bombay Summer by Joseph Mathew, USA/India
Boy by Auraeus Solito, Philippines
Breathless by Yang Ik-Joon, South Korea
Cape No. 7 by Te-Sheng Wei, Taiwan
Children of Invention by Tze Chun, USA
The Clone Returns Home by Kanji Nakajima, Japan
Crossing by Tae-Gyun Kim, South Korea
Detroit Metal City by Toshio Lee, Japan
The Drummer by Kenneth Bi, Hong Kong/Taiwan/Germany
Etienne! by Jeff Mizushima, USA
First Squad by Yoshiharu Ashino, Russia/Japan
Forever Enthralled by Chen Kaige, China
Fruit Fly by H.P. Mendoza, USA
The Harimaya Bridge by Aaron Woolfolk, Japan/USA
Help Me Eros by Kang-sheng Lee, Taiwan
I Am That Girl by B. Hayward Randall, USA
Ichi by Fumihiko Sori, Japan
In Love We Trust by Xiaoshuai Wang, Taiwan
Ip Man by Wilson Yip, Hong Kong
K-20 by Shimako Sato, Japan
Kabei: Our Mother by Yoji Yamada, Japan
Karma Calling by Sarba Das, USA
Legend is Alive by Huynh Luu, Vietnam
Li Tong by Nian Liu, China
Make Yourself at Home by Soopum Sohn, USA
Merantau by Gareth Evans, Indonesia
Modern Boy by Ji Woo Chung, South Korea
Mushi-shi by Katsuhiro Otomo, Japan
My Girlfriend is An Agent by Tae-ra Shin, South Korea
Neko Rahmen Taisho by Minoru Kawasaki, Japan
Om Shanti Om by Farah Khan, India
The People I’ve Slept With by Quentin Lee, USA
Private Eye by Park Dae-min, South Korea
Red Cliff by John Woo, Hong Kong
Rita by Renuka Shahane, India
Rough Cut by Hun Jang, South Korea
Scandal Makers by Hyeong-cheol Kang, South Korea
Shades of Ray by Jaffar Mahmood, USA
Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley, USA
A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies by Ryuichi Inomata, Japan
Tandoori Love by Oliver Paulus, Switzerland/Germany
The Things We Carry by Ian McCrudden, USA
Thirst by Park Chan-wook, S. Korea
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl by Yoshihiro Nishimura and Naoyuki Tomomatsu, Japan
White on Rice by David Boyle, USA
Yang Yang by Cheng Yu-Chienh, Taiwan

DOCUMENTARY FEAURES
9500 Liberty by Annabel Park and Eric Byler, USA
Aki Ra’s Boys by Lynn Lee and James Leong, Cambodia/Singapore
Antoine by Laura Bari, Canada
Arusi: Persian Wedding by Marjan Tehrani, USA/Iran
Between the Folds by Vanessa Gould, USA
Daddy Tran: A Life in 3-D by Siu Ta, Canada
Dancing Across Borders by Anne Bass, USA/Cambodia
Going Home by Jason Hoffman, USA/South Korea
Journey of a Red Fridge by Lucian Muntean and Natasha Stankovic, Nepal
Kimjongilia by N.C. Heikin, USA
Long Story Short by Christine Choy, USA
The Love Market by Shalom Almond, Australia/Vietnam
My Beijing Birthday by Howie Snyder, China/USA
Old Partner by Chung-ryeol Lee, South Korea
Operation Babylift : The Lost Children of Vietnam by Tammy Nguyen Lee, USA
Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority by Kimberlee Bassford, USA
The Philosopher Kings by Patrick Shen, USA
The Real Shaolin by Alexander Sebastian Lee, China/USA
Speaking in Tongues by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, USA
Tiger Spirit by Mn Sook Lee, South Korea
Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story by Christine Toy Johnson and Bruce Alan Johnson, USA
A Village Called Versailles by Leo Chiang, USA
Whatever It Takes by Christopher Wong, USA
You Don’t Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story by Jeff Adachi, USA

SHORT FILMS
1-900 Drinking Buddy by Ray Lai, USA
26, Best Korean Girl by Paula Kim, Brazil
3 Wheels by Tony Wei, China/Taiwan
30 Day Promise by Xia Lee, USA
Anniversary by Huy Vu, USA
As If by Ji Hoon Kim, South Korea
Be Aware by Joe Kamimura, USA
Beijing Haze by JP Chan, USA
Being Reel by Patricio Ginelsa, USA
Bringing Home the White Girl by Travis Kurtz, USA
Chu-Mar (Weekend) by Paula Kim, Brazil
Crocodile by Maura Milan, Australia
Doggy Doggy by Raymond Yuheng, USA
Excuse My Gangsta Ways by Corinne Manabat, USA
Fortune Cooking by Jason Karman, Canada
Girls Like You Don’t Go For Guys Like Me by Charles Yi, USA
Grandma and Wrestling by Lim Hyung Sup, South Korea
A Green Mountain in the Drawer by Hwa Jun Lee, South Korea
Half Kenneth by Ken Ochiai, USA
House of Wong by Nicholas Wong, USA
I Don’t Sleep I Dream by JP Chan, USA
I’m Jin-Young by Lee Sung-eun, S. Korea
I Want to Be a Desi 2 by Allan Tong, USA
Interpretation by Lin Oeding, USA
Katong Fugue by Boo Jungfeng, Singapore
Laundromat by Edward Gunawan
Love Story by Amit Gupta, UK
Lucky Lotus by Ken Ochiai, USA
Missy by Clarissa De Los Reyes, USA/Philippines
Motoo by Bao Nguyen, USA
Mother Daughter by Ileana Chan, USA
My Four Inch Precious by Sou Yun Sim, USA
New Aging by Jason Wong, USA
Not Here by Carol Ho, Singapore
One Night in LA by Jon Maxwell, USA
Parallel Adele by Adele Pham, USA
Passing Fancy by Wei-Hsin Yang, Japan
Peaceful Measures by Ash Anderson, USA/Iraq
Point of Entry by Zeus Quijano, Mexico/USA
Rain by Thomas Takemoto-Chock, USA
Re: Your Balls by Mike Park, USA
Rough Cut by Firouzeh Khosrovani, Iran
Seasons Beatings by Fernando Huerto, USA
A Song for Ourselves by Tadashi Nakamura, USA
Sounds of a New Hope by Eric Tandoc, USA/Philippines
State of Yo by Jason Karman, USA
Tatang by Jean Paolo Hernandez, Philippines
Tea and Remembrance by Ron Yuan, USA
The Bridge by Sheldon Schwartz, USA
The First Hawaiian Snowball Fight by Michael Wurth, USA
The Golden Pin by Cuong Ngo, Canada
The Humberville Poetry Slam by Emily Chang, USA
The Indian and the Samurai by Shilpi Roy, USA
The Kinda Sutra by Jessica Yu, USA
The Legend of Chang Apana Begins by Michael Wurth, USA
The Other Way Round by Geoffrey Quan, USA
The Perfect Woman by Anthony Ma, USA
The Piano by Caicai Liu, China/USA
Three Bullets by Ron Yuan, USA
Unlocked by Mio Adilman, Canada
Wanda and Miles by Lesley Loksi Chan, USA
Welcome to My Queer Bookstore, by Larry Tung, Taiwan
When Swallows Stop Singing by Gilbert Kwong
Yanling’s Oranges by Connie Yen, USA

ANIMATED SHORT FILMSArticles of War by Daniel Kanemoto
Confine(s) by Makoto Yabuki
Deadline by Bang-yao Liu
Deng Long by Yuheng Chiang
Emotions by Kun-I Chang
Fear of Change by Kun-I Chang
Kanizsa Hill by Evelyn Lee
Keep Right by Yang Sun-Woo
Kudan by Taku Kimura
Life on a Limb by David Chai
Monster Coins by Vance Yang
Self Portrait by Will Kim
Shuttle T42 by Joon Hyung Kim
Subconscious by Jason Chen
The Enlightened Monk by Emily Tse
The Old Crocodile by Koji Yamamura
The Soliloquist by Ma Kuang Pei
The Veiled Commodity by Dickson Chow
Topi by Arjun Rihan
Unbelievable Four by Sukwon Shin & In Pyo Hong
Viola: The Traveling Rooms of a Little Giant by Shih-Ting Hung



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Lia Chang Multimedia: AAIFF 09 Closing Night: Awards and H.P. Mendoza’s Fruit Fly

Fruit Fly cinematographer Richard Wong, filmmaker and star H.P. Mendoza and actress L.A. Renigen at the AAIFF screening of their film on 7/26/09 at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas. (Photo by Lia Chang)

H.P. Mendoza’s Fruit Fly was the closing night film of the Asian American International Film Festival last night, at Clearview Chelsea Cinemas in New York. Director and stars H.P. Mendoza, L.A. Renigen and cinematographer Richard Wong were in the house to celebrate.

After the screening, AAIFF executive producer Liliana Chen announced the five filmmakers who received this year’s AAIFF
awards, as part of the Festival’s closing ceremonies.

(l-r) Li Tong director Nian Liu (Best Emerging Director in Narrative Feature), Ayi’s Story director Iemi Hernandez-Kim (One to Watch award), Whatever It Takes director Christopher Wong (Audience Choice Award). Photo by Lia Chang

First announced was Iemi Hernandez-Kim, director of the short film Ayi’s Story and winner of the One to Watch award, an audience voted award that recognizes talent in filmmakers under the age of 21. Ayi’s Story follows the journey of a teenaged girl from Brooklyn to numerous destinations in China, capturing her experiences in documentary and video-journal style.

Kim Snyder, director of the short film Crossing Midnight, won the award for Excellence in Short Filmmaking. Her documentary on the efforts of health workers to treat Burmese refugees deals with the issue of human rights through the lens of medicine.

Tibet in Song director Ngawang Choephel (Best Emerging Director in Documentary Feature) Photo by Lia Chang

Also putting a spotlight on the plight of persecuted minorities is director Ngawang Choephel, who won the award for Best Emerging Director in Documentary Feature. His film, Tibet in Song, explores the traditional folk music of Tibet, China’s impact on this tradition, and Choephel’s own political imprisonment during his attempt to capture his subject on film.

Chinese director Nian Liu won the award for Best Emerging Director in Narrative Feature. Her film, Li Tong, used the fictional story of a schoolgirl losing her bus pass as a means of exploring and exposing the many cultural, socioeconomic and personal facets of contemporary Beijing.

Director Christopher Wong won the Audience Choice Award, which was based on votes cast by the audience during the Festival’s various screenings. His documentary feature, Whatever It Takes, follows the progress of the Bronx Center of Science and Mathematics in its first year of operation, focusing especially on the relationship between principal Edward Tom and student Sharifea Baskerville.

Lia Chang is an actor, performance and fine art botanical photographer and an award-winning multimedia journalist. Lia’s portraits and performance photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Gourmet, German Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, The Paris Review, VIBE, TV Guide, Daily Variety, Interior Design, American Theatre, Life & Style, OUT, New York Magazine, InStyle, Timeout.com, Villagevoice.com, Playbill.com, Theatermania.com, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. A former syndicated arts and entertainment columnist for KYODO News, Lia is the New York Bureau Chief for AsianConnections.com. She writes about culture, style and Asian American issues for a variety of publications and this Backstage Pass with Lia Chang blog. As a photographer and videographer, Lia is frequently tapped to collaborate with artists, organizations and companies in establishing their documentary photo archive. She has been documenting her colleagues and contemporaries in the arts, fashion and journalism since making her stage debut as Liat in the National Tour of South Pacific, with Robert Goulet and Barbara Eden.
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