All right. This is it. The 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival starts today, and runs through March 25th in locations around the Bay Area. Congratulations, SFIAAFF. Twenty-five years. The festivities kick off tonight with the Opening Night Gala presentation of Justin Lin's Finishing the Game at the Castro Theatre. Fresh from Sundance, it's a hilarious 1970s-era mockumentary about Hollywood's attempt to find a replacement for Bruce Lee and finish Game of Death. Should be an exciting, historic evening.
Over the next ten days, I'll try to highlight some of the noteworthy programs and screenings happening during the festival. Tomorrow night, the first two films in SFIAAFF's Hong Sang Soo Retrospective, celebrating the works of the master South Korean director. And on the complete opposite side of the spectrum... a 20th anniversary screening John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. Hands down, one of the craziest movies ever made, playing at one of the greatest film festivals in the nation.