Well, last week VC Filmfest 2007 went out with a bang with its Closing Night screening of Charlie Nguyen's The Rebel, which was pretty badass awesome. An ambitious film with a shoestring budget, shot on location in Vietnam, it's a period action flick that kicks some serious ass. Good film, lots of fun. And Dustin Nguyen is the best I've seen him in pretty much anything, as the movie's villain.
The festival also announced the winners of this year's awards, presenting the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature to The Rebel, and Special Jury Prize to Juwan Chung's Baby, a gritty indie gangster flick that delivers a solid story and great performances. The festival jury also presented for the first time acting prizes to noteworthy performances, giving Best Actor to Esai Morales in American Fusion, Best Actress to Meredith Scott Lynn in Finishing the Game (she's great in every scene she's in), and Outstanding Newcomer to David Huynh in Baby (the guy's got a bright future ahead of him).
In the documentary feature category, the Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Linda Hattendorf's The Cats of Mirikitani, and the Special Jury Prize to Lisette Marie Flannery Na Kamalei: Men of Hula. In the shorts category, the Golden Reel Jury Prize for Best Short went to Ruby Yang's amazing (but extremely depressing) documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District, and the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award was presented to Tad Nakamura's Pilgrimage. The Audience Award for Narrative Feature went to Frank Lin's romantic comedy American Fusion, and the Audience Award for Nonfiction Feature went to Socheata Poeuv's New Year Baby—though I'm not sure many people heard these two being announced over the hubbub of the party. That's a lot of awards. I recommend seeking out any and all of these films to watch in the future...
UPDATE: Super-extensive VC coverage in the latest edition of Asia Pacific Arts, including video content from the Finishing the Game red carpet, capsule reviews and more. Great stuff, as always.
