Take a look at this. Joe Doughrity's short film, the interracial hip hop love story Akira's Hip Hop Shop, starring James Kyson Lee, is currently available for viewing online for a limited time (this month only) as part of the Con-Can Film Festival out of Japan. And if you like it, why not vote for it? The winner gets a trip to Japan and meetings with people in the Japanese film community. View it here.
Joe also informs me that he's actually written a feature version of Akira's Hip Hop, changing up some of the movie's characters and elements and setting it Los Angeles' historic Crenshaw/Rodeo neighborhood. It sounds pretty cool. They're hoping to get the project off the ground in 2009. To learn more about the movie, visit the website here, and the MySpace profile here.