get ready: 10th annual san diego asian film festival, oct. 15-29

All right. We're in the middle of a busy fall film festival season, with Philly and D.C. wrapping up this weekend, and lots more good stuff on the way. Next up: The 10th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, happening October 15-29 at Mission Valley UltraStar Cinemas at Hazard Center: Smart Asian cinema.

I've been attending SDAFF for the last five years, and it is, by far, one of the funnest Asian American film festivals in the country. 200 films from 20 countries, and this year, they've expanded it to two weeks. I look forward to it every year, and I plan on helping them celebrate the big number ten.

Things kick off this Thursday with the Opening Night presentation of Tze Chun's Children of Invention. The Closing Night film is the action drama Ip Man, based on the life of Bruce Lee's wing-chun master (this movie, by the way, is awesome). And you don't want to miss the West Coast premiere of John Woo's war epic Red Cliff, the festival's Centerpiece presentation.

Other festival highlights include Special Film Spotlights on North Korea (3 feature films and a panel discussion), Taiwan (4 feature films) and Japanese Extreme films; 10 Free Films at 4PM (presented by Target); the festival's first Bollywood films (Tandoori Love and Om Shanti Om); and thirteen different shorts programs.

You also do not want to miss Blowfish: An Intersection of Sights and Sounds, SDAFF's annual live music showcase. This year, performers include Lyrics Born, Kero One, Vox Merger and Zen, Dannu, and KeyKool of The Visionaries. It's gonna be hot.

And finally, I should point out that I'll be co-moderating You Tube Can Be A Celebrity, a special panel discussion featuring online personalities Kev Jumba, David Choi, Paul Dateh, Jennifer Chung, and Eddie Kim from Projekt NewSpeak. It's happening Sunday, October 18 at 12:30pm. See you there.