Seattle film lovers! It is time. The 2015 Seattle Asian American Film Festival is happening this week, February 12-15, at the Northwest Film Forum in Capitol Hill. They've packed the program with an awesome selection of films by and about Asian Americans across North America. Will you be there?
The festivities kick off this Thursday with the Opening Night presentation of the acclaimed feature documentary To Be Takei, followed by the Macy's Opening Night party at Velocity Dance Center with musical performances by Hollis Wong-Wear and Prometheus Brown. Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun.
Here's the festival trailer:
Here's the schedule of films and programs:
February 12, 2015
4:00PM & 7:00PM
To Be Takei
JENNIFER M. KROOT / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 94 MINS
Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei boldly journeyed from a WWII internment camp, to the helm of the starship Enterprise, to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband Brad on this star's playful and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
February 13, 2015
6:00PM
9-Man
URSULA LIANG / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 87 MINS
9-Man is an independent feature documentary about an isolated and exceptionally athletic Chinese-American sport that's much more than a pastime. Since the 1930s, young men have played this gritty streetball game competitively in the alleys and parking lots of Chinatown. At a time when anti-Chinese sentiment and laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act forced Chinese restaurant workers and laundrymen to socialize exclusively amongst themselves, nine-man offered both escape and fraternity for men who were separated from their families in China and facing extreme discrimination and distrust. Pivoting between oil-spotted Chinatown parking lots and jellyfish-filled banquet scenes, the film captures the spirit of nine-man as players not only battle for a championship but fight to preserve a sport that holds so much history.
6:00PM
AKIRA: The Stage Reading (FREE!)
Join us for a stage reading led by local APIA filmmakers. This free public event will feature Seattle’s best and brightest actors of color in bringing the Hollywood screenplay to life. Join us and imagine what could be if Hollywood would only cast with integrity – no yellowface, no whitewashing, no racebending.
9:00PM
9-Man
URSULA LIANG / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 87 MINS
9:00PM
Documentary Shorts Featuring SRIRACHA
A collection of shorts including 6 Weddings and a Dress, Beware the Boogey Man, Ken Miura: Unheard Of, Distance Between, Bibingka, Mochi: It's Not Just Rice Cakes, and Sriracha.
February 14, 2015
12:00PM
Cambodian Son
MASAHIRO SUGANO / DOCUMENTARY / CAMBODIA, USA / 2014 / 90 MINS
Acclaimed poet Kosal Khiev was forced to flee Cambodia to the United States as a 1-year-old refugee. Upon being imprisoned as a youth, he was forcibly deported back to Phnom Penh and forced to fend for himself in a land he never knew.
12:00PM
Social Justice Shorts (FREE)
A collection of shorts including Omoide: Our Stories, In Struggle, The Delano Manongs, and Sowing Seeds of Life...of Hope.
3:00PM
Kumu Hina
DEAN HAMER AND JOE WILSON / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 78 MINS
A powerful film about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the westernized society of modern Hawaii, told through the lens of an extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident mahu, or transgender woman, and an honored kumu, or teacher and cultural icon.
3:00PM
Documented
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2013 / 89 MINS
In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times Magazine. 'Documented' chronicles his journey to America from the Philippines as a child; his journey through America as an immigration reform activist/provocateur; and his journey inward as he re-connects with his mother, whom he hasn't seen in 20 years.
6:00PM
A Picture of You
J.P. CHAN / NARRATIVE / USA / 2013 / DRAMA/COMEDY / 83 MINS
Kyle and Jen, estranged siblings, travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they make a discovery that turns their world upside-down. A Picture of You is a serious movie about life that collides with a funny movie about death. It's a story about family, loss, secrets, letting go, and starting anew.
6:00PM
Documentary Shorts Featuring SRIRACHA
9:00PM
How to Fight in Six Inch Heels
HAM TRAN / NARRATIVE / VIETNAM, USA / 2013 / ROMANTIC COMEDY / 96 MINS
Meet Anne, an ambitious Vietnamese American fashion designer who has it all: a successful career and a dreamy fiance. Things quickly change, when Kiet, the fiance relocates to Vietnam and Anne becomes suspicious of Kiet’s intentions. In haste she flies to Vietnam, disguises herself as a supermodel and accidentally becomes Vietnam’s new IT girl.
9:00PM
Animated, Horror, and Sci-Fi Shorts (FREE)
A collection of shorts including Behind My Behind, Jimmy Loves Juice, Steadfast Stanley, I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost, Happy Fun Room, H7N3, and Vimana
February 15, 2015
12:00PM
Stateless
DUC NGUYEN / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 57 MINS
In 2005, a spark of hope came when the U.S. immigration officials returned to Manila to review the cases of over 2000 Vietnamese refugees who spent over 17 years in the Philippines waiting for resettlement. Nervously waiting for a judgment day, they hung on the hope of finding a home.
12:00PM
Shorts on Struggle (FREE)
A collection of shorts including Give It Up, The Boy Under the Piano, My Brother, Midday Crisis, and A Clean UA.
3:00PM
The Last Season
SARA DOSA / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / PACIFIC NORTHWEST / 80 MINS
In search of the matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers find something else in the woods: a new family & the means to heal the scarring wounds of war. The Last Season is the debut feature film from director Sara Dosa.
3:00PM
A Leading Man
STEVEN J. KUNG / NARRATIVE / USA / 2013 / DRAMA / 100 MINS
When a young and talented Chinese American actor is fired from a starring role on a television show, he attempts to salvage his career by entering into a romantic relationship with a successful casting director.
6:00PM
Documented
JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2013 / 89 MINS
6:00PM
Kumu Hina
DEAN HAMER AND JOE WILSON / DOCUMENTARY / USA / 2014 / 78 MINS
For further information, including the full schedule, program details and ticket info, visit the SAAFF website.
