TitleThe 18th Annual Asian American Showcase
May 17th - May 30th
Gene Siskel Film Center
164 North State Street Chicago, Illinois 60601
It’s that time of the year again, and I’m not talking spring…it’s Asian American Showcase time @ the Gene Siskel Film Center! It feels like a long time coming though, as we have usually been in the first weekend in April. But I’m excited about being in May and to be part of APA heritage month. People have asked why we were in April and not in heritage month, and well, when we started in 1995, heritage month wasn’t fully realized or celebrated in Chicago, and I doubt when the Showcase started, nobody figured we’d last this long! But now heading strong into our 18th year and being an important part of the Gene Siskel Film Center’s yearly programming, we couldn’t be happier or more excited about this years festival. ...[continue reading]
OPENING NIGHT FILM May 17th, 6pm
White Frog
2012, Quentin Lee, USA, 93 min.
With Harry Shum Jr., Booboo Stewart, Kelly Hu, B.D. Wong, Tyler Posey
Friday, May 17, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 22, 6:00 pm
A favored son’s secrets are slowly unraveled by second son Nick
(Stewart), a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome, in this new
coming-of-age drama by the acclaimed director of SHOPPING FOR FANGS.
When big brother Chaz dies in a tragic accident, the life of an
already dysfunctional family goes into a tailspin. Nick succeeds in
crashing the tight circle of his brother’s best friends to discover
that Chaz, model student and his parents’ golden boy, was someone very
different away from home. The stellar cast also includes Joan Chen,
BD Wong, Harry Shum, Jr., Amy Hill, Justin Martin, and playwright
David Henry Hwang. HDCAM video. (BS)
Tickets on Sale Now! http://www.ticketmaster.com/White-Frog-tickets/artist/1858116?brand=sis
OPENING NIGHT ART EXHIBIT
May 17th, 6pm
Next Generation
Runs May 10th through July 29th
Gene Siskel Film Center Lobby
Featured Artists:
Kalani Largusa
Heelim Hwang
Sua Yoo
Eunie Kim
Hiba Ali
Frank Yefeng Wang
Catherine Yeon Soo Kim
Snow Yunxue Fu
Greyson Hong
Kiam Marcelo Junio
Andrea Chiu
Chicago premiere!
SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE
2012, Debbie Lum, USA, 84 min.
Saturday, May 18, 8:15 pm
Thursday, May 23, 6:15 pm
Featured on NPR's Radio Program "Tell Me More": http://www.npr.org/2012/06/22/155571292/for-one-man-she-had-to-be-pretty-and-asian
“Brings stereotypes of ‘yellow fever’ and ‘gold-digging immigrant’
into compelling interplay.”--Maggie Lee, Variety
“Layered, real-life character study.”--Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly
Chinese American filmmaker Lum sets out to explore her foremost
aversion: “yellow fever,” the Caucasian fetish for Asian lovers, and
becomes drawn into a real-life drama worthy of a soap opera. After
scores of online flirtations, Steven, a giddily obsessed 60-year-old,
leaps into matrimony with Sandy, a cute 30-year-old from Anhui
province, who appears sincerely drawn to him despite his age and lack
of means. The bilingual filmmaker is soon thrust into the role of
reluctant marriage counselor when lines of communication break down.
In English and Mandarin with English subtitles. HDCAM video. (BS)
http://www.seekingasianfemale.com/
Chicago premiere!
WHEN I WALK
2013, Jason DaSilva, USA/Canada, 80 min.
Sunday, May 19, 3:00 pm
Monday, May 20, 6:00 pm
“One of the most honest and sincere films ever to grace the Sundance
silver screen.”--Esther Meroño, Slug Magazine
In 2006, a family home movie caught filmmaker DaSilva taking an
accidental tumble on a sandy beach. In retrospect, the fall was seen
as the defining moment in his young life when he was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis at age 25. Charting the course of his degenerative
disease, DaSilva takes his audience on an six-year journey through
changes, triumphs, and relationships that is no death march, but a
personal tale that wowed them at Sundance this year with the
filmmaker’s humor, courage, and insight. HDCAM video. (BS)
Director Jason DaSilva is tentatively scheduled to be present for
audience discussion on Sunday.
MR. CAO GOES TO WASHINGTON
2012, S. Leo Chiang, USA, 72 min.
Tuesday, May 21, 6:15 pm
Lively and engaging…should stir timely debate.”--Dennis Harvey, Variety
Backlash from a political scandal propels Vietnamese émigré Anh “Joe”
Cao, a political “new broom,” to Congress as a moderate Republican, an
unprecedented occurrence in the largely African American and
overwhelmingly Democratic New Orleans district he represents. As
charted in this lively behind-the-scenes chronicle, his term proves to
be short and bittersweet when Cao, a fearless and effective advocate
for his Lower 9th Ward constituents in the wake of Katrina, naively
falls victim to the brutal undercurrents of racial and party politics.
HDCAM video. (BS)
THE CRUMBLES
FILMMAKER AKIRA BOCH WILL BE PRESENT DURING THE FRIDAY SCREENING FOR Q&A!
2012, Akira Boch, USA, 75 min.
With Teresa Michelle Lee, Katie Hipol
Friday, May 24, 8:00 pm
Monday, May 27, 3:00 pm
"The ultimate love letter to youthful rock n' roll exuberance"--Jackson Truax, Living in Cinema
"What it lacks in budget... the film makes up in natural, irresistible youthful charm."
--Chicana From Chicago
The old let’s-put-on-a-show impulse is seen in a new guise in this
winningly good-hearted movie about a couple of girl rockers and their
dream of starting a band. Irresistibly perky but utterly
irresponsible Elisa (Lee) crashes on the couch of best friend Darla
(Hipol), the stable one. As roommates they’re the odd couple, but as
a band, with Darla’s secret crush Dante joining up as drummer, they
prove to be a match made in heaven. Trouble looms; could choosing the
name The Crumbles be a self-fulfilling prophecy? HDCAM video. (BS)
SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW
FILMMAKER NADINE TRUONG AND ACTOR BRIAN YANG WILL BE PRESENT DURING THE SATURDAY SCREENING FOR Q&A!
2013, Nadine Truong, USA, 81 min.
With West Liang, Brian Yang
Saturday, May 25, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 29, 6:00 pm
Fresh from a reconsidered suicide attempt, thirty-something Charlie
packs up his cat Hemingway and heads for Los Angeles for a reunion
with his best friends Luke (Yang of “Hawaii Five-0”), now a heartthrob
TV star, and Danny, a rich but nerdy wannabe ladies’ man. A boozy
boys’ night out devolves into something more complex when two young
and flirtatious groupies with eyes for Luke join the party. Back at
Luke’s mansion in the hills, a series of revelations and confessions
soon unmask pretensions and lifestyles. HDCAM video. (BS)
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nightdreamblues/someone-i-used-to-know-post-production-0
XMAS WITHOUT CHINA
2012, Alicia Dwyer, USA, 63 min.
Sunday, May 26, 3:00 pm
Tuesday, May 28, 6:00 pm
Producer Tom Xia challenges the neighboring Jones family in his
California suburb to purge every item made in China from their home
for the month of December. The scale of the undertaking makes for
easy laughs until it dawns on the family of four just how stripped of
necessities and amenities their lives will be. Meanwhile, Xia’s
parents outfit their new American dream home with the ultimate in
Chinese products, and clashing ideologies are headed for a showdown.
In English and Mandarin with English subtitles. HDCAM video.
http://www.itvs.org/films/xmas-without-china
THE ESCAPE
2013, Tatsu Aoki, USA, 30 min.
The Escape is inspired by an interdisciplinary performance piece of the same name, which features stories of women who had become vulnerable upon arrival into the U.S. during the early 20th Century. The performance project seeks to shed light on the experiences of these women in the context of the social history of the period for Chinese in America as well as for women in the society as a whole with the struggles and achievements of the 20th Century Women’s Movement, which took on such issues as child labor and human trafficking. Featuring Lenora Lee Dance, with Kei Lun Martial Arts & Enshin Karate, South San Francisco Dojo.
Chicago premiere!
SUNSET STORIES
2012, Ernesto Foronda and Silas Howard, USA, 90 min.
With Monique Gabriela Curnen, Sung Kang
Sunday, May 26, 5:15 pm
Thursday, May 30, 6:00 pm
“A fairy tale twist...a gem of a movie.”--Christina Hulen, Examiner.com
Inspired by such classics as CHUNGKING EXPRESS, AFTER HOURS, and CLEO
FROM 5 TO 7, this darkly funny quirky quest set in a succession of
colorful Los Angeles neighborhoods plays with the concept of lost and
found. May, a Boston nurse charged with delivering a cooler of bone
marrow to an L.A. hospital for a transplant, manages to misplace her
precious cargo in the flustered moment that she runs into an old
boyfriend, handsome rocker JP. The cast also includes Jim Parsons and
Zosia Mamet. HDCAM video. (BS)
http://sunsetstoriesthemovie.com/