The 12th annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, which takes place Oct. 20-28, features a wealth of cinematic glimpses into the world around us, courtesy of Pan-Asian filmmakers with entries from all corners of the globe – including San Diego.
UltraStar Cinemas in Mission Valley at Hazard Center will play predominant host to the nine-day event that is focusing its sights on feature-length presentations, short films, animation and documentaries. The festival’s programmed films also have parties and panel discussions to attend, with some being held in conjunction with the films being screened.
We spoke to one film’s quadruple threat – actor, screenwriter, director and producer Patrick Wang – to see what it was like to wear so many hats for In The Family; and how he steered clear of sensationalizing its subject matter (sexual orientation and race relations in the South), as he brought his vision to life.
“If we had a more typical pre-production period, I wouldn’t have done it. But I had eight months to prepare,” he said about his time on the set. “I finished the script – except for a line or two; there were no rewrites; spent five months rehearsing myself, and preparing (directing the film) with my cinematographer.”
In The Family deftly tackles the subject matter of sexual orientation and race relations against the backdrop of the “family values” South. When Joey (Wang) loses his partner Cody (Trevor St. John), he must find the strength to raise their young son Chip on his own. The resulting scenario equals a legal battle for custody of his child, while it also gives a fair assessment of conservative America’s stance on homosexuality. As for his depiction of the South, and approach of not taking potshots at it, while looking upon the film’s Tennessee locale with an objective eye; he had this to say on the subject:
“I don’t think there is anything about being Southern or conservative that precludes someone from being a wonderful friend and ally,” Wang says. “As far as sensationalism goes, extreme acts of hatred and harm don’t interest me as a filmmaker. They exist; and they’re awful. But I don’t have anything more illuminating to say about them to the next guy. But the more “daily” kind of hurt and harm – the distance between people; now that interests me.”
In The Family screens Oct. 24 at 7:15 p.m.
The San Diego Asian Film Festival includes a noteworthy entry about the T in LGBT, with Tales of the Waria.
The film depicts real-life stories from Indonesia’s transgender community, and its members’ quest for romance. A Muslim-populated province serves as home for a group of men who live as women and are referred to as warias. The documentary provides a mix of comedy and heartbreak, but ultimately is “… an enlightening story about the collective necessity to obtain the elusive creature known as true love,” according to filmmakers.
Kathy Huang, director and producer of the film, offers the Stateside crowd a peek into a unique world few will ever see: transgender life in a Muslim country. Huang first discovered the warias on a 2005 trip to see her parents in Taiwan.
“I picked up a local paper and was astonished to read about a transgender community in Indonesia, the world’s most populous county,” she explains. “I discovered a world that defied everything I knew about gender, Islam and love. It was a story that I knew had to be shared with larger audiences.”
She also replied that the tone the film employs was made that much easier by the subjects-at-hand.
“The warias occupy this strange, contradictory world, in which they’re both accepted and marginalized,” Huang says. “Warias are often integrated into their Muslim communities. Yet, every now and then, they also find themselves the target of Islamic extremists.
“To be a waria is to live a life of extremes; there are a lot of tears to be sure,” she says. “But the warias know better than anyone how to combat that with laughter. The film tried to reflect that as best as it could.”
Oct. 23, 3:30 p.m.
The following is a guide to the other LGBT and LGBT-related films you’ll find at the festival compiled to help inform your movie-going choices.
Family-friendly films
Queers On The Verge is a 92-minute offering, which explores the nature of fate and how it translates into drama with a capital D for a group of young gay men. It is the centerpiece companion to a slew of short films that also capture smaller slices of the gay lifestyle, including: Masala Mama, Andy, Boys & Girls, I’m in the Mood for Love, Mirror Image, Viewer Discretion Advised (Tape 96) and Lunchtime. Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Amphetamine is the tale of two men, Kafka (Byron Pang) and David (Thomas Price), who discover that love can also prove to be an unhealthy addiction. There’s only one small obstacle for David to overcome in his pursuit of Kafka, which involves getting him to switch teams. This movie was considered too risqué for its native Hong Kong, due to its subject matter and a healthy portion of male nudity. Oct. 28, 9 p.m.
Girl power
While the majority of the movies are aimed at the testosterone portion of the community, there are some celluloid contributions that are sure to be of interest to the ladies, such as The Bus Pass, which is part of the Queers On The Verge series, as is Tsuyako . Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.
The documentary, I Am, takes a look at both genders and the lives of South Asians who reside in and around India, and how their lives are convoluted by their sexuality. Oct. 22, 5:10 p.m.
The aforementioned “Wonder Women” program highlights the bonds that women form, and the strength of female empowerment that gives new meaning to the Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin song, “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.” Oct. 22, 2:20 p.m.
While The LuLu Sessions documents the final 15 months in the life of Louise “LuLu” Nutter, a famed cancer researcher who is diagnosed with cancer herself. The short subject is long on insights into the human condition, as LuLu faces her mortality with a healthy dose of humor intact, as she interacts with her family and friends, and even her on-again, off-again lover. Oct. 27, 7:40 p.m.
For the entire film schedule for the San Diego Asian Film Festival, including its other venues, parties and panel discussions, log onto sdaff.org/festival/2011.
