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D.C. Asian Pacific American Film Festival
With George Lin
President of D.C. APA Film Festival
Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2001; 2:30 p.m. EDT
The annual D.C. Asian Pacific American (APA) Film Festival features the work of a growing community of APA media artists including local metro area filmmakers and showcase their unique visions of APA experiences and issues. The themes include cultural identity, race and social relations, family life, gender issues and popular culture in the context of the APA experience.
George Lin, president of the D.C. APA Film Festival comes online Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss this year's film festival.
From 1983 to 1996, Asian American Arts and Media (AAAM) presented Asian American film festivals in the Washington, D.C. area. APA Film revived this long standing tradition beginning with 2000 DC APA Film Festival.
The mission of the festival is to bring attention to the creative output from APA communities and encourage the artistic development of APA films in the greater D.C. metropolitan area.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Washington, D.C.:
What countries are represented by your film festival? Are there English subtitles? And which languages are spoken in the movies? I am a big fan of Jet Li and would love to see more of his movies. Thanks.
George Lin: Our festival focuses on Asian American films. The key word here is American, so most of these films are either produced by Americans or Canadians.
washingtonpost.com:
Good afternoon. When did the D.C. Asian Pacific American Film festival start? How does this festival compare to last year's event? Have you received a lot of financial and social support for the festival?
George Lin: The first inception of the DC APA Film Festival began in the early 80s and ran until the mid-90s. I suppose due to burn-out and old age, the orginal crew (part of Asian American Arts and Media) decided to retire the festival. A few years ago, a group of us went to see "Disoriented" (a fil-am film) at the Foundry and we were shocked to see that there were only 3-4 people in the audience! There was no one there to see a great Asian American film! That inspired us to organize the film festival in its current form.
Last year was APA film's first festival and we held it at the Foundry theater. We had a pretty good turn out last year but this year, at the Smithsonian, our audience has doubled! We are really priveleged to be at this instutition!
We have received some financial support from corporations and local organizations. The local organizations, really, are our backbone. We are always looking for more support.
Downtown D.C.:
You look to have assembled an awesome collection of APA films! Unfortunately, I have commitments for most of them. There are some in particular that I'd love to see, though -- any word on which of these films/shorts/documentaries would be available for rental or something at some later date?
George Lin: Many of these films are independent films. This means that the films have not yet been picked up by distributors, and until then, won't be available commercially. This is why Film Festivals play an important role in promoting filmmakers.
Washington, D.C.:
I see that your Friday selection is a crazy and eccentric bunch of films. Will any of the filmmakers be present?
George Lin: We know that one filmmaker will be present. Greg Pak who directed "All Amateur Ecstacy." Others may come, but we haven't heard.
Arlington, Va.:
Where are you showing your films? Do you have a website with your program?
George Lin: The website is http://www.apafilm.org. There you will find complete descriptions of films and our schedule.
Boston, Mass.:
This is not about the festival, but if you can fit my question in, do you know if anyone does a film about the Wen Ho Lee affair?
George Lin: I don't know of any films about the Wen Ho Lee affair. This would be ideal subject matter to be made into a documentary.
Silver Spring, Md.:
George, I feel that the APA Film Festival is off to a good start with the movies I have already seen from the opening night! I also think it is very nice to see that APA Film Festival has collaborated with the Reel Affirmations to air "The Drift", a movie with queer Asian theme. How is the APA community in the Washington, D.C. area reacting to showing of queer-themed movies? If negative comments have been received from the community about showing a gay film, how is the APA Film Festival committee reacting to such comments?
George Lin: To my knowledge, there hasn't been any negative comments made on our decision to show queer Asian themed films. We had a great screening of Drift. Most of the audience was Asian and predominantly gay. Hopefully, the goal is to attract people to a film that they wouldn't normally see.
Washington, D.C.:
Really enjoyed the panel discussion on stereotypes/cultural commodification at the Freer Saturday -- any plans to hold more panels like that?
George Lin: Thanks for attending the panel. We are really happy with the comments we have received and we hope to conducting more of these panels throughout the year and at next year's festival.
Washington, D.C.:
Besides the film fest, does APA Film have any other programs or initiatives?
George Lin: Currently, we are only doing films. We have plans in the future to promote other areas of APA arts including visual arts, theater, music, and spoken word.
Rockville, Md.:
Kudos for organizing this festival. Unfortunately I've only been able to attend the Friday night screening of Roads and Bridges. I was disappointed at the sparse audience - how has attendence been for other screenings?
George Lin: Thanks for attending Roads and Bridges. We have had fantastic attendance with almost all of the other screenings. On Friday, with the heavy subject matter of the film, and being Friday night, we realized the crowd would be smaller.
Washington D.C.:
How does someone get their film shown at the film festival? Do you look for films of specific genres or topics?
George Lin: We are primarily looking for Asian American films. The key word here is American. We are trying to focus on filmmakers who are American or Canadian. They can films without asians actors but are produced or made my Asian americans.
We accept films for submission. Our deadline is the end of April fo next years festival. Please visit our website www.apafilm.org for more details.
Washington, D.C.:
Hi. I went to several of the films at the festival last week and I had a great time. The films were terrific. I spoke to several people in your film festival group and it sounds like what you guys do are really interesting. How can I get involved?
Thanks!
George Lin: We are always looking for volunteers and staff to help in the planning of the festival. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to apafilm@yahoo.com abd we'll get back to you.
Washington, D.C.:
Since the festival seemed to have grown significantly from last year. Do you foresee this success continue into the future?
George Lin: We are extremely happy with the attendance of the film festival this year. This is due in part to our association with the Smithsonian Institution. Also, the material that is being submitted to us is improving. Yes, we definitely forsee this continuing success. Our goal is to promote APA filmmakers. By publicly exhibiting their works, we also hope to inspire other young filmmakers.
Arlington, Va.:
It's kind of unfortunate that your festival directly conflicts in the timing sense with Reel Affirmations, since I am committed there and will not be able to attend any of your screenings. Is there a way to work out the schedule in the future so that you're not in direct competition for eyeballs? It's nice to see the co-sponsorship of some films however. I saw Drift on Saturday at RA and the audience was large and seemed to really love it. Did the audience at your festival like it as well?
George Lin: In the future we plan more accordingly. We hoep to continue collaborating with other film festival groups in the DC area.
Arlington, Va.:
Hi, the film festival has been great this year! Do you feel that Asian American filmmakers are benefiting from these festivals, besides more exposure for the filmmakers and educating our local community? What other benefits have you observed?
George Lin: Many people, after watching these films, are inspired to make their own films, or write stories about their experiences. If this happens, I think we've done our job.
Washington, D.C.:
Hello. I was at last year's film festival and noticed that some films were sponsored by the Domestic Violence Research project. Do you think it is counterproductive to Asian Pacific American causes to emphasize domestic violence as an "Asian" trait? Isn't it more likely for non-asians to associate domestic violence with Asians when in fact it is common in all cultures and countries? I haven't seen any other ethnic film festivals address the issue of domestic violence. Thanks
George Lin: I don't think this program necessarily emphasizes domestic violence as an "Asian" trait at all. It does help to raise awareness that this domestiv violence occurs in all cultures, including Asian. Yes, it is a universal problem and difficult to tackle across the board. Why not start in our own community, one that we are familiar with, and perhaps, this will inspire other communties to work on these domestic issues within their own communities.
Washington D.C.:
The Friday night program looks like a really eccentric and wild series of shorts. Which filmmakers are going to be present at that screening? What was the criteria for the films going into that program?
George Lin: We wanted to really balance our festival out with some wild, quirky, and sometimes irreverent films. We had a bunch of these submissions and we needed to find a good place for them, so we decided to to a really entertaining wild shorts program.
Sterling, Va.:
How can an aspiring film-maker submit his film for your review, for a potential showing in the film festival?
George Lin: We will be accepting submissions until the end of April 2002. Please check our website for more details at www.apafilm.org.
the address to send your preview tape is:
APA Film
PO Box 18405
Washington, DC 20036
Washington D.C.: What is the one film that you think epitomizes the APA experience? Why?
George Lin: I really can't tell you that one film epitomizes the APA experience. As APAs, we undoubtedly share some common experiences. However, many of us come from different ethnic backgrounds and and live in various parts of the country. I think all of the films we are screening collectively epitomizes the APA experience.
Washington, D.C.:
What can Asian Pacific Americans (APA) do to help APA filmmakers and artists achieve greater visibility for their work?
George Lin: Suppport the film festivals and spread the word! They are currently in New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington, DC.
The other problem I want to point out is that Hollywood has their own idea of being Asian Pacific American. Most Asians are still outsiders looking in. We need more APAs to pursue careers as filmmakers and media artists to penetrate Hollywood and give all APAs more visibility.
Washington, D.C.:
What are some of the upcoming films in the festival?
George Lin: Tomorrow night (Wednesday, Oct. 17) we'll be at Georgetown University. We'll be screening the documentaries, "No Hop Sing, No Bruce Lee," and "Yellow Apparel" followed by a student discussion.
On Thursday, we'll be at the Hirshhorn screening "e-Dreams" a film about the rise and fall of Kozmo.com. The filmmaker will be present to conduct a Q&A.
On Friday (Hirshhorn) we'll be screening "Ke Kulana He Mahu" which is about homosexuality in the context of Hawaiian history. The second program is our "Wide Eyed and Wild" program which is guaranteed to entertain!
On Saturday, we're back at the Freer. We'll be screening "The Split Horn: Life of A Hmong Shaman in America." Following this screening, there will be a meet and greet with the filmmaker and family that is portrayed in the documentary. The closing night program will feature Gene Cajayon's "The Debut."
For more information about our festival and programs, please visit our website at: http://www.apafilm.org
Washington, D.C.:
How do you imagine the future of the film festival. Will you do it every year from now on? How many people put it together?
George Lin: We would like to continue organizing the film festival and perhaps add other areas of arts into the program including music, visual arts, theater, and spoken word. We have a volunteer staff of about 20 people. We are always looking for people to help out.
Washington, D.C.:
I heard something about a project you're doing with ABC--can you elaborate on that?
George Lin: We are collaborating with ABC entertainment to help them find new talent. There are several programs they are sponsoring in the areas of screenwriting, acting, and directing and they are specifically looking for minorities. Anyone can apply, there are looking for people who can tell stories. We are involved in the initial selection process, where we select two winners from the DC area. Those winners are then evaluated among other organization's selectees from acorss the country. Each city will have two winners who are awarded $20,000 for their idea or project. This is a great program, because they offer an internship program in these areas, as well. We are accepting submissions (which can be a script, treatment, or any other work in progress) until Dec 31, 2001. Our website has not been updated yet, but please check it for new updates on this program. http://www/apafilm.org
Washington, D.C.:
How did you chose the movies for the festival? How does one send in submissions?
George Lin: We had an open submission for films this past spring and received about 80 entries. We formed a film selection committee where we previewed these submissions and selected films for our programs.
You can submit your film to our organization until the end of April 2002 for next yea'rs festival.
APA Film
PO Box 18405
Washington, DC 20036
Ssterling, Va.:
I've thoroughly enjoyed the film festival so far, and also the Q&A sessions with the filmmakers afterwards. It was great meeting them! Truly inspiring!
George Lin: I'm glad you enjoyed the panels. We hope to conduct more of these panels throughout the year and at next year's festival. I really think panels play an important role at any film festival. The film we screen usually encourage some sort of discussion, and we hope these panels serve that purpose. If you have any ideas for panels relating to APAs in the media, please send me an e-mail: apafilm@yahoo.com
Washington, D.C.:
Re: Boston, Mass.'s question about a film about Wen Ho Lee, there was an interesting tidbit in the news section of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com). The link is: http://us.imdb.com/StudioBrief/2001/20011015.html
Attack Torpedoes TV, Film Projects
Several of Hollywood's top TV and film writers have told the Los Angeles Times that last month's terrorist attacks have forced them to shelve projects that they had been working on for years and significantly alter others. Most of the writers suggested that they are no longer able to turn out scripts in which lawmen -- police, the FBI, the CIA -- are depicted as villains. Three Kings writer John Ridley remarked, "I was doing a miniseries at ABC about Wen Ho Lee, which is a true story about this Asian-American who was basically railroaded by the FBI. We were ready to go. After Sept. 11, it's officially on hold but it's basically dead because the story is: the FBI and government conspired against this guy, largely. The feeling is now even in real life, or in the approximation of real life -- a docudrama -- you can't talk about how the government has done these bad things. It's weird. I understand the need to support our country; at the same time, when something they really did to somebody is being muzzled, you're walking a fine line." However, writer-producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day) suggested that the studios may be more concerned about their "corporate image" ("a good thing") than with public tastes. "I was so shocked the week after the event when I looked at the video rentals," he said. "All the movies about terrorists were renting through the roof."
George Lin: Interesting. We ended up pulling one of short films "Passport" (by a local filmmaker) because of a controversial ending in the film. The film itself is not un-patriotic but the ending could have been mis-construed as un-patriotic.
Washington, D.C.:
What kind of effect has the festival had on the D.C. Asian community?
George Lin: I think the festival has definitely raised awareness of APA media arts in the community. It is a wonderful feeling when you see audience reactions to the films. Because the film festival is a pan-Asian event, the festival itself is a wonderful medium for various local APA organizations to collaborate. It is one of the few events during the year where all of these organizations can support each other and bring the local communities together.
George Lin: Thanks everyone for your interest and I hope to see you at the festival!
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