Frameline joins other film festivals in the Bay Area (and beyond!) to promote
screenings of LGBT films throughout the year. Upcoming Frameline
co-presented events:
The 28th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), which showcases the best Asian and Asian American films from around the globe takes place March 11-21, 2010 in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. 2010 marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Festival’s presenting organization the Center for Asian America Media (CAAM). SFIAAFF is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 120 works featuring thrilling films from the United States, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, China, and more.
Frameline is proud to co-present the following films:
Directed By: David Yun, Laura Zaylea
USA, 2009, 93 mins, Video
Sunday, March 14 at 1:15pm
Monday, March 15 at 6:45pm
VIZ Cinema (San Francisco)
In Person: David Yun
In this powerfully alluring debut feature from
directors Laura Zaylea and David Yun, questions of life and its pretense
are brought to the forefront as we watch a quiet taxidermist, a forlorn
artist and an isolated travel writer live out a question that haunts us
all: is loneliness inherent to human condition? Set in the urban sprawl
of San Francisco and featuring an all-female cast, HOLD THE SUN
hypnotically meditates on the ordinary paradox of feeling alone in a
saturated city, and poignantly explores meanings of community, desire
and solitude within queer lives. The taxidermist Gwennie (Nicole
Mills-Novoa) spends her time recreating the semblance of life through
the bodies of deceased animals, while mystical Fox Woman (Aviance
Rhome) performatively mimics the exact art of still life. Meanwhile,
the artist Bonnie (Ching-Yi Tseng) grapples with the stagnation of her
own creativity through a preoccupation with paint-by-numbers, and Ellen
(Maya Mahrer) lyrically imagines the adventure of foreign destinations
without ever leaving the boundaries her own home. How do these women
connect, and how do they navigate themselves within both
disaffectedness and affinity? With a stunningly subdued palate, an
experimental mix of magic and realism, and a bold exploration of
performance, HOLD THE SUN successfully ruptures our expectations of
bustling urban life by luxuriating in the ubiquitous silence—and the
ordinary magic—that exists amongst us.
-- Geraldine Ah-Sue
Directed By: Quentin Lee
USA, 2009, 89 mins, Video
Centerpiece
Sunday, March 14 at 6:00pm
Castro Theatre (San Francisco)
Tuesday, March 16 at 8:45pm
Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley)
Saturday, March 20 at 4:45pm
Camera Cinemas 9 (San Jose)
In Person: Quentin Lee, Karin Anna Cheung, Stanley Yung
The co-director of the groundbreaking Asian American feature SHOPPING
FOR FANGS (SFIAAFF ’97) returns to the festival with this similarly
game-changing new comedy about sex in the city, Asian American style.
Thankfully updating Hollywood’s usual concept of the romantic comedy
(mostly white, sometimes black, and, um, that’s about it) with the kind
of racial (and sexual) diversity that truly reflects urban life today,
THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH is the BETTER LUCK TOMORROW of this era:
slickly told, eye-opening, unashamedly commercial and proudly Asian
American. Angela yang (the fabulous Karin Anna Cheung, BETTER LUCK
TOMORROW) knows what she wants—SEX—and doesn’t mind who knows it; after
all, “a slut is just a woman with the morals of a man,” she notes. Her
nightly crawls through the city’s bars have given her enough partners
to make Hugh Hefner blush: Asian, Caucasian, Latino and Black; men and
women, anyone will do. (She even takes and collects pictures of each
lover, like mementos, or baseball cards.) All things change, however,
when she suddenly discovers that she’s pregnant. Armed only with those
photos and some drunken memories, Angela starts tracking down each of
the many “father” possibilities. The man she’d secretly like it to be,
though, is the elegant, cultured (and ultra hot) “Mystery Man” (Archie
Kao, CSI), who indeed turns out to have a few secrets of his own. “This
script is unique because it empowers Asian American female sexuality,”
notes Cheung. “Women should be able do whatever they want in this
postmodern society, and she does.”
Director Quentin Lee and scriptwriter Koji Steven Sakai keep things
moving with a refreshing blend of modern urban situations, well-drawn
supporting characters and old-fashioned romantic comedy conventions;
even the typical “gay best friend” role is given a far more nuanced,
believable tweak here, especially thanks to a winning performance by
Wilson Cruz (My SO-CALLED LIFE). Comedian Randall Park (AMERICAN
FUSION) adds extra charm as the clueless-but-willing “Nice-But-Boring
Guy,” while none other than acting legend James Shigeta (subject of a
prior festival retrospective, and Asian America’s first romantic lead)
completes the circle as Mystery Man’s open-minded father. All romantic
comedies are judged on their stars, however, and few films can boast as
radiant a lead duo as Cheung and Kao, who bring a sizzling chemistry
and screen presence that not only match, but also overshadow, the casts
of any current Hollywood romance. It’s their performances that will
truly turn heads here, and make THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH a proud new
example of the romantic comedy tradition, and of powerhouse Asian
American cinema.
-- Jason Sanders
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