AAIFF Continues with a Weekend of Community Screenings

The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) announced today additional screenings to be held on the weekend following the main Festival events. Asserting the need for community among media artists, AAIFF has made several changes to this year’s Festival. One such change is bringing its films closer to the audience; AAIFF has expanded its outreach effort to provide community screenings in Harlem, Manhattan Chinatown and Flushing, Queens.

The Festival continues its partnership with the Maysles Institute in Harlem with a screening of documentary feature Whatever It Takes on Thursday, July 30th at 7:00 p.m. The film, which won the Audience Choice Award at this year’s Festival, follows the first year of principal Edward Tom at the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics, a small, specialized school that is still working to patch the cracks in America’s public education system.

On Friday, July 31st at 8:00 p.m., AAIFF and the Chinatown Partnership will host an outdoor screening and block party in Columbus Park in Manhattan Chinatown. The Festival invites local residents and visiting tourists to see Hong Kong film Pastry, a playful story about love, marriage and growing up.

Venturing out to the Queens Library in Flushing, the Festival will showcase two feature films, Li Tong and Karma Calling. Both were Festival highlights: Karma Calling was the only feature to be screened twice during AAIFF, and Li Tong’s director, Nian Liu, won the jury award for Best Emerging Director in Narrative Feature. Following the feature presentations will be a collection of short films from the Festival program, Home Is Where the Heart Is. The screenings will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 1st.

“This is a great opportunity for anyone who missed the main Festival to see some of its best films,” commented John Woo, Acting Executive Director of Asian CineVision. “It’s also part of our resolution to overcome the financial pressure that faces the arts this year. AAIFF was conceived as a space for emerging artists to showcase their work, and with these screenings, we ensure that this space is preserved within New York communities- especially within underserved communities that have a great need for cultural and artistic expression.”

A complete listing of screening events and venues follows:

AAIFF COMMUNITY SCREENINGS, JULY 30 – AUGUST 1, 2009
Whatever It Takes, dir. Christopher Wong
USA / 97min / Documentary
The first year of the Bronx Center of Science and Mathematics is documented in this film. While the school’s stated mission is to patch the cracks in New York’s education system, it’s clear that the odds are stacked against its success.

Maysles Cinema
343 Lennox Avenue and 127th St., Harlem
Thursday, July 30 @ 7:00 p.m.
$7 suggested admission

Pastry, dir. Risky Liu
Hong Kong / 97min / Narrative
The youngest of five daughters traces the story of her life through the weddings of her sisters. As each member of the family comes to terms with her own womanhood, a simple egg tart becomes the anchor of their experiences and emotions.

Co-presented by Chinatown Partnership. Visit the Stella Artois Filmmaker Hospitality Lounge across the street at Yellow Bar!

Columbus Park Chinatown Block Party
67 Mulberry St., Chinatown
Friday, July 31 @ 8:00 p.m.
Free admission

Li Tong, dir. Nian Liu
China / 74min / Narrative
A restless young girl loses her bus pass one day after school. Her meandering trip home is the thread of this poignant “day in the life” tale, which wends its way through the various homes, personae and urban landscapes of contemporary Beijing.

Followed by:
Karma Calling, dir. Sarba Das
USA / 90min / Narrative
The Raj family is definitely not comprised of stereotypical model minorities living the American Dream. On top of the family’s troubled finances, the family hosts a recently widowed relative who is an endless source of comic disasters.

Followed by:
Shorts Program, Home Is Where the Heart Is
Immigration is more than a series of border crossings. Whether in New York, San Francisco, or Taiwan, the immigrants in these shorts must reconcile their places in the new world with their foundations in the old. Their lives, by choice and by force, plot a new course for the meaning of “home.”

Featuring The Veiled Commodity, dir. Dickson Chow and Vinh Chung; A Green Mountain the Drawer, dir. Hwa Jun Lee; 20 30 40, dir. Mei-Yu Lee; Here to Stay, dir. ManSee Kong; Lower East Side: An Endangered Place, dir. MA Shumin.

Queens Library, Flushing Branch
41-17 Main St., Flushing, Queens
Saturday, August 1 @ 12:00 p.m.
Free admission

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