Festival kickoff party
This sign is supposed to say "No Malice Palace" in beautiful stained glass letters, but I'm too hung over to properly crop the photo - sorry.
Why are my belly and chest red? Why did I get to work 2 hours late? How come I only remember things in bits + pieces? Oh yes, that’s right: it was a late night meeting of the M.A.T.H. club. Dronk fockers! I resent you all + will now blog about you.
The M.A.T.H. club is the young friends of Asian CineVision, comprised of a collective of writers, artists, and cultural enthusiasts. They’ll host parties and events throughout the Asian American International Film Festival, highlighting some of the best programs. No one really knows why it’s called the M.A.T.H. Club – must stand for “Movies And Things Here!” or “Mingle with Alcoholics Til it Hurts” (more likely). After what I saw/think I did last night, am seriously questioning my participation in their deceptively unassuming little parties. Art nerds, with their hidden powers of coercion, now frighten the crap right out of me.
Last night was their first party - the unofficial Festival kickoff, at No Malice Palace http://www.nomalice.com/ and like all things Festival, it was over.the.top.
Filmmaker Steve Mallorca, instigating something or other.
No Malice Palace was PACKED with about 150 people, the garden was lovely, and the stars were out: actress Theresa Ngo of TIE A YELLOW RIBBON, filmmaker Susie Lim of UNRAVEL, filmmaker Steve Mallorca of SLOW JAM KING, music video director Shilpa Mankikar of GET OVER, screenwriter Michael Choi of CRANES (winner of the screenplay competition), and screenwriter Charles Vogl of NEW YEAR BABY were among the semi-trashed. The pizza was free, TASTY, plentiful. Lots of chatter in the air about the upcoming FREE preview screening of Colma http://www.colmafilm.com/ (the hysterical musical spoof centering on three awkward high school friends on the eve of graduation) on Monday, July 2, 8pm at Anthology Film Archives (email graiguhlin@15minutespr.org to RSVP). Also, lots of anticipation building for festival films like DARK MATTER http://aaiff.org/2007/films/film_detail.php?i=124 (based on the true story of a Chinese American physics Ph.D. student who stormed into a department meeting and shot five before turning the gun on himself) and the Music Video Show shorts program http://aaiff.org/2007/films/program_detail.php?i=14.
Finally, heard rumors that the M.A.T.H. Club is throwing another party after the screening of UNDOING http://aaiff.org/2007/films/film_detail.php?i=196 on Saturday, July 21. More to come.
Instead of running through some boring narrative of what happened, I’ll sum up the kickoff party with a single vignette – in contest format! First one to respond correctly gets a prize (use the “Comment” button):
One of the interns at this table drunk-dialed Festival Co-director Sonjia Hyon. Which one was it???
Posted by elisa.