Actor Liu Ye and director Chen Shi-zheng on the set of DARK MATTER.

By Hua Hsu

Though DARK MATTER is director Chen Shi-zheng’s first film, he might be one of the most distinguished artists the AAIFF has ever hosted. The award-winning theater and opera director has been a fixture in the global arts scene for nearly two decades, even earning the title of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters from the French government in 2000. During this remarkably productive span of time, about the only thing Chen did not do was make DARK MATTER, a film he began thinking about in the early 1990s. While DARK MATTER borrows heavily from the true story of a disgruntled Chinese graduate student who went on a shooting rampage in 1991, the film doesn’t traffic in violence. Instead, DARK MATTER explores issues of displacement and disillusionment, as well as the at-times absurd setting of the university campus. Fresh off the successful debut of his latest work, the Gorillaz-assisted, genre-collapsing opera Monkey: Journey to the West, Chen talked to us about the ups and downs of making DARK MATTER.

In-soo Radstake, director of MADE IN KOREA.

Socheata Poeuv: Why do you think going-home narratives are so popular in Asian films and books?

I think the Asian community can relate so much with the whole ‘going home’ issue because lots of Asians live outside their native countries. They live there for several reasons: for a better future, escaped from regimes, war. People made dramatic choices, or had to. Separated from loved ones, they understand what others are going through and are also curious for their experiences of going home, I think.

Director Socheata Poeuv with her father in her award-winning documentary NEW YEAR BABY.

In-Soo Radstake: When you started documenting your background and family's life, did you have any idea what you were about to start and where it would lead? And will lead to, in the future?

Socheata Poeuv: NEW YEAR BABY is my first film. I just wanted to start capturing my family’s story. I had no idea if it would turn into a ten-minute piece or a feature-length documentary or just a collection of footage.

By Christopher Bourne

The history of Malaysian cinema is as complex and contested as the country itself. Malaysia’s unique mix of ethnicities often confounds general notions of national cinema. Compared with other areas of the world, the Malaysian film industry got a rather late start, its first film appearing in 1933. LAILA MAJNUN, based on a classic Persian tale, was directed by B.S. Rajhans, a director of Indian descent. After this film’s success, the Singapore-based Shaw Brothers, best known for their popular martial arts films, began producing films in the late 1930s. In another unique circumstance in terms of national cinemas, Singaporean and Malaysian cinema were one and the same, having been one country, until Singapore’s split from the Malaysian federation in 1965.

Director Joy Dietrich at work on the set of TIE A YELLOW RIBBON.

By Rebecca Klassen

Joy Dietrich's feature film TIE A YELLOW RIBBON, centered on the exploits of a Korean adoptee, is a lens into the emotional life of young Asian American women. Dietrich and Rebecca Klassen discussed Dietrich’s road to filmmaking, the isolation of being the only Asian in town, and dealing with depression.

By Reihan Salam

Recently, I found myself arguing with a friend about a very vital question, namely, “Why is Justin Lin so dope?” We really do talk like that: I’m not proud of it. Anyway, we were breaking down why Justin Lin is so dope, and we concluded that it had something to do with why Ben Tanaka is so wack. Allow me to explain.

By Hua Hsu

One of the more unusual films debuting at this year’s festival is David Kaplan’s YEAR OF THE FISH, a playful, animated reworking of an ancient Chinese folk story set in New York’s Chinatown, circa today. We spoke to Kaplan about the film’s dreamy and occasionally bizarre look—achieved through a method of animation called “rotoscoping.”

Andrew (actor David McInnis) and Sophie (actress Vera Farmiga) in Gina Kim's interracial melodrama NEVER FOREVER.

By Ed Park

Gina Kim’s NEVER FOREVER, a hothouse of italicized emotion and pregnant pauses, received its world premiere at Sundance this year. Star Vera Farmiga, best known for her role in THE DEPARTED, told the New York Times it was “one of the most visceral love stories I’d ever read;” intensely present in nearly every frame, she’s as compelling a wit’s-end heroine as you’ll see on screen this year. Ed Park interviewed Kim via e-mail.

By La Frances Hui

This Hong Kong filmmaker is a master of film language whose stylish and innovative use of light, color, frame composition, and camera movement create a world of visual exuberance. His editing approach features back-and-forth shifts from real time to slow motion and freeze frames to create arresting effects. His emphasis on mise-en-scène has redefined the meaning of art direction in Hong Kong cinema.

By Pete L’Official

It seems that in South Korea, good things come either in sets of three or twelve million. Over one quarter of South Korea's population, or about twelve million people, lives in its densely-packed capital, Seoul. A similar number—more than a quarter of all of South Koreans, a percentage that leads the world—are served by broadband Internet. And, in 2005, just about the same amount of people bought tickets to see Lee Jun-ik's Chosun Dynasty drama, KING AND THE CLOWN—the highest-grossing film of that year and, until 2006 (and the release of Bong Joon-Hoo's THE HOST), the most successful Korean film in history.

Aaron Kwok in Patrick Tam's masterpiece AFTER THIS OUR EXILE.

By Roger Garcia

The Hong Kong New Wave began in the late 1970s and one of its first masterworks was the debut feature by Allen Fong, FATHER AND SON. The film deals with the troubled relationship between an authoritarian father, who is a lowly janitorand his son, whom he hopes will prosper in business instead of following a childhood ambition to become a filmmaker. It remains one of the few Hong Kong films in the late 20th century to capture the mood, spirit, and feel of growing up in Hong Kong as Hong Kong itself grew up—and into an integral part of the global economy.

Director Justin Lin on the set of ANNAPOLIS.

My first interview with Justin Lin was in 1997, when he and Quentin Lee were promoting their debut feature film, SHOPPING FOR FANGS. Along with Rea Tajiri (STRAWBERRY FIELDS, HISTORY AND MEMORY), the three chatted about the state of Asian American filmmaking in a cramped studio at KALXFM in Berkeley, CA. At one point I asked if they, as independent filmmakers, would ever consider doing a studio film. Justin replied, half-joking, half-serious: “If I had the chance to make MIGHTY DUCKS 6, I would make the best MIGHTY DUCKS 6 I can.”

Director Desmond Nakano of AMERICAN PASTIME and WHITE MAN'S BURDEN.

By Matt Briones

Desmond Nakano’s AMERICAN PASTIME revisits the Japanese American internment through the lens of internment league baseball games, jazz-band swinging, and interracial romance. Interspersed with historical footage depicting Topaz Relocation Center and its prisoners, the film faithfully portrays both the indignities suffered and the dignity earned by Japanese Americans during this trying era. Matt Briones spoke to Nakano about some of the ideas, inspirations, and challenges behind the film.

The infamous mirror scene from ENTER THE DRAGON.

By Jenn Fang

I was a late-80s and early-90s child, and in the brightly-colored worlds of that era’s Saturday morning cartoons and after-school specials, I found the heroes who could inspire my imagination. Though faced with hundreds of televised protagonists who resembled G.I. Joe’s blonde-haired and blue-eyed Sgt. Duke, I gravitated towards those who resembled the Asian side-character, Quick Kick. Playing make-believe, my secret games transformed me into those favored characters that represented the best of who I could be. I spun wildly through the house engaged in desperate battles invisible to all but me, much to my parents’ barking dismay over the safety of second-hand couches and antique coffee tables.

The wisest and most succinct description of the documentary filmmaker’s plight came from Alfred Hitchcock: “In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.” The six nominees for this year’s Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award underscore this idea perfectly, as they chased after tales of survival and self-discovery, hula dancers and rogue politicians, family histories and the history of freedom. We decided to let our documentary filmmakers speak for themselves by inviting them to interview each other about the motivations, challenges, and secrets of their taxing yet noble art form.
Lisette Marie Flanary: Aloha Soda, Hey, how did those screenings in Japan go? Just back from the Maui Film Festival (fun!). Looks like we are supposed to interview each other for CineVue. Frankly, I think it's awesome that we got paired up, considering I know you from waaaaaaaaay back. No questions about KILL KIMONO, please!

I know you are currently in Japan showing CAMPAIGN right now and am curious to hear your thoughts on the response the film is getting there. How have audiences reacted to the film in Japan? How are they different from the response you have received at screenings here in America? I'm sure you must be really busy with press for the film in Japan AND starting to shoot the next doc. What are you up to next, if you don't mind me asking? And how's the festival circuit treating you (I know you've been getting around…by the way, did you know both our films played at the Sydney Film Festival together?)?