Party time! (In three weeks...)
Don't say I didn't give you adequate warning: Three weeks from tonight, on Feb. 13, the 27th San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival kicks off with a launch party at 111 Minna. There will be deejays, snacks, a (cash) bar, lots of cool people, and most of all, programs! Relax with a drink and find out whether that movie about the children or that other one about girls who like boys who like boys are showing, and when.
And don't forget about the documentaries. SFIAAFF screened two of them at a members-only preview event last week. It was a very good pairing, especially given the momentous events of this week.
A Song for Ourselves, a work in progress that will have its formal premiere in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, is an intimate portrait of Asian-American musician and activist Chris Iijima, who died in 2006. Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority is a conventional public television documentary, well crafted and exhaustively researched, about the life of the late congresswoman from Hawaii.
Both are about people who questioned the status quo and took action to change things. Both films delve into the Vietnam War, a watershed in Asian-American politics, which Iijima fought against at the grassroots level and Mink opposed in the halls of power. Both explore Hawaii, where Mink grew up (and fought racism) and where Iijima settled with his family (and found racial harmony). Both films deal with interracial marriage. And both deal sensitively with death and its aftermath.
What struck me most was the way these two movies portray interracial relationships. Mink married a white man, and Iijima married a white woman, at very different times in history. Both films briefly touch upon onetime objections to interracial marriage but never dwell on the subject, as they tell the stories of two families in the unique state where our new president was born.
And don't forget about the documentaries. SFIAAFF screened two of them at a members-only preview event last week. It was a very good pairing, especially given the momentous events of this week.
A Song for Ourselves, a work in progress that will have its formal premiere in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, is an intimate portrait of Asian-American musician and activist Chris Iijima, who died in 2006. Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority is a conventional public television documentary, well crafted and exhaustively researched, about the life of the late congresswoman from Hawaii.
Both are about people who questioned the status quo and took action to change things. Both films delve into the Vietnam War, a watershed in Asian-American politics, which Iijima fought against at the grassroots level and Mink opposed in the halls of power. Both explore Hawaii, where Mink grew up (and fought racism) and where Iijima settled with his family (and found racial harmony). Both films deal with interracial marriage. And both deal sensitively with death and its aftermath.
What struck me most was the way these two movies portray interracial relationships. Mink married a white man, and Iijima married a white woman, at very different times in history. Both films briefly touch upon onetime objections to interracial marriage but never dwell on the subject, as they tell the stories of two families in the unique state where our new president was born.
Labels: a song for ourselves, patsy mink, sfiaaff 2009
posted by Steve at
8:33 PM
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