Posted on: Wednesday, April 13, 2005
TV/FILM NOTES
Spring film fest boffo at box office
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawaii International Film Festival executives had record returns from this year's Spring Showcase, which wrapped up Friday.
Executive director Chuck Boller said ticket sales topped 10,000, an increase of about 42 percent over last year.
This year's Showcase had 30 films from 14 countries, including two with Hawai'i ties — "Phantom Below" and "The Massie Affair."
Boller said the success of the Showcase bodes well for the festival's silver anniversary year. Festival organizers plan to pull out all the stops for the main event in October.
Takeyamas give $100,000
Former University of Hawai'i regent and deputy state attorney general Roy Takeyama and his wife, Hilda, have donated $100,000 to UH's Academy for Creative Media. The donation will be used to establish a post-production editing suite and support student internships and awards.
The post-production facility is a major step forward for the 2-year-old program.
Academy chairman Chris Lee said the equipment will allow students to extend the technical reach of the films, improving their chances of having films accepted by national and international festivals.
This is the second major donation to the program by the Takeyamas, who helped establish the program with another $100,000 gift that was used for movie cameras, digital tool belts and laptops.
Review Draws AAJA's ire
Advertiser library photo • 2005 Reed didn't like the film, and that's his personal and professional prerogative. But he went too far, the AAJA says, by writing, "What else can you expect from a nation weaned on kimchi, a mix of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots (and) sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs?"
Said Abe Kwock of AAJA: "That one line reduces an entire people to a backward, 'different' lot that's meant to be mocked. The punchline of a cruel joke."
Sounds of 'Silent'
James Sereno's "Silent Years," a short film based on the work of local author Lois Ann Yamanaka, is enjoying a long run on the national film festival circuit.
The film was paired with another Yamanaka-derived piece, Kayo Hatta's "Fishbowl," at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival.
(The San Francisco festival also featured UH student Kevin Inouye, whose short film "Tale of Haiku Jones" sold out the first of its two screenings.)
"Silent Years" will next screen at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Rim Festival at the end of the month, then at the New York Asian International Film Festival in July. Screenings at the Singapore Film Festival and the Brisbane Film Festival in Australia also have been confirmed.
"Silent Years" won for best short film at the British Academy for Film and Television Arts Awards last year.
'Dis-N-Dat' goes national
Producer and host Kutmaster Spaz has inked a deal to provide sketch comedy bits from his cable TV show to the AZN network's "Popcorn Zen," which highlights the work of Asian filmmakers.
Get your first look at 6:30 p.m. today on AZN (digital cable channel 118).
A 'River' runs through here
Filipino film stars Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz will be on hand for the Hawai'i premiere of "Panaghoy sa Suba (The Call of the River)" at 7 p.m. Friday at the Hawai'i Theatre.
General admission is $15; VIP seating is $20. Proceeds from the special screening will go to the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii.
Reel deal
The latest episode of Don Brown's "Hawaii's Reel Stories" will feature documentary projects from Hawai'i.
Brown offers a closer look at "Humble Beginnings," UH Academy for Creative Media student Nelson Quan's doc about Iolani School basketball star Derrick Low (now the starting point guard at Washington State); "The Gem Hunter in Afghanistan," about Hawai'i resident Gary Bowersox; Kathryn Xian's "Hawaii Slam: Poetry in Paradise"; and Big Island resident Andrea Dean's "Holistic Health" pilot episode.
"Hawaii's Reel Stories" airs at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow on OC16 and repeats throughout the month.
$50,000 bounty
Producers of the new reality show "Loser Leaves Town" are offering a $50,000 "bounty" to anyone who can help find the perfect pair of feuding neighbors.
The chosen families will receive at least $100,000 for appearing in the six-episode series. For details, call (800) 605-5062 or visit www.ltnshow.com. Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2461.
The Asian American Journalists Association (of which I'm a member) is calling out film critic Rex Reed for his across-the-line review in the New York Observer of the South Korean film "Oldboy," one of the films included in HIFF's Spring Showcase.
"Oldboy" was panned by reviewer Rex Reed, who tied its cinematic short-comings to a taste for kim chee.
