The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) officially
unveiled the film lineup and special guest appearances for this year’s
festival. The BAAFF empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian
American experiences and serves as a resource for filmmakers and the Greater
Boston Community. BAAFF is a production of the Asian American Resource
Workshop. The screenings run from October 23rd to 26th with special
presentations on October 13th and November 3rd.
Films will be presented at The Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Suffolk
University’s Modern Theatre, and the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square,
however most screenings will take place at Emerson College’s Paramount Center.
The much-anticipated opening film, executive produced by
Martin Scorsese, The Revenge of the Green Dragons, makes its Boston debut on
October 23rd and comes out in theatres the following day. It is co-directed by
Andrew Lau, whose Internal Affairs was remade into the Oscar-winning movie The
Departed, and Andrew Loo. It explores
the dark world of Asian American gang life in 1980s and ‘90s New York City. A
few of the cast members of “Dragons” will be present at its screening at the
Brattle Theatre, including Shuya Chang (Casse-tête Chinois, Karma: A Very
Twisted Love Story), Shing Ka (The Manchurian Candidate, God’s Land, Grand
Gesture), Celia Au (Detachment, The Unity of All Things, Sonic), Carl Li (Math
Warriors, Loveless, Pistol Whipped), and Richard Lam.
George Takei, of Star Trek fame, and his partner Brad Takei
will be present at the To be Takei special presentation at the Somerville Theatre
in Davis Square on November 3rd. The
film follows Takei’s journey over seven decades, from a WWII internment camp to
the helm of the starship Enterprise to the helm of daily newsfeeds of five
milling Facebook fans.
The BAAFF features 26 films. The full lineup is: Fred Ho’s
Last Year, Revenge of the Green Dragons, Shorts Program I (Mandevilla, Why We
Rise, Breaking the Rules, Left on Shin Wong, H7N3, Hypebeast), Chu
Blossom, Pretty Rosebud, Can, Shorts Program II (The Corner Table, Cleaner, A Stitch
in Time, Samnang, Sukiyaki with Love), 9-Man, 100 Days, Kumu Hina, Shorts
Program III (My Name is Asiroh, More than a Face in the Crowd, Descendants of
the Past, Ancestors of the Future, M A R K E D), A Leading Man, and To be
Takei.
Also, on October 25th, there will be a free panel discussion
with special guests, entitled Asian Americans in Media, at the Tufts Medical
Center Wolff Auditorium in Chinatown.
This year’s selections aren’t short on young and local
talent, including Ursula Liang, a Newton, MA native who directed 9-Man, this
year’s centerpiece film, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth musician Royal
Hartigan, MIT graduate and director Albert Chan, Steven J. Kung (who worked as
the assistant to Matthew Weiner on Mad Men) with his directorial debut of A
Leading Man, winner of two best feature awards, and the 2014 Short Waves
Winner, Jose Soto whose short film Who I Really Am… will be screened on opening
night.
For more information please visit: www.baaff.org or www.facebook.com/baaff
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