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Unbound by Genre, Taiwan's Films Travel Unique Paths
Adam Hartzell
Oct 13, 2011Expectations defied in Taiwan Film Days. It could be argued that Taiwanese cinema, best known through the work of three auteurs, Edward Yang, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, is not tied to audience-generating genres. It’s certainly been able to travel more diverse cinematic avenues than some of its neighbors. San Francisco Film Society's Taiwan Film Days running from October 14–16, however, offers evidence for any number of arguments you’d like to make about Asian cinema and Taiwan in particular. On the docket this year are ...
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SFIAAFF Brings 'Light,' Captures Attention
Adam Hartzell
Mar 10, 2011At nearly 30, SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival fulfills a multifacted programming mission. The 29th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival stretches across the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Berkeley to San Jose March 10–20, bringing “Stories to Light” as the Center for Asian American Media's new tagline says. Indeed, both the stories and their potential audiences would be left in the dark without the solid efforts of new festival steward Misashi Niwano and Christine Kwon (festival director and managing director, respectively). In a city privileged with a vast...
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March 10, 2011
SFIAAFF Brings 'Light,' Captures Attention
Adam Hartzell
Mar 10, 2011At nearly 30, SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival fulfills a multifacted programming mission. The 29th edition of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival stretches across the Bay Area, from San Francisco to Berkeley to San Jose March 10–20, bringing “Stories to Light” as the Center for Asian American Media's new tagline says. Indeed, both the stories and their potential audiences would be left in the dark without the solid efforts of new festival steward Misashi Niwano and Christine Kwon (festival director and managing director, respectively). In a city privileged with a vast...
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'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen
Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
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March 10, 2011
'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen
Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
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March 3, 2011
'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen
Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
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Reviews
'Boonmee's' Magic Lights Up SFFS Screen
Dennis Harvey
Mar 4, 2011Apichatpong Weerasethakul returns to the jungle, and full-on magic realism, with 'Uncle Boonmee.'
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Home
Red Lantern Meetup Reels in Film Fans
Adam Hartzell
Jan 24, 2011The Red Lantern Meetup group brings Asian film fans together.
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January 27, 2011
Red Lantern Meetup Reels in Film Fans
Adam Hartzell
Jan 24, 2011The Red Lantern Meetup group brings Asian film fans together.
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Q & A
Red Lantern Meetup Reels in Film Fans
Adam Hartzell
Jan 24, 2011The Red Lantern Meetup group brings Asian film fans together.
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Home
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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January 13, 2011
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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Q & A
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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Home
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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January 13, 2011
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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Q & A
VCinema Podcast Finds Its Audience
Adam Hartzell
Jan 10, 2011An Asian cinema talk-radio show broadcasts from San Mateo to the world.
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Home
Kore-eda Breathes Life into 'Air Doll'
Dennis Harvey
Jun 25, 2010Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll is a conceptual gamble pulled off with a master’s grace and subtlety.
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Reviews
Kore-eda Breathes Life into 'Air Doll'
Dennis Harvey
Jun 25, 2010Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll is a conceptual gamble pulled off with a master’s grace and subtlety.
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Festivals
SFIFF53: Golden Gate Awards and Juried Prizes/Grants Announced
Susan Gerhard
May 5, 2010Cash prizes totaling nearly $300,000 for filmmakers highlighted the San Francisco International Film Festival s Golden Gate Awards Wednesday night.
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Q & A
Christina Yao's solid Empire of Silver
Michael Fox
Apr 12, 2010First-time filmmaker Christina Yao is soft-spoken and exceedingly polite, but it s apparent that very little intimidates her.
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Reviews
Epic Expectations in 'The Warlords'
Dennis Harvey
Apr 7, 2010When television first became a dire threat, Hollywood fought the small screen by making the big one really big with vast spectacles worth leaving home for.
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Festivals
San Francisco International Film Festival's 53rd Edition
Susan Gerhard
Mar 30, 2010Director of Programming Rachel Rosen and programmers Rod Armstrong, Audrey Chang and Sean Uyehara shared thoughts on 177 films from 46 countries.
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Festivals
SF International Asian American Film Festival's Archival Tour
Adam Hartzell
Mar 19, 2010A theme that emerged in this year s SFIAFF was the importance of archives in the film world.
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Reviews
Bong Joon-ho's 'Mother' Pleases
Dennis Harvey
Mar 18, 2010One of the heroes of South Korean cinema's recent renaissance wisely sticks to home terrain with his follow-up to The Host.
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Festivals
28th SF Int'l Asian American Film Festival
Dennis Harvey
Mar 10, 2010The Center for Asian American Media, formerly known as NAATA and founded to nurture Asian American filmmakers as well as counter ethnic stereotypes, has accomplished that and more.
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Festivals
A Tour Through the 2009 Taiwan Film Days
Adam Hartzell
Nov 5, 2009For three days, the SFFS offers a chance to see contemporary Taiwanese cinema beyond the work of the usual Taiwanese film masters.
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Reviews
'Thirst' and the Vampire Genre Still Bleeding
Dennis Harvey
Aug 7, 2009Vampires are still the It Ghoul of our cultural moment and South Korean film Thirst is as precisely crafted as it is gleefully over-the-top in content both carnal and carnivorous.
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Reviews
'Lion's Den' and '24 City'
Susan Gerhard
Jul 31, 2009Veteran filmmakers Pablo Trapero and Jia Zhang-ke complicate their genres with Lion's Den and 24 City.
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Reviews
'Night and Day:' Location, Location, Locution
Max Goldberg
May 21, 2009Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day is a comedic unraveling of a South Korean art student's gaffes throughout Paris.
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Festivals
SF International Film Festival Lineup
Susan Gerhard
Mar 31, 2009The two weeks of programs offers 151 films from 55 countries, awards and prices, and a wide array of San Francisco talent, from legendary names to the fledgling artists.
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Festivals
Connecting Here and There at the 27th SFIAAFF
Matt Sussman
Mar 20, 2009This year, the festival feels like it has truly arrived as an internationally recognized platform for cross-Pacific cinematic exchange, in this disparate cross-section of films from home, abroad and places in between.
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Reviews
Stephane Gauger on 'Owl and the Sparrow'
Judy Stone
Feb 9, 2009In this fable-like movie, an indomitable young orphan finds friendship with a lonely flight attendant and a teen-age caretaker of elephants.
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Q & A
Hard Look at China in 'Blind Mountain'
Judy Stone
Jul 11, 2008Li Yang speaks about commercial pressures in Chinese film and the story behind Blind Mountain.
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Reviews
'Mongol's' Mr. Nice Guy: Genghis Khan
Dennis Harvey
Jun 20, 2008Dennis Harvey reviews Sergei Bodrov's Mongol, a distinctive look at the early life of the conqueror.
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Reviews
Hong Sang Soo on the SFFS Screen
Adam Hartzell
Jun 18, 2008Woman on the Beach is a wonderful introduction to South Korean director Hong Sang Soo's films, in large part due to its subtle comedy.
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Festivals
In Other Words: Pacific Whims
Laura Irvine
May 8, 2008As an Asian film fan, it's a miracle I keep my day job at this time of year.
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Reviews
SFMOMA's "Nonwestern Westerns" Series
Dennis Harvey
Mar 26, 2008A series of films at SFMOMA present an outsiders take on the outmoded American staple, the Western.
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Festivals
SFIAAFF's winners
Susan Gerhard
Mar 21, 2008Two top winners at the SFIAAFF focused on breakadancing, an art form taken up with vengeance by Asians, with Koran teams a particularly dominant force.
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Q & A
SFIAAFF's Taro Goto, Moving On
Sean Uyehara
Mar 19, 2008Outgoing SFIAAFF's Associate Director reflects on what made him happy during his last year of work.
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Festivals
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
Max Goldberg
Mar 18, 2008SFIAAFF has grown from a niche event to a major international festival - with more than enough voices to justify its unwieldy moniker.
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Q & A
Q&A: Brillante Mendoza
Sean Uyehara
Mar 18, 2008Filipino Director Brillante Mendoza discusses his aesthetic: a basic approach that resists facade and pretense and desires to depict to things as they really are.
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Festivals
Ten SFIAAFF Picks From Judy Stone
Susan Gerhard
Mar 13, 2008Longtime San Francisco Chronicle film critic Judy Stone offers her top ten picks from the 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
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Festivals
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2008
Erika Young
Mar 12, 2008The 26th annual SFIAAFF plays in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, and kicks off with Wayne Wang's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
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Q & A
Donnie Yen, "Flashpoint"
Laura Irvine
Mar 9, 2008Here Donnie Yen wears two hatsÑas an actor in his signature role of a dedicated cop , and as an action choreographer who stages electric fight sequences using Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
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Reviews
Kiarostami Firsts, Plus "Five"
Judy Stone
Feb 26, 2008Fresh insight into the Iranian director is offered in a remarkable DVD featuring Five, an experimental, meditative film set on the shores of the Caspian.
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Reviews
Bollywood By the Bay
Laura Irvine
Feb 16, 2008Every morning I wake up with Bollywood movie tunes going through my head. Every. Single. Morning.
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Festivals
SF Indiefest, From Day One
Eve O'Neill
Feb 13, 2008Despite the blanket of financial and technical doom constantly smothering Independent Filmdom, Indiefest serves as a satisfying reminder that great indie film isn't going anywhere.
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Festivals
Second S.F. International Animation Festival
Susan Gerhard
Nov 12, 2007The S.F. International Animation Festival experienced a major bounce, with a number of sold-out shows in its venue at the Embarcadero Center Cinema.
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Reviews
Tomo Uchida at the PFA
Matt Sussman
Sep 19, 2007Does Tomo Uchida, whose retrospective is currently at the PFA, merit the same sort of reverent revival treatment that has been given many times over to other Japanese filmmakers of his generation?
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Q & A
Daniel Wu, Heavenly King
Jennifer Young
Apr 30, 2007Daniel Wu and fictitious boy band Alive from his directorial debut The Heavenly Kings on Cantpop, the Bay Area, and Hong Kong film.
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Reviews
Reviews: "I Don't Want to Sleep Alone"; "Mafioso"
Max Goldberg
Apr 10, 2007“I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone” puts its melodrama and comedy within a Malaysian mattress. 1962’s “Mafioso” may be the mob-chronicle genre’s ground zero.
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Q & A
Weerasethakul Talks Hospitals, Aerobics, and a Boy From Mars
Johnny Ray Huston
Apr 9, 2007One of Apichatpong Weerasethakul Ôs goals as a filmmaker is to simply show what he likes, and what he likes to see.
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Q & A
Video-Diary Pioneer Spencer Nakasako
Michael Fox
Mar 17, 2007Spencer Nakasako gets the credit for starting the still-cresting wave of first-person camcorder documentaries back in 1995, but he claims it was largely an accident.
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Festivals
S.F. International Asian American Announces '07 Program
Susan Gerhard
Feb 14, 2007This year's 125 films follow the fest's growth from 13 films in 1982 in the wake of Wayne Wang's Chan is Missing.
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Reviews
The Eye Candy of 'Tears of the Black Tiger'
Dennis Harvey
Feb 6, 2007Tears of the Black Tiger is Thai eye candy, an exercise pastiche where color just about leaps off the screen, and a star-crossed love story.
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Reviews
Teshigahara at The Castro
Dennis Harvey
Nov 23, 2006Filmmaking was just one among many creative outlets for Japanese multimedia artist Hiroshi Teshigahara.
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Reviews
50 Years of Janus Films
Max Goldberg
Nov 15, 2006It doesn't seem like a stretch to group Janus with those American institutions which have represented a vision of what art is and can be.
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Festivals
Second Look at 3rd I
Jennifer Young
Nov 14, 2006Three days, nine films, eight shorts, and endless bliss courtesy of last weekend's fourth annual 3rd I South Asian Film Festival.
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Reviews
City Poet Bruce Baillie Returns
Johnny Ray Huston
Oct 10, 2006When onlookers or bystanders disparagingly refer to experimental film as torturous or a bore, it’s a safe bet that they’ve never seen anything by Bruce Baillie.
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Festivals
Global Lens 2006
Michael Fox
Sep 21, 2006The annual series of films from countries with less developed or out-of-favor national cinemas has several winners.
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Festivals
Fall 2006 Festival Season
Susan Gerhard
Aug 25, 2006SF360 checks in with a few Bay Area festival insiders to see what they're excited about at upcoming festivals.
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Reviews
Kidlat Tahimik's "Perfumed Nightmare" Remains an Unlikely Masterpiece
Max Goldberg
May 18, 2006Perfumed Nightmare, a Filipino art film in which process is ultimately indivisible from form, is largely forgotten today but created a minor sensation upon its release.
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Q & A
Andy Lau, The Magic Man
Jennifer Young
Apr 26, 2006The Kabuki turned into a mosh pit at the Sunday screening of All About Love as Andy Lau's fans rushed the stage to greet him.
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First Person
Chuck Stephens on the Set of "Citizen Dog"
Chuck Stephens
Mar 22, 2006Chuck Stephens shares his thoughts, existential and otherwise, on the Bangkok set of Citizen Dog.
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Q & A
Filmmaker Ham Tran Rights an Historical Wrong
Thomas Logoreci
Mar 21, 2006Vietnamese American filmmaker Ham Tran rights an historical wrong in his debut feature film on the Vietnam War.
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Festivals
Future Stars of SFIAAFF
Jennifer Young
Mar 17, 2006The List: Taro Goto posits who will go on to superstardom from the 2006 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
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Festivals
Transnational Tales at This Year's SFIAAFF
Johnny Ray Huston
Mar 16, 2006Transnational tales stand out at the 2006 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
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Festivals
A Talk with SFIAAFF Directors Chi-hui Yang and Taro Goto
Susan Gerhard
Mar 14, 2006Asian America everywhere: A talk with San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival directors Chi-hui Yang and Taro Goto.
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