In our conversation with WASI in Episode 22 we let them know that they remind us of M.I.A. WASI’s infectious, dance music with a message fits right in with M.I.A.’s sound.  The closing night film for Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. a documentary by first time filmmaker Stephen Loveridge. Loveridge creates an intimate portrait of the unconventional pop star through personal footage spanning decades.

Get your tickets to the film and closing night party! What are notable films that you saw throughout the festival? Find the TFAL crew at the closing night party and let us know!

MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A., Aratani Theatre, May 10, 2018 7:00 pm

The 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) shines a light on the country of Taiwan, highlighting the best in Taiwanese cinema and the country’s rich culture and history that have shaped the island nation into one of the most dynamic countries in the Asia-Pacific Rim.

This year, LAAPFF is honored to present two feature films — Jay Chern’s third feature film, OMOTENASHI, and Frank W. Chen’s documentary LATE LIFE: THE CHIEN-MING WANG STORY.

OMOTENASHI, from LAAPFF Award winner Jay Chern (THIEF, LAAPFF 2014), stars Edison Wang as Jacky, the young heir to a construction company in Taiwan. His father sends him to Kyoto to oversee the renovation of the  beautiful yet obsolete Bright Moon Ryokan. Jacky is going in hopes to get back his ex-girlfriend Naoko and to sell the hotel. There, he meets the innkeeper Mistuko and her daughter Rika. Unaware of his hidden agenda, the innkeeper is excited about the idea of turning the hotel into a wedding venue, and suggests that Jacky learns “omotenashi”, the virtue of traditional Japanese hospitality, together with her daughter and her otaku helper.

LATE LIFE: THE CHIEN-MING WANG STORY could be best described as a baseball version of LINSANITY. Directed by Frank W. Chen and produced by Brian Yang (coincidentally, who also produced the eponymous Jeremy Lin documentary), chronicles Taiwanese baseball player Chien-Ming Wang’s last ditch effort to be recruited back on a professional baseball team after a series of injuries disrupted his trailblazing career in the major leagues. Much like LINSANITY, the documentary is an up close and personal film that delves into Wang’s personal drive as a star athlete with a steely determination and resiliency that impresses everyone in his wake.

In addition to these two features, this year’s spotlight also highlights the works of emerging Taiwanese filmmakers with three short films — 100th BIRTHDAY WISH by Lien Chien Hung, MISS WORLD by Georgia Fu, and FUNDAMENTAL by Shih-Chieh Chiu. These short films present universal stories that are also unique in capturing everyday Taiwanese life.  As LAAPFF is an Academy Award®-qualifying festival for Short Film Awards, perhaps these new directors will one day be the next Ang Lee.

We celebrate Taiwanese filmmakers with their latest shorts, in the following programs:

100th BIRTHDAY WISH (dir. Lien Chien Hung) appearing in Forever Alone (Or Not)

MISS WORLD (dir. Georgia Fu) appearing in My So-Called Adolescence

FUNDAMENTAL (dir. Shih-Chieh Chiu) appearing in My So-Called Adolescence

SPOTLIGHT TAIWAN: BUY TICKETS 

This Filipino American Life shorts program recommendations!

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival continues to highlight talented short filmmakers and storytellers. A few short films that shouldn’t be missed are Just A Kid From Seattle, Fakeapino, Limboland, and Aswang Next Door.

If you are looking for one shorts program to check out, TFAL recommends The No Spin Zone. Filipino/Filipino American Short Films included in this program include The Duwende, Killings, and Your Mother.

THE NO SPIN ZONE, Downtown Independent, May 5, 2018 9:00 pm: BUY TICKETS

While working far from home to make ends meet, Boyet is called back to his family in rural Philippines after his young daughter Abby goes missing. His distraught wife, Tata, believes their child was taken by the duwende, a mythical creature from Filipino folklore that steals children from their homes.

Director’s Bio

Odin B. Fernandez is a filmmaker from Quezon City, Philippines and currently based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been in the film production industry in various capacities for more than a decade. In 2016, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Film and Television from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. His graduate film received the Best Production Script at the 2016 VCA Film and TV Graduate Awards.

Through a series of killings, PATAYAN examines the wearisome violence plaguing the country and questions the amalgam of murder with impunity, along with the public’s apathy for the dead. Without narrative or characterization, choosing only to depict the act of killing itself, the film confronts the violence head on.

Director’s Bio

Joseph Mangat is a filmmaker born in Manila, Philippines and based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. He holds a MA in TV, Film and New Media from San Diego State University. His short films have screened at multiple festivals and showcases. He is currently finishing his first feature documentary film, HOLY CRAFTS.

Follow Ana, a housemaid in Manila, and her quiet resilience as she is hassled by the family she has come to care for. While she is desperate to send more money to her mom, her job is jeopardized when her employer’s children’s desire for her go too far.

Director’s Bio

Mary is an NYC based filmmaker. She blurs the lines between personal drama, fantasy, and fiction ever since she got a hold of her first 16mm camera as a teenager. She received her MFA at NYU for Writing and Directing where she was the recipient of the prestigious Tisch Graduate Fellowship for Cinematography. With her work, she pursues distinct and transformative stories full of bullish heart and levity.

This Filipino American Life Documentary Recommendations!

THE CLEANERS and CALL HER GANDA are two films in the documentary competition for Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Under the International Documentary Feature Competition there is THE CLEANERS highlights who’s job is it to Olivia Pope/fix your online profiles. CALL HER GANDA makes it’s west coast premiere in the LAAPFF Documentary Features Competition. The film follows the story of a 19 year old transgender woman murdered by a US Marine.

THE CLEANERS, Regal L.A. Live – Theatre 13, May 7, 2018 6:30 pm: BUY TICKETS

When you post something on the web, can you be sure it stays there? Who is controlling what we see… and what we think? Social media sites — particularly Facebook and YouTube — have been under intense pressure to monitor and delete offensive, pornographic, and incendiary posts. Compassionately portraying the Filipino workers who comb through thousands of online images in the dark of night, THE CLEANERS exposes the dark side of information technology.

Director’s Bio

Hans Block is a German theatre director, musician, and filmmaker. He studied Music at the Berlin University of the Arts and Directing at the Ernst Busch Institute for Theatre Directing. Moritz Riesewieck is a German theatre director, author, and filmmaker. He studied Economics as a scholar of the German National Academic Foundation, followed by Directing at the Ernst Busch Institute for Theatre Directing in Berlin.

CALL HER GANDA, AMC Dine-in Sunset 5, May 4, 2018 7:00 pm: BUY TICKETS

Grassroots activists in the Philippines are spurred into action when a local transgender woman is found dead in a motel room with a 19-year-old U.S. marine as the leading suspect. As the activists demand answers and a just trial, hidden histories of U.S. colonization come bubbling to the surface.

Director’s Bio

PJ Raval is an award‐winning filmmaker whose credits include TRINIDAD (Showtime, Logo) and BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, which follows the lives of three gay senior men, described by indieWIRE as “a crucial new addition to the LGBT doc canon.” An accomplished cinematographer, PJ shot the Academy Award‐nominated Best Documentary, TROUBLE THE WATER and is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, 2016 Firelight Media Fellow, and a 2017 Robert Giard Fellow.

This Filipino American Life Features Recommendations!

The Fever and The Fret and Neomanila are two films that are in the features competition for Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The Fever and The Fret is in the Narrative Feature Competition, while Neomanila is in the International Feature Competition. Neomanila also happens to be by Mikhail Red, who’s film BIRDSHOT is currently streaming on Netflix.

The Fever And The Fret, Regal L.A. Live – Theatre 14, May 9, 2018 7:00 pm: BUY TICKETS

A shy, artistic loner growing up in the Bronx, Eleanor is tormented at school because of her large facial birthmarks. At night, she begins visiting another world, and encounters another being. But when Eleanor is forced into a confrontation at school, she may have to leave her other world behind forever.

Director’s Bio

Cath Gulick is a New York-based filmmaker. Her previous short film world-premiered at Slamdance, where Film Threat applauded it as “very funny and well-acted.” She helped produce the burlesque shows, “Guilty Pleasures” and “The Blushing Diamond Review” as featured in New York Magazine, and worked assistant camera on Jeremy Saulnier’s MURDER PARTY. Most recently she wrote, produced, directed, photographed, and edited her first feature film, THE FEVER AND THE FRET.

NEOMANILA, Regal L.A. Live – Theatre 14, May 9, 2018 9:15 pm: BUY TICKETS 

Since President Rodrigo Duterte’s election, the Philippines has been in a grip of the “war on drugs”, where the police use bounty hunters to kill gangsters. A street orphan named Toto is one of many caught in the crossfire when he is recruited by a notorious death squad.

Director’s Bio

Mikhail Red is a Filipino filmmaker based in Manila, Philippines. Exposed to cinema at an early age, Red wrote and directed his first short film when he was fifteen, immediately earning him recognition in local and international film festivals. His sophomore feature film project, BIRDSHOT, won the top prize of the Asian Future section of the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival. It was the Philippines’ official entry to the Academy Awards.