23rd SAN FRANCISCO 
INTERNATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 
MARCH 10-20, 2005 IN SAN FRANCISCO, BERKELEY, AND SAN JOSE

Films of interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities

Kick off the nation's largest Asian American film festival in style with Alice Wu's SAVING FACE, starring local silver screen luminary Joan Chen. SAVING FACE marks a triumphant feature-length directorial debut for San Jose-born and raised Alice Wu, who puts all her heart and soul into this inspiring romantic comedy about living life honestly amidst the expectations of a traditional community. Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec) is a successful young surgeon and a dutiful daughter, but also—to the chagrin of her 48-year-old widowed Ma (Joan Chen)—still single. During weekly socials in the tightly knit Chinese community of Flushing, Queens, Ma and her chatty cronies nudge eligible bachelors toward Wil, but her eyes are fixed instead on a gorgeous young woman, Vivian (Lynn Chen), who smiles back. One fortuitous encounter, some stammering and a few clumsily romantic (and steamy) moments later, Wil finds herself in love with Vivian, yet unable to come out to her own mother. Things take an unexpected turn, however, when it's Ma who suddenly shows up at Wil's doorstep pregnant, unwilling to name the father and disowned by her own parents. Filmmaker Wu and members of the cast are expected to attend the screening. After the film, head to the opulent Asian Art Museum for an exclusive after-party with sounds from Dan the Automator, Dhamaal, DJ King Kong and SambAsia.

The latest from the edge, Quentin Lee's ETHAN MAO

Multi-talented filmmaker Quentin Lee's past features (SHOPPING FOR FANGS, SFIAAFF '97; DRIFT) focused on everything from confused identities to obsessive passion. With ETHAN MAO, he turns his storytelling to family and fear in suburbia. After his homophobic father throws him out of the house, the teenage Ethan becomes a hustler, turning tricks to survive. His only friend and mentor is the street-smart Remigio. When the two unexpectedly confront Ethan's family, events spin out of control. First-time feature actors Jun Hee Lee (Ethan) and Jerry Hernandez (Remigio) turn in impressive performances, playing their respective characters with humanity and charm. ETHAN MAO pulls few punches in its raw dissection of rage and resentment. There are no easy villains or victims as a collision of emotions leaves everyone wounded, both literally and figuratively.

From Hong Kong comes BUTTERFLY, an erotic tale

Yan Yan Mak's tenderly erotic film unspools the yarn of a woman’s yearning attempt to acknowledge her lesbian desire despite cultural and familial disapproval. Flavia is a 30-year-old schoolteacher, wife and mother, living a comfortable middle-class existence in post-handover Hong Kong. When she meets Yip, a passionate and free-spirited singer, she is sexually drawn to her but realizes that her desire could result in losing her own child. Flavia's ambivalent relationship with Yip is intercut with flashbacks to her high school and college years during the late '80s, when she was involved with Jin, a lesbian civil rights activist. At those times, the two women were involved in the student democracy movement, and the dissolution of their relationship occurred against the violent backdrop of the bloodshed in Tiananmen Square. The film's subtle references to historic events brings home the point that sexuality is always a political act.

Revival screening of a classic doc by acclaimed gay filmmaker

To celebrate its landmark 25th anniversary, NAATA, the Festival's producer, has asked Guest Programmers to select films from its past which embody the spirit, history and diversity of its work.

Guest Programmer Renee Tajima-Pe–a is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, scholar and film critic. Her films include MY AMERICA... (OR HONK IF YOU LOVE BUDDHA) and the Academy Award-nominated WHO KILLED VINCENT CHIN? One of Renee Tajima-Pe–a's picks is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Arthur Dong's SEWING WOMAN (1982). SEWING WOMAN is a portrait of the groundbreaking gay documentarian's (COMING OUT UNDER FIRE) immigrant mother and her remarkable resilience. Using everyday images—home movies, family photos—Dong created a lyrical film essay that is at once economical and emotionally loaded. As Tajima-Pe–a enthuses, "for those of us who grew up thinking our families had no place in the pantheon of American myth-making, SEWING WOMAN was an awakening."

A selection of ground-breaking shorts

When learning the languages of love, family and desire, we often make up the rules as we go. The complex, funny and masterfully directed queer movies of the "PAST IMPERFECT, FUTURE TENSE" shorts program enact journeys into the uncharted realms of the past and the present, of family bonds, forbidden fantasies and the ever-changing notions of home. Included are Michael Sandoval's ARIANA, the story of a doctor and his lover who must deal with his aging grandmother; Tina Gharavi's MOTHER/COUNTRY, a documentary look at the filmmaker's relationship with her mother; Mark V. Reyes' LAST FULL SHOW, the tale of a young cruiser who hits on an older man looking for a little more; Sonali's BAREFEET, an experimental musing on the concept of identity for a South Asian lesbian; and Wayne Yung's MY GERMAN BOYFRIEND, a witty look at the quest for a perfect beau. Ernesto Foronda and Eve Oishi curated "PAST IMPERFECT, FUTURE TENSE." Also screening at the Festival will be the latest from Fest fave and Bay Area gay filmmaker Stuart Gaffney, MUNI TO THE MARRIAGE. MUNI TO THE MARRIAGE screens in the "LISTENING TO LOVE SONGS" shorts program.

The SFIAAFF gratefully acknowledges its sponsors

The 23rd San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, presented by NAATA and Asia Street on International Channel is supported in part by the Asian Art Museum, Canadian Consulate Trade Office, Comcast, Grants for the Arts, Koret Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Noon, Oscar Printing, Procter & Gamble, Radisson Miyako Hotel, San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and Wells Fargo. NAATA is supported with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, runs March 10-17, 2005 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres, 1881 Post Street, and the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street in San Francisco; and the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley and March 18-20 at the Camera 12 Cinemas, 201 South Second Street in San Jose. For more information, please telephone (415) 865-1588 or visit www.naatanet.org/festival on the Internet.