SFIAAFF 2011: EMIR (2010)—REVIEW (Francis "Oggs" Cruz)

Now that Michael Hawley has provided his helpful overview of the lineup for the 2011 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), let's hone in on specific films. Last year's edition of SFIAAFF shone a spotlight on the national cinema of the Philippines with a retrospective sampling of the work of Lino Brocka. Not only was this a welcome embrace of the Filipino community into SFIAAFF's Asian American demographic, but afforded opportunity for The Evening Class to collaborate with three of the Philippines' leading young critics: Francis "Oggs" Cruz, Richard Bolisay, and

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SFIAAFF 2011—Michael Hawley Previews the Line-up

Rather than wait until its 30th birthday, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) has chosen 29 as the ripe age for a makeover. At a recent press conference announcing 2011's line-up, the fest introduced a new logo, website, tagline ("Stories to light") and most importantly, a new Festival and Exhibitions Director. Masashi Niwano, a 29-year-old Bay Area native, worked his way up the SFIAAFF ranks as volunteer, intern, theater operations manager and even filmmaker. He's come home after a four-year stint running the Austin Asian American Film Festival and now r

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Michael Hawley, SFIAAFF,

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SFIAAFF 2011: BAY RONG (CLASH, 2009)—A Critical Overview

As early as July 2009, Twitch teammate Todd Brown was already anticipating the release of Bay Rong (Clash, 2009), the follow-up to the popular Vietnamese martial arts film The Rebel (2007), produced and written by its male lead Johnny Tri Nguyen, with Thanh Van "Veronica" Ngo as his love interest. As Todd cited, the news that Nguyen and Ngo had become a couple after playing romantic leads in The Rebel probably helped the film's exposure, and it went on to become one of the biggest hits in Vietnamese cinema history.Nguyen had already gained notoriety as one of only two men in the world who co

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FOR THE LOVE OF FILM (NOIR) BLOGATHON: METROPOLIS (1927)—Onstage Interview With Eddie Muller, Paula Félix-Didier and Fernando Martín Peña

Marilyn Ferdinand (Ferdy on Films) and Farran Smith Nehme (The Self-Styled Siren) are at it again with their second annual film preservation blogathon, drumming up funds this year to benefit San Francisco's Film Noir Foundation (FNF) and Paramount Pictures's restoration of Cy Endfield's The Sound of Fury (aka Try and Get Me, 1950). Donations can be forwarded here. Due to a calendar conflict, this was the first year in many that I was not able to attend FNF's annual Noir City Film Festival; but, in years past I've been so enamored with the festival that I've created an index for my coverage

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CINEMA ACROSS MEDIA: THE 1920s

Bay Area cinephiles have learned to speak up about their love for silent cinema. Not only did MovieMaker magazine recently include the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) as one of the 20 "coolest" film festivals of 2010—and not only did San Franciscans just experience Chaplin's comic antics, Marcel L'Herbier's L'Argent (1928) and King Vidor's La Boheme (1926) at SFSFF's Winter Event—but now the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) proudly partner with UC Berkeley's Department of Film and Media to host an international conference on silent cinema, Cinema Across Media

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