“2020 marks the 50th anniversary for visual communications,” said Francis Cullado, Executive Director of Visual Communications. “The organization was born because our founders began searching for visual resources to build a greater consciousness of Asian Pacific history in America ….
By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Runs Sept 24 to Oct 31
The complete lineup of the 36th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is here! The list is extensive and to figure out what to see for its virtual event took more than days to figure out. Because of this event being region specific, most of these movies are geolocked to those residing in the county to see. However, with a lot of film festivals offering an online component, it’s safe to assume that these films will become available for another region in no time. Failing that, some works are already available on home video for purchase in the country it was made.
Over 225 filmmakers will be featured in the five weeks which starts very soon! There’s three feature film world premieres and plenty of shorts to see.
This latest film is not too different from the previous two tales–all using shape shifting as a metaphor on how it changes society. The talents at this studio have certainly one-upped themselves with this latest work.
Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers is a sweetly engaging animated tale about the winds of change not only within the Goodfellowe family but also with Ireland as a whole. No, we’re not necessarily talking about revolution, but instead in how to let the past be what it must, and see little sparrows grow.
Robyn’s (Honor Kneafsey) coming of age tale is key to this heroine’s journey into adulthood. Bill (Sean Bean) can’t bear to see her grow up. He promised (the wife is presumably deceased) to keep this wee darling daughter safe, but she’s ready to kill wolves like her father. He’s been hired by the puritanical Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell to hunt down the wolves of Kilkenny. This film is historically correct when they are considered a threat to business (mostly the loss of sheep) but there are other ways to handle a dire situation..
BC-based Abbott has been making films about urgent social, political and environmental issues for 25 years, including co-directing the 2003 Sundance award-winning The Corporation. She’s also back at VIFF this year with The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, co-directed with Joel Bakan.
The Great Malaise by Catherine Lepage
In the voiceover for this animated short, a young woman attempts to describe herself, casting her life in the ideal light that society expects. The film’s imagery, however, tells a different story, poignantly illustrating the intense anxiety that comes with the quest for perfection and the pursuit of happiness. A film that’s both funny and moving, and above all, profoundly human.
In Paris, romance is in the air more often than naught, and it’s nice to see the challenges of giving life to a broken heart. To see Gaspard keep it going may require a new drug formed by a mermaid’s tears, but will he take it?
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Fantasia Festival 2020
Played Aug 27 & 30th, 2020
Mathias Malzieu is a type of French movie maker whose output is very minimal because he’s the front man to a very active music band, Dionysos. The last film is an exquisite and haunting Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013). One detail I noticed is in how the soundtrack in his latest film is like this prior work because of one signature tune over variance. It works with the last film because of the cyclic motif, but here it doesn’t quite ring.
More music is needed in the live action Une Sirène à Paris. Gaspard (Nicolas Duvauchelle) has one song to win Lula’s (Marilyn lima) heart, and it’s ironic because usually it’s the other way around on who woos whom. The translated title is A Mermaid in Paris, which may seem unusual. Anyone who knows their classical mythology will recognize a siren (usually more bird-like than fish) no matter how it said in another language. She’s a mythical creature whose sweet melody lures sailors to their death.
The talented up-and-coming writer/director Quoc Bao Tran must have trained too, and he’s taken those lessons he learned at the kwoon (dojo) and put them to heart when penning The Paper Tigers.
By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
Playing at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 on Sept 1st, 5:30pm PST. Buy your virtual ticket here. Canadian Residents only.
All hail The Paper Tigers! This martial arts comedy shows what three former students–now past their prime–are up to since they stopped practising. When their sifu (Roger Yuan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny) die under mysterious circumstances, they reunite to figure out what’s going on, and along the way, try to get back their mojo.
While the humour is light, the mystery is heavy. However, the heart and soul of the film belong to those aphorisms you’d take away from after certain films or television. In this case, it’s Kung Fu, the original series.
We already have a real world project to build a 1:1 scale moving Gundam, so why can’t we have Mazinger Z too?
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020
International Premiere
August 29th, 2020
Just when you think real life can’t imitate fantasy–namely making a full scale RX-78-2 Gundam that can move–cinema has upped the scale by postulating if we can build a working underwater hanger bay to house the Mazinger Z. The ambition is there, with an appropriate soundtrack to boot, and I couldn’t help but cheer and yell, “gambatte”. The question is, can the civil engineering company Maeda Corporation (fantasy marketing division) build it?
To note: Yes, this company is real and yes, they actually made actual plans to build this for real.
By Ed Sum
By Ed Sum
By Ed Sum