Tag: Polynesia

Enter the Sublime at the 2022 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Shorts Program

This year’s set of cinematic shorts programs playing at the Los Angeles Asian Film Festival continues to enlighten and educate.

2022 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Shorts ProgramThis year’s set of cinematic shorts programs playing at the Los Angeles Asian Film Festival continues to enlighten and educate. My tip is that anyone curious about SouthEast Asia should check these curated selections out! Each nation has a uniquemess that not everyone is aware of, and I’m constantly amazed at what the filmmakers from here can produce. Even if you can’t make it to this event, most of them can be found streaming online.

From the program guide on one of these programs:

Through various frames and points of view, we are brought closer to encountering an ancient Pacific past. Once again Pacific Cinewaves pushes the importance of āina, ancestry and belonging, challenging how Pacific people have been imagined throughout history. In these films, seven filmmakers become modern-day navigators using their hands and creative vision to steer each story.

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Top 10 Must See Picks at the 2022 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

The following are my picks of what to must see at the 2022 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Some are genre works, and others, documentaries.

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

The 38th edition of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is taking place very soon and for fans of cinema across the sea, the films being offered this year covers a nice wide gamut of topics, themes and genres that examine some aspect of Oceania. There’s experimental, short and feature length films. Like previous years, this event will include an online portion for those still concerned about the pandemic and be geolocked.

The following are my picks of the 2022 season. Some are genre works, and others, documentaries. Making the list again is Waterman, which is a must see about the visionary who helped make waterboarding an Olympic Sport.

Clicking on the links will take you to the LAAPFF’s webpage to purchase tickets.

FROM VISIONS TO REEL SHORTS PROGRAM

A legacy program with the film festival that has welcomed award-winning filmmakers early in their career. Experience a range of storytelling styles from the next generation. The future is now.

STILL LIFE SHORTS PROGRAM

A collection of animated stories from near and far. An array of visuals from the canvas, stage, and screen. These images of still life will move you.

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LAAPFF 2020 The Power of Myth, Healing & Kapaemahu

The art style is simply fantastic. The sepia tones evoke a dream-like quality to contrast the past to the present. As the tale shifts from a quiet watcher to that of a child being told of his heritage, I firmly believe what’s presented here is a far better tale than Disney’s Moana. Both are terrific in its regard of what Polynesian culture represents, but if I had to choose which is more respectful in its production, it’s with Won-Kalu’s work!

null 31By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to watch in the continental United States via LAAPFF till Oct 31st.

The animated short, Kapaemahu, is a contender for the Academy Awards and I can easily see why after seeing it as part of the 36th annual month-long Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. It played at Tribeca, and if you love the power of myth as I do, this mystical work is worth seeking out. Not only is Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson’s work an alluring mystical retelling of the origins of the healing stones located in Waikiki Beach, but also it recounts the history of Hawaii quite well.

It’s almost easy to forget the conflict when the Europeans came in to colonize this paradise in the latter acts. Instead, part of this work’s charm is in how four tall and mysterious figures helped do more than bring together the natives from the region. They are transgender and recognized as benevolent beings. Their arrival is compared to the Europeans, and that’s where we get an excellent look at how this island nation’s civilization changed over time. As with Canada now respecting the nations that first occupied this land before any event, we are shown where we all came from.

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