Tag: Short Film

LAAPFF 2020 Animated Shorts Spotlight

The works that are available range from experimental to enduring, and of those that are available, I’m glad to report that a few will eventually make it to online distribution.

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from October 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to find listings on Eventive.

In addition to the previous animated works which I have looked at playing at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, there’s plenty more. The works that are available range from experimental to enduring, and of those that are available, I’m glad to report that one on my list has world-wide distribution.

The following are my favourites:

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Landing at LAAPFF 2020 is Parachute!

It’s uncertain how long rich Asian families (usually Chinese) have plopped their children in a foreign land and assume they will remain fine. The plan to get them to assimilate to local culture, and welcome them home later, can backfire, as Katherine Tolentino’s short film sadly shows. The term was once called satellite kids, but these days, the media identifies these youths as Parachute–also the title of this short film.

ParachuteBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California from Oct 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to Oct 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

It’s uncertain how long rich Asian families (usually Chinese) have plopped their children in a foreign land and assume they will remain fine. The plan to get them to assimilate to local culture, and welcome them home later, can backfire, as Katherine Tolentino’s short film sadly shows. The term was once called satellite kids, but these days, the media identifies these youths as Parachute–also the title of this short film.

This filmmaker’s drama reveals how this idea to bridge cultures together can and cannot work. Part of the problem lays with how Asian parents exercise tiger parenting—a term coined by Chinese-American author Amy Chua in “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Their desire also includes thinking removing them from a harsh education system of the East will do some good for the child.

Nicky Zou is excellent at playing a not so idealistic Wendy Zhang, a young woman who’s turned punk because she’s had a rough go at the transition. She’s not the only one in her class. Although we don’t get the other students’ stories (they too are transplants), she’s the one who has a lot of air to grieve. Her host family and school doesn’t try to help. Usually, in real life situations, the desire by the parents to extricate youth from one extreme educational system in hopes to amalgamate them to another is thought of as a good thing. But without guidance counsellors, life can be tough.

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Exploring Horimono: Japan’s Tattoo Pilgrimage at LAAAPFF 2020

The Japanese word Horimono (彫刻) does not necessarily translate to defining the same art form which the English term tattoo expresses. The mini-documentary, Horimono: Japan’s Tattoo Pilgrimage, shows that this country’s older generation sees a difference in how to express themselves through full body modification.

ParachuteBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from October 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

The Japanese word Horimono (彫物) does not necessarily translate to defining the same art form which the English term tattoo expresses. The mini-documentary, Horimono: Japan’s Tattoo Pilgrimage, shows that this country’s older generation sees a difference in how to express themselves through full body art modification. Some conflict exists. The media in Asia stereotyped the image of what it means to have a pattern on their skin–they are historically labelled a criminal. This belief dates back to the 4th Century.

This mini documentary aims to correct all the misconceptions.

The soundtrack is just as entrancing. The English definition includes how the word can signal the beat of a drum at night to tell soldiers it’s time to go to their quarters. We see it played at a temple in Oyama during a ritual of purification. The mountain shrine welcomes not only the artists who still practice the ancient art but also the men, whose body is fully covered in imagery from the Edo period (1603 – 1868). They wear it like a suit–a badge of honour.

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You Can’t Break The Haunted Swordsman at LAAPFF 2020

McTurk’s masterpiece brings a touch of the European Gothic to tapestry where many a Japanese folktale lie–from a watercolours to washes of grey, they convey a sense of despair going on in the soul of the titular hero.

The Haunted Swordsman (2019) - IMDbBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from October 1, 2020 at 12pm PT to October 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

If Studio Laika ever feels they’re stuck on what to make next, they should talk to Kevin McTurk and give him the chance to realize The Haunted Swordsman as a full length film. His work may not be mainstream, but the Japanese folklore about the spirit world he’s borrowing from certainly is! His Kickstarter page reveals how the spooky narrative would develop, and his use of Bunraku Puppet Theater must be seen to be believed. It’s nearly photo-realistic, and the puppeteers are hidden from view to move scale figures in alluring detail. The spook factor is something even The Addams Family would approve of.

Laika made a name for themselves with their equally haunting works, Coraline and Kubo & the Two Strings. Their ability to generate box office hits is very hit or miss. Certain groups will love puppet theatre, but for the masses, CGI has sadly tainted the spectrum. McTurk’s previous short won him accolades. The Mill at Calder’s End earned 14 awards and Guillermo del Toro purchased Grimshaw for his traveling museum exhibition At Home With Monsters.

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LAAPFF 2020 Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad “Bakemono?”

This short is but a tease, and it’s a worthy introduction to the traditions a Japanese family generally follow. I can’t help but chuckle at how the parents are trying to get their only child to behave.

Parachute

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to viewers in Southern California (excluding San Diego County) from Oct 1 at 12pm PT to Oct 31, 2020 at 11:59pm PT. Click here to watch the film on Eventive.

In South Asia, Hungry Ghost Month is over, but in America, Halloween will soon be here! I’m thrilled to watch Bakemono, a short film about Ayumi (Claudia Fabella), a very young girl acting out and wanting to accept the supernatural in her life, despite her parent’s fears. The word refers to a class of monsters who are shapeshifters, and they don’t have to be ghosts.

I found out in my research that writer/directors Sumire Takamatsu and Jorge Lucas are working on expanding this short into a feature length work. Thanks to Gus Wood of Pop Horror for this revelation, and I’m hopeful this can blow the beans away from how Paranormal Activity was made. In this short film’s case, the throwing of beans from the entranceway of a home during Setsubun is said to keep the evil spirits at bay. This spring ritual has no place during autumn, but I get where this belief comes from. It’s no different than the Japanese ritual of pouring beer over the gravestone.

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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!

ParachuteBy 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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