For Immediate Release
Contact: Wellington Love/15minutes
207 W. 25th St, PH-West
New York, NY 10001
t: 212.366.4992

ASIAN CINEVISION ANNOUNCES
THE 29th NY ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
JULY 13-21 & AUGUST 3-6, 2006

June 21, 2006 (New York) - Asian CineVision (ACV), a nonprofit media arts organization dedicated to promoting and preserving Asian and Asian American media expressions, today announced the 29th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), running July 13-21 and August 3-6, 2006. This year's festival will take place at the Asia Society (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, www.asiasociety.org) and the Quad Cinema (34 W. 13th St.). Select films will also be shown at Stony Brook University's Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook, Long Island.

The AAIFF - the nation's longest-running festival devoted to works by filmmakers of Asian descent - is an annual global showcase of feature narratives, documentaries, short films, and special programs. The 2006 festival marks both a glimpse into the future of Asian American filmmaking, highlighting the works of a new generation of emerging talents, and a look back at the historic place of Asian cinema in New York City. Included among the 19 features and 74 shorts at this year's festival are challenging films by a number of first- or second-time filmmakers who have pushed Asian American filmmaking to a new place by engaging with its past. The East Coast premiere of Ham Tran's impressive feature film debut JOURNEY FROM THE FALL opens the festival on July 13. Dedicated to the millions of Vietnamese boat people and survivors of the communist reeducation camps, it is the first American film to depict the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective.

The festival has selected from this new generation of Asian American filmmakers works that are both aesthetically innovative and politically charged. Richard Wong's debut feature COLMA: THE MUSICAL marks the first Asian American musical made since 1961's Flower Drum Song. A number of films tackle the controversial issues of racism, immigration, and globalization, including Sandhya Suri's I FOR INDIA (a 2006 Sundance Film Festival selection); RIGODON, a tale of three Filipino immigrants living in a post-9/11 New York City; director Robert Winn's GRASSROOTS RISING, a documentary on the Asian Pacific Island working class in contemporary Los Angeles; and NALINI BY DAY, NANCY BY NIGHT, a remarkable documentary about the outsourcing of American jobs to India.

This year's festival will present 11 world premieres, 7 U.S. premieres, 10 East Coast premieres, and 34 New York premieres, from countries such as Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the United States. Its selections run the gamut of genres, from family dramas to comedies to romance, including Frank Lin's AMERICAN FUSION, a romantic comedy that garnered the Hawaii International Film Festival's Audience Award, and the beautifully intimate BEAUTY REMAINS, directed by Ann Hu.

AAIFF will also offer a rare special presentation of six films from the old Sun Sing Theatre in New York's Chinatown. In the summer of 1995, just before the permanent closing of the Sun Sing, three intrepid film lovers rescued more than 40 films and movie paraphernalia. With Chinese theaters having become a dying institution, these half-dozen "unearthed" films are being brought before an audience for a very rare screening.

"This year AAIFF is not only presenting the latest achievements in Asian and Asian American filmmaking and acting, it is celebrating the glory of the late 20th-century classic Hong Kong cinema. AAIFF is a vital exhibition platform of diverse talent and expression in the world of cinema," says Festival Director Diana Lee. "We are very proud to have the opportunity to feature some of the latest and most innovative films, along with the privilege to share six rare films from the Sun Sing Theatre."

AAIFF is also pleased to announce new additions to its roster of festival awards. The festival will present its first annual "For Youth by Youth" One to Watch Award, an audience award given to the best youth film from the "For Youth By Youth" program. It will also present its first annual ACV/Verizon V-Clip Competition, a juried award given to the best submitted V-Clip, with a second and third runner-up recognized as well. The competition encourages filmmakers to submit 15-second video clips that highlight the Asian American film experience while creatively incorporating the Verizon logo. AAIFF will continue to present its Emerging Director Award, the Excellence in Short Filmmaking Award, Best Music Video, and the Second Annual Michelob Light Music Video Competition, where ACV commissions five filmmakers to produce music videos highlighting the spirit of the AAIFF with creative bottle placement of the new Michelob Light.

Continuing its mission to provide filmmakers with opportunities to connect with the larger independent film community and learn more about their craft, the AAIFF has set up a number of panel presentations with industry professionals including "The Distribution Matrix," "The Funding Mix," "Meet the Funder," with Robert Byrd, senior program officer at the Jerome Foundation, and "Screenplay Reading," a staged reading by the Pan Asian Repertory of the winning screenplay HOMELAND from the annual screenplay competition.

Launched in 1978, the AAIFF was created with a mission to provide a formal annual showcase for filmmakers of Asian descent. The AAIFF is one of the first festivals in North America to introduce the public to such internationally acclaimed directors as Oscar winner Ang Lee as well as Oscar nominees Zhang Yimou, Mira Nair, and Ismail Merchant. Since its inception, the AAIFF has also helped initiate the establishment of other Asian film festivals in major cities - including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Tickets for the 29th AAIFF will be available for purchase online beginning Monday, June 26, 2006 at www.asiancinevision.org and at the Asia Society box office or by calling 212.327.9385. For complete program information, please visit www.asiancinevision.org or call the festival hotline at 212.989.1422.

Asian CineVision, Inc. (ACV)

ACV is a nonprofit national media arts organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Asian and Asian American film and video arts. Since 1978, ACV has annually presented the Asian American International Film Festival, the first and longest-running festival devoted to Asian/Asian American cinema in the United States. In addition to the festival, ACV's programs and services include film exhibitions, mentoring and educational outreach, training workshops, publications, and a media archive.

For more information about the 29th AAIFF or to set up an interview with the festival staff or presented filmmakers, please contact Wellington Love/15minutes at 212.366.4992 or wellingtonlove@15minutespr.com.

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