My first experience at CAAMFest was a blast. It was exciting to see Asian-American cinema come into its own right before my eyes. Being that there aren’t many true representations of Asian America in cinema today (that’s an understatement), the field is wide open for these Asian-American independent filmmakers to make their voices heard in whatever way they see fit; they’re pioneers in that way. They represented the culture well, with staggeringly varied and unique films that show just how versatile, imaginative, and inclusive the Asian-American perspective can be.

The festival didn’t focus exclusively on the medium of film, however, and provided a platform for creative minds in other fields; various chefs, bands, DJs, and writers got to express themselves through their respective mediums as well. From live concerts, to food tastings, to book signings, there was a lot to experience at CAAMFest. The different art forms converged to make for some amazing live events.

At San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, Amrit Singh, executive editor at Stereogum.com, screened Dosa Hunt, his short film in which he takes some of his New Yorker musician buddies (of bands like Das Racist, Vampire Weekend, and Neon Indian) and searches for the best dosa (a South Indian potato-filled crepe) in New York City. CAAM provided us with a dosa truck outside the museum that satiated our gargantuan dosa cravings, and Heems—of the now-defunct Das Racist and star of Dosa Hunt—played a trippy set with fellow former Das Racist member, Dapwell, to top off the night. A great movie, delicious food, and live music all worked together to put on an entertaining show.

There were a handful of excellent films at the festival, a lot of good ones, and some clunkers. Not everything I watched was gold, not even close. However, each film contributes to defining Asian-American cinema, which is immeasurably valuable. It’ll be a joy to watch how Asian-American cinema evolves over the next few years, and CAAMFest is the best place on earth to witness this growth. I look forward to what next year’s festival brings to the table.

Way Too Indie’s Top 5 films at CAAMFest 2013

#1 Seeking Asian Female

There’s something organic and unpredictable about the way Seeking Asian Female evolves as a story that captured me like no other film at the festival. The title refers to the attraction of old white men to young Asian women, or “yellow fever”, but the film isn’t about that at all. It’s about two completely different people from opposite ends of the earth who are forced to fall in love on a time crunch and the director filming them who somehow gets wrapped up in all their quarrels. At the end of the film, I was overjoyed to find that it had taught me something about myself. Watch this movie and prepare to have your expectations shattered.

#2 Abigail Harm

What struck me about Abigail Harm was the unearthly, enchanting version of New York director Lee Isaac Chung creates. The barrenness, the angelic light, the silence— this is a New York never before seen on screen. His take on the classic Korean folktale “The Woodcutter and the Nymph” is stirring, visceral, and modern, though it stays true to the humanistic tone of the original. Amanda Plummer is endearing and magnetic, effortlessly acting as the film’s emotional core. There is a sort of anti-chase-scene that takes place in a beautiful empty building that is breathtaking. An unforgettable film.

#3 Late Summer

I entered this film feeling as jaded as can be, expecting a third-rate attempt at emulating the great Yasujiro Ozu. I quickly realized how wrong I was as Ernie Park’s elegant homage to Ozu serenaded me into a state of calm and awareness. Park clearly understands what makes Ozu great and utilizes the master’s tools with a deft hand. His telling of an Asian story through a black family in Tennessee is a brilliant angle that gives Late Summer a distinctly Asian-American voice.

#4 Harana

Harana affected me on a personal level, as I’m a Filipino-American born in the United States who has never left the country, let alone visited the Philippines. This film is so beautiful and charming, it made me want to hop on a plane and visit my parents’ homeland. However, this movie should work for any romantic who misses the good old days when it was cool to be a little corny when courting a girl (Say Anything…). There are so many touching moments in Harana, so many beautiful songs and warm conversations that it’s hard not to fall in love with it. If you’re having a bad day, watch Harana.

#5 Midnight’s Children

Though many feel that Deepa Mehta and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is a little dense and scatterbrained narratively, but I found myself too distracted by the stunning visuals in the film most of the time to notice. Yes, there are some issues here—Rushdie is obviously not completely comfortable writing screenplays—but the problems are easy to ignore when you get so lost in the world being created on-screen. The sheer scope of the film is awe-inspiring, the cinematography is gorgeous and whimsical, and the cast is on-point. Flaws and all, it’s a colorful, wild ride that shouldn’t be missed.

Late Summer

Late Summer borrows its title from the work of one of the most celebrated directors of all time, Yasujiro Ozu. If you’re familiar with Ozu’s work, you’ll recognize that the title makes quite the statement. Surely director Ernie Park isn’t hoping to match the near cinematic perfection of Ozu’s family-drama masterpieces (Late Spring, Early Summer, etc.), is he? The answer is no, he is not so bold. Late Summer is a humble, tasteful love letter to the late, great auteur from an avid and educated appreciator of his work. He plays with several of Ozu’s signature techniques without abusing them; he merely gives them a knowing and appreciative nod. Park takes Ozu’s distinctly Eastern style of storytelling and injects it into a distinctly Western setting; an artsy black community in Nashville Tennessee to be exact. What’s remarkable is that it’s an Asian story set in the West; a look at an American family from the perspective of world cinema.

Though the setting is brand new, the story here is familiar Ozu territory. Nadia is a high school grad who lives with her single mother who she has depended on her whole life. Lately, everybody is pressuring Nadia to leave Nashville to go to college, but she is stubbornly resistant to the idea, wanting nothing but to stay with her mother and keep things the way they are. The thought of abandoning her mom saddens her deeply, but the people around her—including her mother—constantly push the reality that it’s time for her to move on to the next stage of her life.

Those familiar with Ozu’s work will recognize many of the techniques and themes utilized by Park. The film is composed entirely of static, quiet, serene shots of occupied an unoccupied spaces. Form is the focus here, though Park isn’t as meticulous about his composition as Ozu, nor is he trying to be (the film was shot in ten days.) The dialog, acting, and flow of the film are very much taken from Eastern cinema, which makes for a unique and refreshing portrayal of Nashville, one devoid of stereotypes. Park’s determined avoidance of tropes can be a little distracting at times, but that’s mostly a testament to how Western cinema has conditioned us to see Nashville as one thing only. Late Summer is a great example of what Asian American cinema can be.

RATING: 8.5

When Night Falls

It’s difficult to convey the crippling weight of death cinematically, as a large part of what makes the thought of it so unbearable is the torturously slow passage of time. In When Night Falls, director Ying Liang captures the way death permeates every moment of our lives when all hope is lost. In 2008, Yang Jia, a young man who believed he was wrongfully accused of theft and abused during the interrogation process, walked into a police station and murdered six officers, stabbing them repeatedly with a knife. Yang was sentenced to death. When Night Falls is a fictionalized account of Yang’s mother, Wang Jingmei’s dark, lonely search for justice for her son during his trail. It’s an intrepid and appropriately challenging piece of cinema that has no aim to entertain.

Nai An plays Wang with resounding gravitas. A minutes-long shot in which she rips days off of a calendar in a despairing trance is a riveting. The movie is almost entirely comprised of long, uneventful shots like this, like a morbid version of Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman. The function of the constant lingering is to make us feel the gravity and misery that has poisoned Wang’s world. To watch her sit in her son’s now vacant bedroom staring at his bed that will never be used again is overwhelmingly depressing. There’s a dark cloud of hopelessness hanging over every frame of When Night Falls, and it isn’t likely to be an enjoyable or even tolerable experience for most, mostly due to its snail pace. It is, however, a significant artistic meditation on morality and loss that will probably leave you in desperate need of a pick-me-up.

RATING: 7

High Tech, Low Life

The People’s Republic of China’s extensive suppression of the internet in the country—which is unmatched by any other country in the world—is often referred to as “The Great Firewall.” High Tech, Low Life follows the lives of two bloggers—Zola and Tiger Temple—in their pursuit of the truth, in spite of the PRC’s restrictions. Zola is the more rebellious of the two, a young man who lives to attract attention through the broadcasting of the (sometimes ugly) truth. On his popular blog, he posted a photo of himself jumping over the Great Wall of China as a defiant middle finger to the PRC’s censorship. Tiger Temple is middle-aged, calm, and more activist than agitator. He posts videos of farmers who express how they have felt neglected by the Chinese government for years, giving them a voice they never had.

There is a large, intriguing David-and-Goliath story going on here that deserves to be the focus of Stephen Maing’s High Tech, Low Life. Unfortunately, Maing chooses instead to zoom in way too close, focusing on the quirky lives of his protagonists and in doing so fails to convey the magnitude and implications of their endeavors. There is a big lack of social and political context here, which reduces this film to being a documentary about two fairly interesting people and their daily lives. There are plenty of other docs like this, and it’s a shame that the storyline that should make this film unique is so downplayed.

RATING: 5.2

Tonight marks the opening night of CAAMFest, once known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, CAAMFest is a celebration of Asian and Asian American media, food, music, culture, digital arts, and of course, film. Though re-branded with a shiny new name, this is actually the festival’s 31st anniversary of celebrating Asian culture in San Francisco. The Asian community here is as strong as you’ll find in the United States, which makes San Francisco the perfect city to hold this world-class showcase of Asian American cinema. I’m a San Francisco native, and let me tell you, the Asian community here is one of the most passionate and driven groups of people I’ve ever seen. It’s going to be a good show, and it should not be missed!

CAAMFest is all about giving new artists a platform to share their passion with the world. Though the festival has been mostly focused on the art form of film in the past, this year will see the expansion of the festival’s focus to other mediums. Local DJs, chefs, and even authors will be contributing their work to the festival as well, and I’ll be there to sample all the tasty treats and bangin’ beats to give you a taste of the expanded CAAMFest experience (and make you jealous). However, Way Too Indie is an independent film site after all, so the main focus of our coverage will be on the lineup of films this year’s festival has to offer.

Asian culture is sadly given little to no representation in Hollywood, which makes CAAMFest so important. Growing up, the only huge movie stars that sort of looked like me were…um…Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I don’t know martial arts, and I’m American, so really, I had no one on the big screen that was truly like me. CAAMFest is a festival in which Asian American filmmakers are given a voice, and I couldn’t be more excited to experience their work.

When most people hear the term “Asian Cinema”, they think of it as a niche genre in the world of film, which simply isn’t true. The films on deck this year look to exhibit just how versatile Asian and Asian American cinema can be. The lineup looks strong, and here are just a few of the films I am looking forward to watching.

Linsanity

Director Evan Leong provides an up-close-and-personal look at Jeremy Lin, the center of the phenomenon referred to in the film’s title. A basketball player from Palo Alto, Lin had endured a tumultuous climb up the ladder in the NBA after playing collegiate ball at Harvard; he was underutilized by every team that drafted him and was never given a chance to show his true ability. This all led to a now-legendary run with the New York Knicks in February 2012 which launched Lin into superstardom. Leong shows Lin in quiet, reflective, intimate moments; a side of Lin that the world has yet to see.

Midnight’s Children

An adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s popular novel, adapted by Rushdie himself, Midnight’s Children follows Saleem Sinai, who was born at the stroke of midnight on the very day that India gained its independence from Great Britain. As he grows up, he begins to learn that this coincidence comes with a heavy burden; his actions and the fortunes and misfortunes of his life are mirrored on a greater scale in the nation of India. His literal bond with his nation is incredible, but what is even more amazing is that he is telepathically linked to other children born at the same fateful moment that he was. Director Deepa Mehta, known for her “Elements Trilogy”, collaborates with Rushdie to bring to the big screen a story that is universally adored. This is my most anticipated film of the festival.

Trailer for Midnight’s Children:

Late Summer

Yasujiro Ozu is widely regarded as one of the most gifted filmmakers in the history of the medium. Tokyo Story happens to be one of my favorite films of all time. His elegantly technical style is seemingly inimitable, but director Ernie Park’s Late Summer pays homage to the filmic master by taking elements of his films and telling a story set not in Japan, but in a black neighborhood in Tennessee. It will be interesting to see Park’s take on Ozu’s work and how he blends Eastern and Western culture.

Trailer for Late Summer:

Memories to Light: Asian American Home Movie

This presentation is not a film, but a nation-wide project in which Asian Americans contribute home videos to a growing archive in hopes to document and represent the Asian American experience. There is nothing more personal, nostalgic, naked, or honest than home movies, and Memories to Light transcends the medium of film, acting as a gateway to Asian American history. American cinema regrettably doesn’t offer much insight into Asian America, so this project is possibly the most culturally significant work at the festival.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) brings us an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Mohsin Ahmid that breaks boundaries and provides thought-provoking insight into the cultural impact of the 9/11 tragedy. Changez is a Pakistani man obsessed with the American dream; he went to Princeton, works at a firm in New York, and looks to conquer Wall Street. After the terrorist attacks, Changez’s past in his homeland begins to eclipse everything he’s worked so hard to acquire in America, including his girlfriend (Kate Hudson.) Nair is an extremely talented filmmaker, so The Reluctant Fundamentalist could be one of the best dramas at the festival.

Trailer for The Reluctant Fundamentalist:

CAAMFest 2013 Lineup

Gala Presentations:
Linsanity – Evan Jackson Leong
Midnight’s Children – Deepa Mehta
Memories to Light: Asian American Home Movies

Special Presentations:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mira Nair
Old Romances – Royston Tan
Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven 3D – Chen Zhihong, Su Da

Comcast Narrative Competition:
Abigail Harm – Lee Isaac Chung
Dead Dad – Ken J. Adachi
Graceland – Ron Morales
Late Summer – Ernie Park
Someone I Used to Know – Nadine Truong
Sunset Stories – Ernesto Foronda, Silas Howard

Documentary Competition:
Harana – Benito Bautista
Hight Tech, Low Life – Stephen Maing
Marilou Diaz-Abaya: Filmmaker on a Voyage – Mona Lisa Yuchengco
The Mosuo Sisters – Marlo Poras
Seeking Asian Female – Debbie Lum
Seeking Haven – Hein S. Seok, Lee Hark-joon, Ko Dong-kyum
When I Walk – Jason DaSilva
Xmas Without China – Alicia Dwyer, Tom Xia

CinemAsia (International Films):
Beautiful 2012 – Kim Tae-yong, Tsai Ming-Liang, Gu Changwei, Ann Hui
Beijing Flickers – Zhang Yuan
The Cheer Ambassadors – Luke Cassaday-Dorion
Comrade Kim Goes Flying – Kim Gwant Hun, Nicholas Bonner, Anja Daelemans
Go Grandriders – Hua Tien-hao
Invoking Justice – Deepa Dhanraj
Jiseul – Muel O
The Land of Hope – Sion Sono
Mekong Hotel – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Postcards From the Zoo – Edwin
Touch of the Light – Chang Jung-chi
When Hari Got Married – Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam
When Night Falls – Ying Liang
When the Bough Breaks – Ji Dan