Claus Mueller

Asian CineVision presented the 41^st edition of the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) from July 25 – August 5 at the Village East Cinema and the Asia Society. This  community oriented unique film festival  is the premier with a comprehensive focus on Asian and Asian-American films and selected this year 80 productions from over 14 countries.  The relevance of the festival for the Asian American community is reflected in a record number of submissions of over 700 films from more than 14 countries of which 80 films were chosen for the program, including 13 narrative features, 10 documentaries and 57 short films.

As noted in my past reviews, AAIFF provides a platform for the Asian American community. Through feature length and short films, issues faced by communities in North America and Asian countries are investigated. Identity questions and the meaning of being Asian American are explored by film makers from the community. As distinct from productions featured by the more commercial-oriented New York Asian Film Festivals, most productions screened by AAIFF can only be seen at the festival and rarely enter theatrical distribution, though streaming services may provide an outlet for narrative and documentary features. Asian CineVision is a non-profit media arts organization that was established in 1975 by grassroots media artists like Thomas Tam and Christine Choy and has programmed AAIFF to present the best independent Asian American and Asian productions. CineVision is guided by the goal of enhancing the cultural awareness of the Asian and Asian American experience through film. The focus on the problems faced by the Asian American communities in the United States as well as Asian countries is accompanied by access to distribution platforms and the facilitation of training for Asian Americans in all forms of visual media. In the early 70s there were virtually no Asian American productions on television and cable and few if any visible Asian American film actors, conditions which Asian CineVision has been to addressing and is trying to remedy. At the conclusion of the festival, productions of participating film makers can reach the North American Audience through the National Festival Tour through rental to cultural and educational institutions.

There are unique AAIFF characteristics. Each feature and section of shorts shown is presented with community partners ranging from Asian American community organizations to Asian professional associations. These community partners included Asian Americans in Media, Taiwanese American Professionals, Asian Women Giving Circle, NYU Asian Pacific Islander Alumni, Taiwanese American Professionals ,Kasulugan, Korean American Community Foundation, Asian American Bar Association, Taiwanese American Association of New York, Japan Culture NYC , Korean American Family Service Center, GAPIMNY-Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders, and others. It is also an indicator of the strong community inclination that during the festival people could register to vote, an initiative I have not seen at any other New York film festival.

Feature films were organized under the spotlight, narrative, and documentary categories. The large number of short films was divided according to readily accessible thematic areas. Some of these themes were: Art Beyond the Screen explored art forms, Evolving Immigrants – the diversity and strength of the immigrant story, For Youth By Youth - productions by media makers of Asian descent under the age of 21, Loud and Proud – the LGBTQIA+ experience for Asian and Asian Americans, On the Edge – tales on the darker side of humanity, and Worth Fighting For – what some people around the globe are fighting for. Some of these thematic program areas were open on a pay-as-you-wish basis.

The same pay-as-you-wish policy was held for all of the panels and workshops. Included in these panels and workshops were: Women in Film: On the Screen and Behind the Camera - on the creative and gender boundaries of the film industry, Movers and Shakers: AAPIA in Film – on the potential of film spurring political or social action; SAG-AFTRA Screenplay Reading with the wining script Love You, Charlie, and the Work-In-Progress Screening “Bei Bei” – a documentary  on a Chinese woman  who is charged with first-degree murder after attempting to commit suicide while pregnant the white  collar female lawyer defending her. The festival program included numerous thought provoking and innovative features.

Dead Pigs, Cathy Yan, China, 2017.     

Though pigs symbolize happiness and wealth for many for Chinese people, and pork has become a favorite food, the pigs in Cathy Yan’s first feature represent the downside of the collective Chinese push for affluence. The story is located in Shanghai near the Huangpu River where in early 2013 more than 6000 dead pigs were found floating in the river. The rotting pigs polluted the water supply and created an environmental disaster. There was no public accounting of what caused the mass death of the pigs which were dumped by the pig farmers into the river because they could not afford to dispose of the carcasses properly. Yan’s story focuses on the Old Wang family. Father Old Wang is a pig farmer who had to dump his dead pigs in the river and is also heavily in debt, having speculated on the stock market in hopes of becoming rich rapidly. His son Zhen pretends to be successful but works as a waiter in a restaurant serving piglets until he loses his job when the restaurant has to close after customers stop coming. After losing his job Zhen makes a living staging accidents and blackmailing the car drivers. His aunt runs a hair salon for single women craving to be beautiful and lives by herself in her dead parents’ house. She refuses to sell the house despite the giant Golden Happiness Properties Corporation demolishing all the buildings around her home for a major real estate development. Secondary characters in this ensemble cast are Zhen’s girlfriend, daughter of a wealthy man, and an America architect with dubious credentials used by Golden Happiness Properties to enhance and develop properties. There is a happy ending; the aunt does not kill herself by jumping from the roof of her building which has been sold by her brother to Golden Properties. Construction workers and the media celebrate her decision, though the media had reported the shady dealings of Golden Properties which was apparently also involved in selling poisonous feedstuff to pig farmers.  The company announces new real-estate projects at the end of the film guided by the fake American architect.  Dead Pigs ends on positive tones but this dark comedy posits fundamental questions about the destructive impact of rapid urban development, the quest for wealth, poisoning of the environment, and the demise of traditional values.

Searching, Aneesh Chaganty, USA, 2017.       

This unconventional, clever, and original approach to presenting a narrative film was the first feature film of Chaganty, which opened the film festival.  The film starts with a concise recap of the family’s first 15 years before the mother passes away with a focus on the daughter Margot. The father, David, wakes up one morning and the daughter is missing.  She has not been at school and did not come home the previous night though tried to reach him several times. David uses Margot’s computer and her social media accounts to investigate her life in hopes of discovering clues as to what has happened to her. The solution suggested by a detective that she may have run away loses plausibility as we accompany David for a large part of the film in his digital journey, watching his internet searches and the responses he elicits. The screen of the film becomes the computer screen. For the filmmaker, this approach must have been a tremendous editing challenge with Searching setting a model for many films to come. David is able to unlock the mystery and in the process discovers an emotional life that Margot had not shared with him. His daughter did not run away but was victimized by the detective handling the case and her deranged son. David and Margot are re-united.   After Searching was screened at Sundance this year it was bought by SONY for $5 million.

1-2-3 Gasping for Air, Carlo Obispo, Philippines, 2016.     

This film is rather persuasive in its presentation of life in a small fishing island as juxtaposed with the urban setting of Manila. The superb underwater photography of Silag island contrasts strongly with the images of tourist ridden sectors of Manila.  A teenage boy named Luis supports a family headed by an abusive father. His sister, Lulu, is a gifted singer and is persuaded to leave for coaching in Manila. After losing contact with her, Luis decides to travel to Manila to search for her. He discovers her involved in the sex trade and finds him forced to become part of it as well. It is startling that the young men and women in this occupation appear to be happy. They seem to have found a family in the closed company in which they live with other young people. With very realistic images the audience discovers the Manila sex scene dominated by Western male adults. If a brothel is closed down by the police a new one rapidly appears to replace it. If the young men and women at one location are arrested, there is always a fresh supply of new recruits to be found in the country side. According to comments by Carlo Obispo after the screening, there has been little or no change in Manila's sex commerce, though there is an authoritarian government cracking down on the drug trade and corruption.

Bitter Lemon, H.P. Medoza, USA Philippines, 2018.      

At first glance this feature appears to be the study of a dysfunctional family. What it reveals is a very complicated familial interaction born from a very specific family tradition.  For Christmas, all of the extended Santos family convenes on their old family home in San Francisco with food, presents, wine, and cheer, connecting to those who cannot attend via skype.  The youngest son, Declan, has come without his partner from New York, his older brother Moe has also come by himself, leaving his pregnant wife at home. The Middle brother, Troy, has been living with the mother Prisa, his wife Shelly, and their daughter.  The family is governed by a strong hierarchical traditional values and male dominance.  Troy, who has been unemployed for a long time, is apparently victimizing all members of the family including his mother who hopes that he will change. There is no father present, he is an alcoholic who disappeared long ago and rejects contact with the family.   On the surface, the Santos clan is conservative and religious, yet deceit defines the escapist pretense of normality. Moe's Marriage to an African American, Declan's sexual orientation, wife battery, Troy’s deviant activities; none of these topics can be discussed.   After Troy is left alone on Christmas night and discovers that his wife has been urged to seek help as a battered wife communication opens up and Troy is identified as the source of the family’s problems. There is a violent encounter and discussion of solutions to the problem of Troy including killing him. Medoza leaves it up to the viewer to decide. Two scenarios are offered in the film: one in which Troy meets his end and is buried, and another with him at the airport, leaving San Francisco.

ULAM: MAIN DISH. The festival closed with an extraordinary celebration of Filipino food and culture, the 2018 documentary ULAM, the directorial debut of Alexandra Cuerdo, whose family funded and co-produced the film. This production has been covered by numerous national publications including the New York Times and Vogue and was ranked by MSN as one of the top 5 food documentaries to watch. Virtually all members the cast and crew come from Filipino families ensuring that the Filipino character of the film has not been watered down. Through a series of interviews with Filipino chefs, and specifically Alivn Cailan who established Eggslut in Los Angeles and recently AMBOY in New York, Cuerdo tracks the development and success of Filipino food and restaurants in the United States where about 20% of the Asian American population is of Filipino descent.  From her perspective Filipino food has reached an apex in the ethnic food chain as shown by a growing number of Filipino restaurants. There is also the expanding fast food Filipino food chain Jollidee with its 34 locations in the United States.  limited to few dishes considered essential by its consumers.  In that context, it is telling that there are now about 30 restaurants listed by the trade press in New York City, as many as those claiming the German label. The food has migrated from the home to the public in part because young Filipino food makers have come of age in restaurants. These venues reflect the tremendous variety of Filipino dishes. The Philippines consists of over 7000 islands with a great variety of approaches to food.  In that sense, there is no one definitive Filipino food or dish as opposed to the more strictly defined palate of German, French or Italian food. Sharing Filipino dishes is part of established social rituals at home and in restaurants. What Cuerdo convincingly conveys is that Filipino food is an important part of Filipino culture and that the link with culture makes it a crucial building block for the Filipino identity. In that sense ULAM is an ideal selection for any of the numerous North American food and wine film festivals.  The Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival which was the first major film festival presenting food films and set the model with its Culinary Cinema program may also be a platform for ULAM.

Claus Mueller, filmexchange@gmail.com