Director Michael Kang (left) and actor John Cho at a screening of “West 32nd” at the Castro Theatre. Cho also appeared at a screening of “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay.”

Iris Yamashita spoke about her experiences as the screenwriter for Clint Eastwood’s “Letters From Iwo Jima” and served as a judge in the film competition.

Bento was one of the bands that performed during the "Festival Forum" in Peace Plaza.

Photos by J.K. Yamamoto

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (March 13-23), presented by the Center for Asian American Media, wrapped with an estimated attendance of 29,000, including over 225 filmmakers, actors and industry guests.

Out of 113 shows, 57 sold out, creating an exciting buzz throughout the event. The program featured eight world premieres, three North American premieres and four U.S. premieres of feature length films.

The winners of the jury awards in the narrative and documentary categories were announced on March 20 before the closing night screening. The competition films represent the best in Asian American and Canadian cinema.

The winner of the Best Narrative Feature Award was “Amal,” directed by Richie Mehta.

The Special Jury Award was a tie between John Kwon’s “Always Be Boyz” and Ron Morales’ “Santa Mesa.”

The jury was composed of playwright/filmmaker Philip Kan Gotanda (“Life Tastes Good”), producer Gina Kwon (“Me, You and Everyone We Know”) and screenwriter Iris Yamashita (“Letters From Iwo Jima”).

The winner of the Best Documentary Feature Award was “Planet B-Boy,” directed by Benson Lee.

The Special Jury Award was given to “Wings of Defeat,” directed by Risa Morimoto.

The jury was composed of Kathryn Lo (associate director of program development and independent film at PBS), filmmaker Stanley Nelson (“Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People’s Temple”) and scholar/filmmaker Celine Parreñas Shimizu (“Super Flip”).

At the conclusion of the screenings in San Jose that ran March 21-23, the winners of the Comcast Audience Awards were announced.

The winner of the award for narrative features was “Om Shanti Om,” directed by Farah Khan, while the winner for documentary features was “Planet B-Boy,”

Highlights

The festival opened with Wayne Wang’s “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” — his first Asian American film in 15 years — and closed with the Australian drama “The Home Song Stories,” featuring an award-winning performance by Joan Chen.

In between, highlights included a sold-out, energetic screening of the centerpiece presentation film, “West 32nd,” and a special presentation screening of “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” which proved so popular that desperate fans were offering $60 and more per ticket. Both screenings were attended by actor John Cho.

A spotlight on Wang also offered screenings of “The Princess of Nebraska,” the ever-popular “The Joy Luck Club” (which reunited Wang, author Amy Tan, producer Janet Yang and actors Ming Wen and Lauren Tom), and a new cut of “Life is Cheap … But Toilet Paper is Expensive.”

Wang also spoke about his cinematic influences in an insightful conversation with New York Times film critic Dennis Lim.

A tribute to the late Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang featured screenings of “Yi Yi,” “The Terrorizer,” and the rarely screened four-hour masterpiece “A Brighter Summer Day.”

Musicals made a strong showing with the Singaporean getai musical “881,” the Bollywood epic “Om Shanti Om,” and a sing-along presentation of “Colma: The Musical,” which had made its world premiere at SFIAAFF in 2006.

The U.S. premiere of “Wings of Defeat” was attended not only by director Morimoto and producer Linda Hoaglund but also by a pair of former kamikaze pilots and a U.S. veteran featured in the film.

Panel discussions and talk events proved extremely popular, as did the “Directions in Sound” live music events, featuring artists like hip-hop group No Luck Club and electro-pop sensation Ming & Ping.

Attending Guests

Some of the guests who attended the festival were: actors Daniel Wu (“Blood Brothers”), Henry O (“A Thousand Years of Good Prayers”), and Adinia Wirasti (“Three Days to Forever”); and filmmakers Michael Kang (“West 32nd”), Jessica Yu (“Ping Pong Playa”), Christine Choy (“Long Story Short”), Richard Wong (“Colma: The Musical”; “Option 3”), Gina Kim (“Never Forever”) and Brillante Mendoza (“Foster Child”; “Slingshot”).

In addition, over 50 delegates representing 15 Asian film festivals from various U.S. and Canadian cities attended and participated in the annual festival programmers’ meeting. Many filmmakers who were guests at previous festivals returned to partake in the festivities, creating a strong sense of community around Asian American cinema.

“In many ways, the festival has become the annual starting point and gathering spot for Asian American filmmaking,” said Festival Director Chi-hui Yang. “It is exciting to see the cinema grow, and gratifying to have this reflected in the Festival’s films and attendees.”

Back to Japantown

After one year away from Japantown due to renovations at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the festival returned to the neighborhood the event had called home for 17 years.

The majority of screenings were once again held at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, while the Landmark Clay Theatre, just six blocks away, was added as a new venue.

To celebrate its return to Japantown, SFIAAF presented “Festival Forum” at the Peace Plaza on March 15, a day of activities that included taiko drummers, bands and break dancers performing live on a stage, as well as booths with interactive experiences offered on computers.

The day culminated in a free outdoor screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1978 anime classic “The Castle of Cagliostro,” attended by over 100 people.

“We wanted to offer a festive environment that allowed attendees to interact and to congregate outside of the theaters,” said Festival Assistant Director Taro Goto. “We’ve always felt that the Japantown Peace Plaza was a perfect venue for something like this. I think we also reached many people for the first time due to the high visibility of an outdoor event.”

Sponsors

The 26th SFIAAFF is supported in part by AAA of Northern California, Academy Foundation of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Asian Art Museum, Comcast, Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Koret Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Hotel Tomo, Macy’s, Merrill Lynch, Merriman Curhan Ford, Michelob Ultra (the official beer of the festival), Nickelodeon, Noon, Oscar Printing, San Francisco Tobacco Free Project, San Jose Museum of Art, Southwest, Toyota, Turner Classic Movies & Turner Entertainment, University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim and Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies Program, Wallace Foundation, and Zellerbach Foundation.

CAAM is supported with major funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

SFIAAFF is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose. Since 1982, it has been an important launching point for Asian American independent filmmakers as well as a vital source for new Asian cinema.

CAAM (www.asianamericanmedia.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media.

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