Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
That’s me and cousin Mike. I didn’t think about taking a photo together, but I’m glad it was forced upon us. Now, here it is. Our film, Sunsets showed, and it was fun to see and great to be able to relive in a way. But this version is quite different, it does feel like something brand new, and I can actually stand to watch it now. Who knows if I can see it again, but it looked great on screen. Much better than I thought. People seemed to like it too. Now what do we do with it? We’ll be doing a roundtable on Saturday night with Justin Lin, Quentin Lee, Rea Tajiri, and Chris Chan Lee, the film class of 1997. Fugetsudo manju. Very good and I’m thankful that they donated some cakes. That’s what it looked like inside.That scene above was shot in super 8! That’s Tamlyn Tomita and Me. Wen and James. Wen is just back from Taiwan from a Tango Festival, and James is just a bad ass mofo. James, me, and Harry Kim. Watch for Dirty Hands sometime soon. That’s a great film. That’s Oscar Rios. A GR supporter.
Continue reading
Chris Chan Lee, Justin Lin, Rea Tajiri, myself, Quentin Lee, Michael Aki. We all wrote about our ideas about 1997, our trips, our films, what it was like, and what it became. This might be one of the most important posts regarding Asian American film, ever. It's a long read, and each of us in many ways seemed to have similar views looking back. I'm glad I'm not the only one. This was to be 2...
Chris Chan Lee, Justin Lin, Rea Tajiri, myself, Quentin Lee, Michael Aki. We all wrote about our ideas about 1997, our trips, our films, what it was like, and what it became. This might be one of the most important posts regarding Asian American film, ever. It’s a long read, and each of us in many ways seemed to have similar views looking back. I’m glad I’m not the only one. This was to be 2 paragraphs from each of us. I thought I was doing a disservice by writing 4 or 5. It turns out, some of the others wrote nearly a book. I’m not sure if it’s great to be lumped into this nostalgia just yet, since this is the type of stuff I used to think should just die off, but oh well. One thing that might be fun to hear is from the film festival programmers etc. I know they played major favorites to who they thought were the bigger films. Yellow, by Chris Chan Lee was considered to big one for sure. We were always given the crappier time slots and smaller theaters (yes, admit it bitches). Our film sold out at it’s premiere, plenty early, and no further screenings afterwards. At the NY Asian American festival, we were given a midnight slot in the middle of nowhere and I think 8 people were there. Black and white film = midnight? That was fucked up. For that, I give the programmer the middle finger. But overall, it’s very possible that of all of these films, ours may hold up the most because it was shot black and white and grainy, giving it a timeless feel – sort of like Strangers in Paradise by Jarmusch. It’s theme wasn’t about Asian America at all, or had a cast that existed in Asian American land. It was very prototypical, but then again, we never even considered our film to be part of any Asian American anything. Read more, at the link please. youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com
Continue reading
Remember this project? RE-CUT.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunsets movie screening at iD Film Festival
Check out the FACEBOOK page.
October 1, 2009
8:00 p.m.
Japanese American National Museum
National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 N. Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
janm.org
(213) 625-0414
link to JANM site.
The 2009 iD Film Festival is scheduled to open with a rare screening of Sunsets, the first...
Remember this project? RE-CUT. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sunsets movie screening at iD Film Festival Check out the FACEBOOK page. October 1, 20098:00 p.m. Japanese American National MuseumNational Center for the Preservation of Democracy111 N. Central AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90012janm.org(213) 625-0414 link to JANM site. The 2009 iD Film Festival is scheduled to open with a rare screening of Sunsets, the first feature by filmmakers Michael Aki and Giant Robot’s Eric Nakamura. Premiered as part of the Class of 1997 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival over a decade ago (along with works by Justin Lin, Rea Tajiri, and others), the film has never been shown outside the festival circuit or been commercially released. Shot on grainy black and white 16mm film, the very medium of rebel cinema, Sunsets chronicles the ennui, drunken bouts, and petty crimes of three young men, a white guy, a Hispanic, and a Japanese American (played by Aki himself) growing up in the small town of Watsonville, CA. The film is very much a coming-of-age story that is compelling in its purity and rawness. Understated, honest, and funny, this little-seen film shows a rare slice of Asian-American cinema that had never been attempted before. A critic has asserted that the film is “smarter and more credible than anything Gregg Araki has come up with.” The screening will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, followed by a reception for the filmmakers at 10:00 p.m. For more information about Sunsets, the iD Film Festival, or Giant Robot, please contact: Eric NakamuraGiant Robot Owner/Publishereric@giantrobot.com(310) 479-7311 ###
Continue reading