Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
My curated program of skate shorts had its third and final showing at the San Diego Asian Film Festival on Saturday afternoon, and it still hasn’t gotten old. Having skateboarding-related or -inspired videos made by friends alongside indie flicks like Daylight Savings and old-school kung-fu classics like Five Fingers of Death is not only cool but important. It puts a niche genre into a larger context, and hopefully exposes skate video junkies to other forms of moving pictures while turning on film festival folks to the energy and aesthetics of skateboarding. (Above, left to right: Me, Wing Ko, Tad Suzuki, Eric Matthies, Ben Clark, Willy Santos.)
If you missed my Animal Style/Son of Animal Style program of indie skate shorts by friends in Chicago or Honolulu, you have one more chance. It’s showing as part of the San Diego Asian Film Festival on Saturday, November 3 at 1:00. From noir to pop, documentary to music, skateboarding to comedy, it’s pretty rad. And the skaters? The Working Man Tad Suzuki, SGV’s John Lee, Jesse Neuhaus, Stevie Dread, Eric Murphy, Ray Barbee, Mario Rubalcaba, Willy Santos, and Honolulu’s own APB crew are there, in order. Don’t blink or you might miss cameos by Salman Agah and Jef Hartsel, as well. Check out the program, buy tickets at the festival webpage, and see you there. Pass this on to friends in S.D., too!
Continue reading
After being fortunate enough to cover the Hawaii International Film Festival a number of times for Giant Robot magazine, and I have to say that it’s my favorite of all time. The range and balance of art to trash, big budget to indie, and Asian to not Asian perfectly suits my tastes. Plus they get the raddest filmmakers to attend because who wouldn’t want to travel to Honolulu? (The beach, shave ice, malasadas, and friends and relatives don’t hurt, either.) So I’m super excited to attend this year’s festival as a contributor as well as a supporter. I’ve been helping some friends get their skate videos shown on the big screen as part of the Animal Style program, and this showing is doubly cool because they’ll be right alongside the much-anticipated Bones Brigade documentary. Many of my filmmaker friends are already on the island–probably ripping it up at the skate parks and local spots as I type this–and I can’t wait to join them tomorrow. If you happen to be on Oahu, I cordially invite you to attend. If you have buddies there, it would be awesome if you told them about it as well. Looking forward to seeing a lot of you out there! Get the scoop at http://program.hiff.org/films/section/son_of_animal_style_skate_shorts.
Continue reading
Some of you might recall that I assembled a program of skateboard videos that played in Chicago back in April. Named Animal Style after the famous Search for Animal Chin, it was a way for me to put the spotlight on some rad Asian and independent filmmakers who just happened to be my friends. Well, now there are two more chances to catch it, as remixed lineups have been announced in Honolulu and San Diego. The core of arthouse-meets-funhouse pairing of The Working Man and Perfect Timing and Windy City documentary with 20 years of footage The Brotherhood: Chicago has been kept intact, now bolstered by a double-header of skate rock (Traveling Sounds with Ray Barbee and Wide Angle Sounds: Mario Rubalcaba), a skating vs. comedy throwdown in Willy Santos vs. Jo Koy, and a Sampler by Honolulu’s Treevisions crew. The Honolulu screening will also include a bonus feature on local skater/musician Anton Glamb’s First Day of Summer. I’m super excited to not only give my talented friends run for their great work once more, but also to hit the road with many of them. The dates are as follows: October 19, 2012 – Hawaii International Film Festival November 3, 2012 – San Diego Asian American Film Festival Who knows if I’ll ever be invited to do anything like this again, so I hope you click on the links, plan to attend, and get inspired to skate, make movies, or just say hi.
Continue reading