SPECIAL EVENTS

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival pays tribute to our past, present and future through a pair of retrospective tributes to different yet significant pioneers as well as a showcase curated by new media tastemakers, Wong Fu Productions. The programs “James Wong Howe: Master of Light,” the Tenth Anniversary screening of THE FLIP SIDE and Celebration of the Life of Peping Baclig, and “Wong Fu Productions Presents Fast Forward” will acquaint audiences to revered pioneers of Asian Pacific American cinema as well as its future masters.

WONG FU PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: Fast Forward

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is proud to invite Wong Fu Productions to create and curate this outstanding program that celebrates their work while defining who they are and showcasing why they are an inspiration to millions of fans. Join Wong Fu and friends as they share their work, from humble beginnings to present day mainstream achievements, featuring works from RYAN HIGA, KEV JUMBA, THE COMMUNITY CHANNEL, MYSTERY GUITAR MAN, FREDDIE WONG, CHRIS DINH and others.

To read more about this program and purchase this tickets for this all-star event,  click here.

ANGRY ASIAN MAN 10th ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Breaking the mold of the “model minority,” Phil Yu’s Angry Asian Man blog started as a way to report and comment on news portraying Asians in a stereotypical manner. Ten years later, this blog has become an internet beacon of all things Asian American, ranging from promoting new musicians and indie films, to reporting on everyday injustices, to highlighting the greatest Bollywood action scene ever. There have been many blogs to come out of the woodwork since, but it can truly be said that AngryAsianMan.com is a one-of-a-kind.

Come and join Visual Communications and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in celebrating ten years of Angry Asian Man! Phil Yu will be the man of the hour, as we toast him for keeping us continually ANGRY, compelling us to slowly take the reigns of Asian America and shape our own image in this ever-changing world. To read more about this sure-to-be legendary bash, click here.

ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE: A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF PEPING BACLIG

Last February, the Asian Pacific American artistic community lost one of its most unlikely touchstones: Faustino “Peping” Baclig, a true-life survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March of World War II, and later a vocal activist for Filipino veterans’ rights and a tireless volunteer for local organizations serving the elderly. Along the way, “Peping” became an unlikely inspiration to younger generations of Filipino American artists through his appearance in independent films and videos including Patricio Ginelsa’s THE APL SONG (featuring The Black Eyed Peas) and Rod Pulido’s groundbreaking THE FLIP SIDE. The Film Festival is honored to team up with director Pulido to present a special “out of the vault” presentation of THE FLIP SIDE, and pay tribute to an unsung hero in the Filipino American community. Be sure to come early and check out a special sneak peek of footage from the upcoming documentary on Peping baclig by his grandson, OJ Baclig. To read more about this special anniversary presentation, click here.

RETROSPECTIVE: JAMES WONG HOWE: MASTER OF LIGHT

Among the most sought-after cinematographers of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” of the 1930s and 1940s, James Wong Howe (1899-1976) defied a culture of discrimination and cultural xenophobia to forge a legacy as a pioneer of the then-nascent art of filmed photography. A ten-time Oscar® nominee for his cinematography work, Howe won for THE ROSE TATTOO (1955) and HUD (1963). More significantly, Wong’s pioneering stature has inspired subsequent award-winning cinematographers of Asian descent ranging from Michael Chin, Tak Fujimoto, Hiro Narita, to contemporary masters as Michael Goi and Matthew Libatique.

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s tribute to James Wong Howe will comprise not only a sampling of his work as a cinematographer, but as a director as well. The Festival is pleased to include two of Howe’s signature cinematography efforts, BODY AND SOUL (1947) and HUD (1963), as well as a presentation culled from reels of home movie footage that offers a glimpse into his moviemaking aesthetic and life away from the studio. Also on tap: a special presentation of DONG KINGMAN (1953), a rare directorial effort that spotlights the creative processes and aesthetic of one of America’s mid-20th Century watercolor masters.

Special support for the retrospective tribute to James Wong Howe is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences; home movie footage courtesy of the Academy Film Archive and the James Wong Howe Estate.