San Diego Asian Film Festival Rolls Out 7th Season with Record Number of Features

The San Diego Asian Film Festival celebrates its seventh year at the Mission Valley UltraStar Cinema at Hazard Center, October 12-19, 2006. During San Diego’s largest Pan Asian cultural event, an estimated 15,000 attendees will experience over 130 short and feature films from over 15 different countries including the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Mongolia, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. This year marks the festival’s most competitive year for dramatic narrative feature length films, and boasts a record-number 13 Asian American feature film selections. The complete program schedule will be released in September online at www.sdaff.org.

There is something for everyone at this year’s festival, which opens with the award-winning drama from Sundance, JOURNEY FROM THE FALL, chronicling a war-torn family’s exodus from Vietnam to America. The festival closes with the West Coast premiere of a heartwarming Japanese film, ALWAYS: SUNSET ON THIRD STREET. Set in 1950s Tokyo, ALWAYS is the winner of 13 Japanese Academy Awards. Other films include the charming, COLMA: THE MUSICAL, the action packed samurai film SHINOBI, the dark and grisly Korean gangster film from Cannes, A BITTERSWEET LIFE, the art-house favorite THREE TIMES, anti-nuclear war documentary LAST ATOMIC BOMB, and the highly stylized Thai sensation CITIZEN DOG. Seven short film programs include our popular animation program and “Reel Voices,” a showcase of documentaries produced by local high school students.

Patrons can also participate in panels, parties, and meet more than 100 filmmakers, actors, and industry guests. Top films will be awarded during a star-studded Gala Awards Ceremony on Saturday, October 14 at the Doubletree Hotel in Mission Valley. Vietnamese American actress Kieu Chinh (M*A*S*H, The Joy Luck Club, Journey From the Fall) will be presented a Lifetime Achievement Award. Other special guests scheduled or invited to attend include Dustin Nguyen (21 Jump Street, V.I.P, Little Fish), Ming-Na Wen (The Joy Luck Club, E.R., Vanished) Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Sung Kang (The Motel, Fast and Furious 3) and Roger Fan (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis).

Discounted tickets ($5-10) will be available online starting in September. Otherwise, the public can buy tickets at the Hazard Center UltraStar Cinemas box office during the days of the festival. Prices range from $7-15. Group, student, and military discounts are available.

The San Diego Asian Film Festival is an event of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation, a nonprofit 501c3 organization dedicated to promoting the Pan Asian experience through the media arts.