Asian American International Film festival & Sony Wonder Technology Lab updates!
July 18th, 2011 by Mr. C
Just wanted to provide a few updates before the Planet Chocko spaceship lifts off from dirty jerzy, headed straight towards the confines of sunny san diego for a weekend full of wind sailing, surfing, tanning, & roller blading…NOT! Instead, we are taking these chiseled all star profiles full of edward scissor-hand landscapers, dock workers, line cooks, & 21 Jump street wannabees on this geek expedition known as the San Diego Comic Con to shadow box amongst the best of the sci fi, comic, kung fu, manga, & anime nerds! One love, y’all! Chocko & Joel NJ Dev have been rockin’ this funky joint since they were nursing halo-halo (filipino dessert) from their martian moms while I made cameo appearances every now & then with my soy bean milk inspired self so that I can pay my union card nerd membership dues! But seriously, the San Diego Comic Convention is a holding cell full of creative geniouses from all different types of media outlets & demographics showing their wares for a fun filled weekend! I usually have an affinity for checking out Ric Meyers’ Kung Fu extravaganza show piece as well as the Spike & Mike’s sick & twisted animation showings while Chocko goes full force with hunting down comic book sketches from his favorite artists, attending Q&A sessions from cast members of new shows, getting autographs from his favorite comic book writers, & going to movie screenings! Joel NJ Dev is a hybrid gecko absorbing all of the above while maintaining a sci fi cocoon in Hall H!
We were planning on having a limited paper print run of Planet Chocko Zine to hand out at the San Diego Comic con just like old times, but life got in the way. Besides, the godzilla like xerox machines at this office space location were on sabbatical!
Getting back to the matter at hand, I wanted to give a proper shoutout to the 34th annual Asian American International Film festival which takes place from August 10-20th! Asian Cinevision, who runs this event deserves a standing ovation & a high flying somersault, if possible because as far as I know, ACV was one of the 1st organizations in New York City to bring Hong Kong & chinese cinema to the american masses via film festivals! This is where many NYC gwai lo’s & gwai po’s first got introduced to John Woo’s Hardboiled & The Killer, Super Cop, City on Fire, Fong Sai Yuk, & Once upon a time in China to just name a few movies! When Tsui Hark was talking about working in NYC at the Daily News as a reporter and starting a project on an asian american documentary program 30 years ago, ASIAN CINEVISION would be this catalyst that would battle in the ring for the development, promotion and preservation of film and video arts by and about people of Asian descent. Tsui Hark’s vision to take asian films to the next level would inspire the creation of ASIAN CINEVISION in 1976! Nowadays, ACV seems to be more focused on the Asian AMERICAN aspect of films with their new mission statement. We would like to thank Asian Cinevision, Tsui Hark, Peter Chow, & the whole host of ACV all stars for shining such a bright light on making asian films more accessible! With that, I encourage you all to support & checkout a few screenings at the 34th annual AAIFF taking place throughout a few venues in NYC including the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas & the Museum of Chinese Americas on centre street in chinatown!
The 2nd bird that I wanted to cast a stone to in this planet chocko update are the FREE screenings that take place EVERY saturday at the Sony Wonder Technology Labs on 56th street! I caught wind of this free movie event last Saturday while watching INSIDIOUS at the Sony Technology Labs 73-seat stadium seating HI-DEF theater! The Sony Wonder Technology labs project sony blu ray formatted films as opposed to traditional film but free is free & the projection screen is a decent contender for your viewing pleasures! Check out their list of films & the process to RSVP for these free screenings: here!
Tags: aaiff, asian american international film festival, free screenings, sony, sony wonder technology labs
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