Shanghai Calling actors Sean Gallagher and Gillian Rexach, along with director Daniel Hsia and producer and honoree Janet Yang at AAIFF’12 Opening Night at Asia Society.
This year AAIFF celebrates its landmark 35th year anniversary as the first and longest-running film festival dedicated to the Asian American experience. We are honored this year to be the recipient of a $15,000 NEA grant to further our mission of bringing Asian American films to our community.
Now, we want to match the NEA grant by way of individual donations, so that we can continue our work of always bringing AAIFF to that next level. Here is a list of 35 reasons why we would like you to join us in our goal of making AAIFF an even better event for our community!
ENJOY THE LIST, AND DONATE TODAY!
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35 REALLY AWESOME REASONS TO SUPPORT AAIFF’12
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35. Opening Night Gala.
34. Centerpiece Presentation.
33. Closing Night Gala.
Every year AAIFF will put on special events to celebrate the API film community. This year, Opening Night Gala will be held at the Asia Society and announces the official start of the festival with an evening of fun.
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32. Help Discover and Support the Next Ang Lee.
Want to be a part of movie history? AAIFF was one of the only festivals to screen the student films of a young unknown film director named Ang Lee. Of course, Lee would later become the first person of Asian descent to win the Oscar for Best Director.
Could the next Ang Lee be having his or her debut at AAIFF’12? Let us find out together!
photo by nicolas genin, Wikipedia.
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31. Bring Asian American Movie Premieres to NYC.
Every year, AAIFF will bring Asian American movies to NYC that have never been shown in theaters in the city. In fact, this year the film Supercapitalist will be making its WORLD PREMIERE at AAIFF’12.
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30. Give the new generation of API filmmakers a space to grow.
Our By Youth For Youth event allows young students in the API community to screen their short films at our festival before a supportive audience of family, friends, and community members.
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Want more reasons to support AAIFF? Keep Reading, or Click Here to Donate!
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29. Support LGBTQ APIs… 28. … And Immigrant Communities Too.
AAIFF hosts a special event during our festival celebrating the API LGBTQ community with a night of LGBTQ API films. The API immigrant community, meanwhile, will always be at the heart of the API experience and naturally has been a major focus of many of the films shown at AAIFF.
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27. Raise Awareness of Social Justice Issues in the API community.
AAIFF prides itself in being very social justice oriented in many of the content we screen, including documentaries highlighting some of the injustice faced by members of our community. On the 30th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s death, these films continue to serve an incredibly important role in highlighting the many of the injustices and prejudices Asian Americans continue to face on a regular basis.
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Help Support Award-Winning Filmmakers such as…
26. Joan Chen 25. Mira Nair 24. Steve Okazaki .
23. Wayne Wang 22. Jessica Yu …and others. . .
AAIFF has the distinct pleasure of awarding its Asian American Media Award to API filmmakers who have made significant contributions to API filmmaking. Past recipients have included Wayne Wang (Joy Luck Club, Chan is Missing) and Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, The Namesake).
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Help Bring Iconic Asian Filmmakers to the Big Apple:
21. Andy Lau
20. Maggie Cheung
19. Patrick Tam
18. Sammo Hung
17. Jet Li and others.
AAIFF has been honored to bring Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung and other iconic Asian filmmakers to our festival to celebrate their contributions to the filmmaking world.
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Still Want More? Keep On Reading Then, or Click Here To Give to AAIFF!
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16. Give Women Filmmakers a Festival Where They Are Truly Celebrated.
AAIFF takes special pride in the fact that over half of our films last year were by women filmmakers. This emerging group of writers, directors, and producers are changing the movie world by bringing their visions to screens like never before. Last year’s Closing Night Film, for example, was The Wedding Palace, directed by Christine Yoo.———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
15 & 14. You’re an Asian American lawyer or banker.
This year, two of our premiere films have an Asian American lawyer and banker as the main characters: Shanghai Calling, starring Daniel Henney, and Supercapitalist, starring Derek Ting.
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Help us build a bridge from Asia to New York City with human stories from…
13. China .
Popular Filipino Actor Joel Torre on left, while Monette Rivera from The Filipino Channel interviews director John Sayles about Amigo, his film set during the Philippine-American War.
12. Hong Kong
11. Taiwan
10. India
9. Japan
8. South Korea
7. Philippines
6. Iran
5. Tibet
4. Cambodia
3. Vietnam
2. Bhutan .
These are just some of the countries that AAIFF has screened movies from, and very often our festival is the only time to watch these independent movies in a theater in New York.
AAIFF serves the important role of bringing human stories from all over Asia to share with our audiences in New York City. It reminds some of us of where we came from, and others of where we will always be spiritually and emotionally. Bridging New York and Asia through film and community is a big part of what AAIFF is all about.
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And the Number One Reason We Want You To Support AAIFF’12 …
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1. Help us continue to foster a homegrown Asian American community in NYC.
This July marks the 35th year anniversary of AAIFF, and we are honored and humbled to be such an integral part of the movement to build a stronger, more supportive creative community that is occurring nationwide in the API population. We also believe strongly in the role we play in New York City in fostering this great community. However, we can only continue our hard work if we have the support of YOU, our community base. And so, we ask that you strongly consider becoming a part of the great tradition that is our annual film festival by giving to AAIFF this year.