ID Film Fest

Next weekend is the ID Film Fest ( www.idfilmfest.com ) which is a festival by filmmakers and for filmmakers who create Asian American content and/or of Asian descent. The festival runs for three days next weekend October 8th - 10th. The film I am most interested in seeing is Air Doll by Hirokazu Koreeda, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and is having its LA premiere screening at 10pm on October 9th.

"The movie is about a middle-aged man whose closest friend is a life-sized doll. This isn’t just any sex doll though; it was made with a heart. So when the man goes to work during the day, the doll goes out and explores the world. This film portrays the loneliness and lack of human connection in not only Japan but all industrialized big cities around the world." — Koji Steven Sakai

For all filmmakers interested in getting some free insight into the business there is going to be a Filmmaker Crash Course on Sunday from 10am - 2pm. Which will be a rapid fire pandemonium of short seven to ten minute presentations on everything you need to know about filmmaking from development to marketing.

I will be participating in the Asian American (and secretly Pacific) Independent Feature Conference. I will be there meeting people and developing more interest in the feature film I am working on with Greg Cahill called Two Shadows. I will let you all know how things went after next weekend.

All events will be taking place at the Los Angeles' National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111 N. Central Ave.

Girls to the Front - History of the Riot Grrl Movement

I was just sent a link to a project called "Girls to the Front" by a woman that I used to work with as a Camera Assistant in New York City Mary Billyou. The project is a online collection of videos, like the one above, of women speaking about their experiences with the Riot Grrl movement. The videos are an online accompaniment to a book written by Sara Marcus, who is also the woman in the video above. Her book is a history of the movement.

Check out what Vainity Fair has to say about the book -

"Sara Marcus’s Girls to the Front is not only a historical rockument of the revolutionary 90s counterculture Riot Grrrl movement, which birthed the DIY feminist punk scene, but also a rousing inspiration for a new generation of empowered rebel girls to strap on guitars and stick it to The Man." — Vanity Fair

3 tips from New Media Bootcamp - week one

Thank you very much to Pacific Islanders in Communications who sponsored me to attend the two week New Media bootcamp being put together by Los Angeles non-profit LAANE and the Liberty Hill Foundation.

There was a whole host of incredible speakers including Philip Holmes, L.A. Director, Blue State Digital (the group that ran the new media for Barack Obama's presidential election campaign) and Rob Kramer of Campaign Live which is an easy to use low cost tool for fundraising and awareness widgets. It was a packed day but there were some useful concepts that I came away with. Here are the top five.

"A/B Testing"

How will you know if your messaging is maximized for your audience? You should use A/B testing. For example when you send out your email blast to your mailing list split it in half. It is a great way to find out what your audience responds to. For example on your donate button does "join the movement" or "support the cause" work better. If you send both of the phrases out you will have a better idea of what works for you.

Be Consistent

I have to admit that this is a big problem for me with my work. I am so busy running around shooting, writing grants, or just general hustling that I have a hard time getting things like blog posts together. But really posting at least two to three times a week is a requirement. I know this is hard to hear and even harder to follow through with.

Listen

Communication online is not a one way street. The beauty of social media is being about to talk directly to your audience and ask for their ideas and opinions. What better way to be able to cater directly to your audience than to find out straight from them the kind of content they most want to see?

Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege Screening

This past Saturday I organized a screening of a documentary film called Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege. It was held in the Asian Pacific American Legal Center's 1st Floor Community Room. This film was finished in 2006 ago but it is a great video to set the stage to discuss the current new telescope developments happening on Mauna Kea and Haleakala. At the screening I presented a slide show on the issues by KAHEA - The Hawaiian Environmental Alliance. I would suggest visiting both the KAHEA and Mauna Kea film websites I have linked here to learn more about the issues facing the precious summits of Hawai'i.

Around twenty people came, and we collected 17 signatures to protect the summits. This was the first screening of this type that I have organized, and I look forward to organizing more.

You can also stream the entire film at Asia Pacific Films

Here is a excerpt of the Mauna Kea Film for you to check out:

I'm a typical Pacific Islander Lady

So according to some demographics work done by the venerable institution of Okcupid.com I am evidently a fairly typical PI Woman being that hula and kickboxing are in the top five things that Pacific Islander women like. However it is atypical evidently that I do not like Michael Buble.

Good to know...

It's not Hollywood or Bollywood, it's Nollywood!

The poster for Reggae Boys, which stars two of Nollywood's most famous stars.

The Nigerian movie industry also known as Nollywood produces about 2,500 movies a year. Which is about two and a half times as many films as Bollywood and over five times as many as Hollywood. The average Nollywood film costs between $17,000 and $25,000 US. The Nigerian film scene is fiercely low budget and DIY, but what makes it extremely interesting is the authenticity of the movies. This authenticity and proud African point of view is explored in depth in the documentary "Nollywood Babylon". This doc is one of the best written that I have seen in a long time.

Foxes! Dare to do What Others Dream Of

I went to a really fun event last week at the The Cinefamily the venue is also known as "the silent movie theater". I hope that most of you in L.A. know about this great place.

The night sleepover party themed. The main event was a double feature of a film released in 1980 called Foxes. Which stars Jodie Foster and features a teenage skateboarding Scott Baio, and a creepy cradle robbing Randy Quaid.

There was complimentary wine provided by Bear Flag Winery and delicious gelato from Paciugo

This trailer does not do justice at all to the insane campy brilliance of this film's dialog.

Trailer:

If your parents bought you cigarettes as a teenager. If you ever got mixed up with a tranny named Burt. If you have ever gone toe-to-toe with a pimp on the boulevard. If you love Donna Summers or if you love the movie "Nowhere" by Gregg Araki even half as much as I do. This movie is a must.