Thank you so much to everyone who came to last weeks' fundraising screening of Haku Inoa at Central Cinema. As you can see the house was really packed!
The event raised about $2000 toward the completion of the project. I plan on using this money toward making a rough cut of the film.
I also want to congratulate Karen Winston who was the winner of the gift certificates to The Hotel Max and ‘Ohana in Belltown.
Also thank you so much to Malory and all the lovely ladies of Reel Grrls, Louie and Amanda of the Mavin Foundation, Vivian and Josh at The Wing Luke Asian Museum, and Pi‘ilani of AAPIP (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthrophy) Without all of you this event would not have been so wonderful.
Here are a few fun pics from the event:
Haku Inoa sharing the marquee with Less Than Zero
Me dancing hula. Which by the way was very nerve wracking for me!
Me, my brother, and Auntie Linda (Mom's twin sister, who came up from Oregon for the screening).
I have been pretty busy trying to get the word out about the July 15th screening. It has been a good little test run of getting press and doing promotion. At this point pretty much everything is in place. I just have to keep practicing the hulas that I am going to dance so I don't embarrass myself. This post is a one stop shop for all of the TV, radio, and print stories that I have done while here in Seattle.
Lori Matsukawa of King 5 News interviewed me on the overall process of film film at the Wing Luke Asian Art Museum.
This interview by Jeremy Richards focuses more on the NW Native connection and what I learned about my mother through working with the people of the Puyallup Tribe:
Joaquin Uy of KBCS and I talk more about the universal conflict between younger and older generations.
Go, go Washington State Film! I went to the Los Angeles Film Festival last night to check out the movie ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was filmed in Port Gamble, WA. Having lived in the Northwest for 8 years I hold Washington near to my heart.
I enjoy horror, and zombie movies are my favorite because of their tendency to be serious social commentary delivered in an audience pleasing package of suspense, explosions, and gunfire. Going into this film I was a little worried that it was going to be too overtly political without the gore to back up the allegory. However, with the first bloody face peeling human slaughter I knew I had better get ready for the plasmagasm about to come.
Director Kevin Hamedani an American of Iranian heritage was inspired to make this film after the events of September 11th. When he witnessed a change in the treatment of Middle Eastern Americans within the United States. Ignorance of culture and the sudden increase in aggression directed toward this group of people concerned Hamedani, but he did not want to address this issue through a serious film. So, in the tradition George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead) Hamedani uses the zombies as a device in his film to force his character's into small spaces where they would be forced to talk out larger social issues.
The tone of this social dialog is what is particularly refreshing about ZMD. Co-Writers Hamedani and Ramon Isao cleverly juxtapoz the tension of impending armageddon creeping in on the main characters with hilarious one-liners. The cast fires off rapid comedic quips, paired with campy slapstick gore that will make any Evil Dead fan titter with delight.
ZMD producer Yahya Sinno was hesitant to reveal in a Q&A the budget was less than $500,000 for the film. Which for the quality of the make-up, effects, and scenery is hard to believe. Although, at times the limitations of the budget could be felt, the film feels incredibly resourceful and intelligently produced. The filmmakers hardily and graciously thanked the Town of Port Gamble for their collaboration with the production.
Last weekend I was in Reno, NV and Truckee, CA shooting a three day cycling race called the Tour De Nez. It was a lot of fun. I got to shoot part of the time on the back of a motorcycle, thanks Chris!
The three day Tour de Nez has a pro-women's, pro-men's, and pro hand cycling events all three days as well as a few community kids races. It is a really great cycling event.
The show is going to air on Versus in mid-July as an interstitial program during the Tour De France. Very exciting!
Here is a little peek of the footage that I shot for the race. It's not very much just what the director could send me. You can see a little of the hand cycling champion Alejandro Arbol. I am such a fan, he is amazing!
These guys are great! They are coming up in fashion so get it while you still can. Cause pretty soon they are going to have Jamie Foxx and all of the Black Eye Peas all over it! (No really for real) You can already see Taboo in LAVSH click here.
Central Cinema 1411 21st Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 July 15th, 2009 6pm - 8:30pm www.central-cinema.com
Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name is the deeply personal story of filmmaker Christen Marquez’s journey to heal her family relationships, which have been devastated by her Mother’s mental illness. Driven by the desire to to learn the meaning of her enigmatic Hawaiian name. Christen attempts to unite her scattered family and come to terms with her estranged mother, because her mother is the only one who knows the true meaning. However, learning her name proves to be more difficult then Christen first realizes. The film brings up deeper questions about surviving in a family with mental illness, and the modern cultural identities of “on-island” and “off-island” Native Hawaiians also called Kanaka Maoli.
I will be screening some very old work of mine, and the very newest. I will also be dancing hula there too, so that should be cool.
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