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San Diego Asian Film Festival 2013

Festival News

  1. SDAFF Youth Day 2013

    Posted November 18th, 2013 by Brian in Uncategorized

    One of the little known events that we do at the SDAFF each year is that on every Tuesday during the Festival, we invite hundreds of local high school and middle school students to skip traditional classes and spend the school day at our theater in Mission Valley.   As you can imagine, we have no […]


  2. DOCUMENTED: The Ironic Story of Jose Antonio Vargas

    Posted November 15th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

      Screening a film about a non-documented alien (Documented) at the San Diego Asian Film Festival’s closing night, which is held in a popular city for UFOs and visitors from the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, there’s a chance some of the crowd may associate with the film’s quasi-hero, Filipino Amer-whatagain?, Jose Antonio Vargas, and may also know what it is to be an undocumented American…or as mainstream America chides…an illegal […]


  3. SDAFF through 12-year-old eyes: REEL VOICES

    Posted November 14th, 2013 by Brian in Uncategorized

    12-year-old Lianna Treitler is blogging about our festival! Here’s her second entry: On Sunday afternoon, I took a trip to Hazard Center to view a collection of short films called Reel Voices. These movies were made by teens across San Diego depicting a personal story that is close to their hearts. Each film was unique […]


  4. THE GREAT NORTH KOREAN PICTURE SHOW: It’s Not a Communist Plot

    Posted November 14th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Last night, Singapore filmmakers Lynn Lee and James Leong’s cinematic accomplishment, The Great North Korean Picture Show, had it’s US premiere at SDAFF 2013 and provided a prodigious picture of pseudo-propaganda psychosis that outweighs the unrepentant rubbish recent American glory hunters are pawning to the US public. The film opens explaining that in 2008, they […]


  5. CONFESSION OF MURDER: Talk About a Book Deal

    Posted November 13th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Let me first begin that I really liked this film and to me, it’s one of the best Korean movies I’ve seen this year. Make no doubt about it, director Jung Byung-gil’s Confession of Murder, requires one to enter the theater with spare fingers and toes as the nail biting continues from start to finish. […]


  6. Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast – Funny Yummy Tummy in Taiwan

    Posted November 12th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    For yesterday’s 2013 Veterans day celebration, some audience members watched two movies at the 14th Annual San Diego Film Festival in 6.5 hours: the four hour Filipino film Norte, The End of History (100+ people attended; although an award winning film at Cannes, only 200 people attended that screening); and the highest grossing Taiwanese film […]


  7. TBA screenings announced!

    Posted November 12th, 2013 by Brian in Announcements

    Added screenings: Wednesday, Nov. 13 8:45pm: MYSTERY KUNG FU THEATER! 9:00pm: AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS Thursday, Nov. 14 5:15pm: BLIND DETECTIVE 6:20pm: WHEN I WALK Friday, Nov. 15 9:20pm: DOCUMENTED Tickets are now available online and at the box office.


  8. SDAFF through 12-year-old eyes: SHORTS FOR SHORTIES

    Posted November 12th, 2013 by Brian in Uncategorized

    12-year-old Lianna Treitler is blogging about our festival! Here’s her first entry: To kick off my FIRST EVER blog and my first ever San Diego Asian Film Festival experience, I saw a collection of 9 short films called Shorts for Shorties. Each of these short films, either animated or not, had a special lesson. Every […]


  9. Congratulations to the 2013 SDAFF winners!

    Posted November 11th, 2013 by Brian in Announcements

    The winners of this year’s 2013 San Diego Asian Film Festival were announced at last Saturday’s gala awards dinner. Congratulations to all of the winners! Grand Jury Award: Karaoke Girl, directed by Visra Vichit-Vadakan Narrative Feature: Sake-Bomb, directed by Junya Sakino Feature Documentary: Your Day is My Night, directed by Lynne Sachs Narrative Short: The […]


  10. SEPARATED AT BIRTH: The Pandora Playgrounds of Two Korean American Twin Adoptees

    Posted November 11th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    One can’t ignore the obvious, you’re Asian yet your parents are white or black. At what point in life do you realize that you’re different, that these are not your birth parents? How do you ask questions that you may or may not want to know the answers to? At some point, you check the […]


  11. IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT – The Real Ip Man

    Posted November 10th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    “What the point of kung fu if you can’t help a friend?” The sad words and helpless look of Ip Man given to a close family friend that helped take care of the venerable wing chun kung fu teacher Ip Man during World War II, when the friend admitted to Ip that in order to […]


  12. SDAFF 2013: 7-UP, The Un-Cola — Un-Identified and Un-Beatable.

    Posted November 9th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    When marketing against big wigs, 7-UP simply called themselves the Un-Cola, where front man Geoffrey Holder in a most beautiful Trinidadian twang proffered that cola is made from one nut but the un-cola is made from two nuts (lemon/lime), they’re bigger and juicier…he sips the drink…”marvelous, absolutely marvelous”…then fades into darkness with his patented haunting […]


  13. FINDING MR. RIGHT: Star Tang Wei Throws Caution to the Wind

    Posted November 8th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    As is typical, opening night at the 14th Annual San Diego Film Festival dishes out a slight of hand film that is ply with layers, some obvious, some subliminal. Inspired by Nora Ephron’s Sleeping in Seattle… Finding Mr. Right (translated Chinese title Beijing Meets Seattle) is rife with surmise and surprise. On the surface, it’s […]


  14. TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

    Posted November 6th, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    It’s the 14th SDAFF, an event more solid than an ice cube at the North pole, which is very cool. Call me Old School, a traditionalist or a even dinosaur (BTW they lasted 165 million years; man should be so lucky), in preparation for the holiday season…SDAFF, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas for me and the New […]


  15. Programmers’ Picks: Our favorite short films

    Posted November 5th, 2013 by Brian in Uncategorized

    Short films often have the biggest heart. They’re also the hardest to sort through since they don’t come with the reviews and accolades of the features. So to help you navigate this year’s shorts programs, here are some favorites from members of our programming team. Christina Ree THE LINE Intimate, domestic, and scary without anything […]


  16. IP MAN Before SDAFF 2013: The Grandmaster

    Posted November 1st, 2013 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    In celebration of SDAFF 2014, my wife Silvia and I are sponsoring under our business name, Vivalachi Alternative Health and Wellness Services, the kung fu film Ip Man: The Final Battle. In leading up to this final film of the Ip Man franchise, I’d like to share with you all a review I wrote for www.the-filmfiles.com on what I […]


  17. Letter from Artistic Director

    Posted October 17th, 2013 by Brian in Uncategorized

    The New York Times recently paid tribute to 20 young directors to watch, and not surprisingly, the list featured two Pac-Arts favorites: Na Hong-jin (The Chaser) and Lixin Fan (Last Train Home). But the entry that struck me most was for 33-year-old Barry Jenkins of Medicine for Melancholy fame. In the accompanying interview, he talks […]


  18. Ready for the Ride?

    Posted October 4th, 2013 by leeannkim in Uncategorized

    Our programming team has packed 140 films from 15 countries into 10 glorious days of rich storytelling, providing a cinematic journey around the world – all from the comfort of your seat. As we take your imagination to new heights, you will meet some of the world’s most exciting filmmakers. We also invite you to join in provocative conversations about globalization, […]


  19. Save the Date!

    Posted September 5th, 2013 by Brian in Announcements

    The 2013 San Diego Asian Film Festival is just around the corner! Now in its 14th edition, SDAFF promises more films in more places, from Encinitas to downtown, from public libraries to secret peep shows. The Digiplex Mission Valley (formerly UltraStar) continues to be home base, while the Birch North Park once again will be […]