Skip to main content

2017 San Diego Asian Film Festival

Blog

  1. SDAFF CLOSING NIGHT- The Film “A Better Man”Molds into an Even Better Woman.

    Posted November 18th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    A Female victim of abuse helps her ex-beau become the film’s title…A Better Man. Documentaries and true stories bring us windows of someone else’s lives, where we can lay witness to the suffering and hardships of others. We in essence became Sunday, armchair quarterbacks expounding upon our own intuitive (usually pseudo-intuitive) sense of how he […]


  2. THE VILLAINESS: OUCH, WOMAN

    Posted November 16th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Something dawned on me last week. This past summer, Hollywood has churned out more blockbuster films this year featuring characters that are skilled martial artists than in previous years: Guardians of the Galaxy II; Wonder Woman; Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets; Atomic Blonde; Hitman’s Bodyguard; American Assassin; Kingsman: The Golden Circle; Bladerunner […]


  3. SDAFF 2017: PARADOX – A Martial Enigmatic Ambiguity of Fatherhood

    Posted November 15th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    In the vein of male-bonding kung fu films from the ’70s by renowned director Chang Cheh (known for his Shaw Brothers Shaolin Temple and Chinese storied wuxia and Jiang Hu epics), and the sensitivity of male driven melodramas created by Chang’s prize pupil, John Woo, comes Paradox. Bottom line, it’s a film that features the […]


  4. SDAFF 2017: ISLAND SOLDIER – Why the American Soldiers of Micronesia Need a Macrostudy of Economics

    Posted November 14th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania and is made up of thousands of small islands and inlets in the western Pacific Ocean. They share cultural history with their two neighboring island regions, Polynesia (Hawaii, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Cook Islands and 1000 more) and Melanesia (New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and others). Micronesia is […]


  5. Announcing the 2017 SDAFF Award Winners

    Posted November 14th, 2017 by Brian in Uncategorized

    The 18th San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) announced the winners of its competition categories at the SDAFF Awards Gala held on Saturday, November 11, 2017. Top honors went to MY ENEMY, MY BROTHER  for Grand Jury Award, WEXFORD PLAZA for Best Narrative Feature, and OUT OF STATE  for Best Documentary Feature. The festival continues through November 18, 2017. Awards were […]


  6. SDAFF 2017: MAINELAND – Shoe on the Other Foot

    Posted November 13th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    When I was accepted into the entomology department at National Taiwan University in 1979, I had no idea what to expect. Based on preconceptions and misconceptions, I had plenty of each. Some of my assumptions were that everyone respected nature (too many Shaolin films), were into philosophy (again with the kung fu films), and according […]


  7. SDAFF 2017: SHOPPING FOR FANGS – THE COMING OF GENERASIAN X

    Posted November 12th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    In 1997, there was a new wave of Asian-American filmmakers and actors who were poised to make their own mark in the cinematic community. They didn’t do films that featured the same worn Asian actors you saw playing the same typical Chinese bad guys in every TV show or crappy American made martial art movies […]


  8. SDAFF 2017: Bad Genius – A Testy Education Out of Control

    Posted November 10th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    It’s crazy, at the festival’s November 9 official opening night screening of Oh Lucy! at the San Diego Natural History Museum, a film about what happens when a single, silently miserable, chain-smoking Japanese women who’s choking on mid-life crisis, decides to take a English class, I had flashbacks of my time in 1979 Taiwan teaching […]


  9. SDAFF 2017: O-pening Night – 0h Lucy!

    Posted November 10th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Nestled between the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, a great place to train, and the world famous San Diego Zoo, is the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Kaplan theater, where you can still hear creatures chattering, bellowing and grunting. I’m not referring to the place of Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!, but the […]


  10. TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE THE 2017 SDAFF

    Posted November 8th, 2017 by Dr. Craig D. Reid in Uncategorized

    Crikey! It’s already the 18th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival and it’s like a trip to the North Pole…nicely cool and great for the soul. On the other hand? A solid collection of right-on hot films, great for the palate and cool for the spirit. So in keeping up with the holliday bloggiday, Twas […]


  11. Programmers’ Short Film Picks

    Posted October 31st, 2017 by Brian in Uncategorized

    The heart of our festival, where we make the bold discoveries and invite up-and-coming directors, is the short film selection. But with so many titles to navigate, how do you choose which to see? Our festival programmers give a roadmap to their personal favorites. Jumanah Albahri: VIBRATION ANIMAL LOST DOGS FLOAT SANTA CLAUS Brian Hu: […]


  12. See What’s Cooking at the 18th San Diego Asian Film Festival

    Posted September 25th, 2017 by Brian in Uncategorized

    Things are coming to a boil in Asian America. The targeting of Muslims and Sikhs. Income disparity from the working class to Hollywood. The proposed deportation of thousands of immigrants. The ongoing whitewashing onscreen and behind the scenes that continues to perpetuate myths that Asian Americans have no value and are not part of the […]