Asian-American Film Fest Rivals 1994 With Roster Of Not-To-Be- Missed Movies

Last year's outstanding Seattle Asian-American Film Festival, which featured the local premieres of Tiana Thi Than Ng's "From Hanoi to Hollywood," Ang Lee's "Pushing Hands" and Arthur Dong's "Coming Out Under Fire," is a hard act to follow. But the festival's 1995 edition, which starts Thursday and runs through next Sunday at the Seattle Art Museum, has more films and videos and just as many high points. Chief among them: the local premiere of this year's controversial Academy Award winner for best documentary, "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision." It received the Oscar that many critics felt should have gone to "Hoop Dreams" or "Crumb." Its creator, Freida Lee Mock, has been busy defending the academy's choice for the past few months, although it really needs no defense. Now that the controversy has died down, perhaps it will be possible to see it for what it is: an excellent movie that happens to be quite a timely investigation of government-approved art. Just as worthy are several other festival entries, including the West Coast premiere of Steven Okazaki's wrenchingly personal examination of anti-Asian racism, "American Sons"; Edgy Lee's disturbing film about the gradual elimination of Hawaiian culture, "Papakolea: A Story of Hawaiian Land"; and Arthur Dong's fine new documentary about the history of Asian-American media success stories, "Claiming a Voice: The Visual Communications Story." Also not to be missed is a revival of Samuel Fuller's provocative 1959 melodrama, "The Crimson Kimono," which is not available on videotape and rarely turns up on television. It's quite a showcase for James Shigeta, a Hawaiian-born actor whose starring roles in "Flower Drum Song," "Cry For Happy" and "Bridge to the Sun" brought him close to marquee-name Hollywood status in the early 1960s. William Satake Blauvelt, who did such a perceptive job of curating the 1994 festival, performed the same function this year. Here's a roundup of festival events: "An Evening With Steven Okazaki," 7 p.m. Thursday in the museum auditorium. An Oscar nominee for "Unfinished Business" (1985), veteran documentary filmmaker Okazaki finally won his Academy Award four years ago for another film about the internment camps, "Days of Waiting." He will attend opening night and show his latest movies: "Hunting Tigers," a half-hour film about four artists in modern Tokyo, and "American Sons," a 43-minute collection of interviews with men of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino descent. A question-and-answer session is part of the program. "Body Politics: Women's Views," 7 p.m. Friday in the museum lecture hall. J.T. Takagi and Hye Jung Park's hourlong documentary about the Korean sex industry, "The Women Outside," deals uncompromisingly with the American military's unofficial endorsement of prostitution, while following one Korean/GI couple through the early stages of their marriage. Also on the program are three shorts: "Aletheia," an experimental video about blindness; "White Monkey," about an institutionalized woman's phobias; and "Last Week of Summer 92," about an exchange student's conflicting feelings about abortion. "Before the Big Time," 8 p.m. Friday in the auditorium. A collection of early shorts by five directors better-known for their feature work. Ang Lee ("The Wedding Banquet," "Eat Drink Man Woman") is represented by the 37-minute "Fine Line," a 1985 comedy-drama about cultural confusion in Manhattan. Mina Shum's award-winning 1993 short, "Me, Mom and Mona" plays like a warmup for her current theatrical release, "Double Happiness." Kayo Hatta's 1989 short about treatment of Japanese-American women, "Otemba" ("Tomboy"), also deals with some of the same themes that turned up in her 1995 feature, "Picture Bride." Wayne Wang ("Dim Sum," "Smoke") is represented by "Dim Sum Takeout," while Gurinder Chadha ("Bhaji on the Beach") demonstrates her early talent in 1990's "A Nice Arrangement." "Critically Queer: Gay and Lesbian Perspectives," 9:15 p.m. Friday in the lecture hall. A mostly experimental program, made up of seven shorts that deal with Asian-American homosexuals. Michael Magnaye's "White Christmas" shows drag queens in Filipino costumes, Paul Lee's "Thick Lips, Thin Lips" deals with the disruption of intimacy between two men, while Mari Keiko Gonzalez's partly autobiographical "The Love Thang Trilogy" concentrates on lesbian relationships. "Are You Looking At Me?: Youth Outlooks," noon Saturday in the lecture hall. Six filmmakers try to cross the generation gap in this collection of shorts, including Nith Lacroix's "Letter Back Home," John Manal Castro's "Diary of a Gangsta Sucka" and Ann Coppel and John Mifsud's locally produced, half-hour documentary about Seattle homosexuals, "Speaking For Ourselves: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Youth." "Picture This: The Making of `Picture Bride,' " 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium. Mayumi Tsutakawa will moderate this discussion, featuring the writer-director of "Picture Bride," Kayo Hatta, and the movie's producer, Lisa Onodera. "The Crimson Kimono," 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium. Sam Fuller's 1959 film deals with the sorely tested friendship between two Korean War buddies (James Shigeta, Glenn Corbett) who became Los Angeles police detectives. As with so many of Fuller's low-budget films ("Shock Corridor," "The Naked Kiss"), its take on urban alienation and prejudice is surprisingly complex and up-to-date. The program begins with Kenn Kashima's 10-minute short about Asian-American identity, "Notes on a Scale," starring Tamlyn Tomita ("Picture Bride"). "Man Trouble," 7 p.m. Saturday in the lecture hall. A collection of seven shorts including "Angry Cafe," a tense little drama starring Garret Wang of "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Normal Deviate Behavior," a droll comedy about a couple (Dennis Dun, Julie Dretzin) tentatively experimenting with three-way sex. "25 Years in Motion: A Tribute to Visual Communications," 8 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium. Arthur Dong's hourlong "Claiming a Voice: The Visual Communications Story" (1991) and Eddie Wong's half-hour "Pieces of a Dream" (1974) tell the history of Asian-American media triumphs. "Edge, Cult and Camp II," 9:15 p.m. Saturday in the lecture hall. A collection of seven short midnight-movie wannabes, including Eui Joon Kim's culture-clash comedy, "Wasabi Sting!"; Quentin Lee's tale of a gay man's Christmas wish list, "Matricide"; and Anna Biller's bizarre, Warholian musical fantasy, "Three Examples of Myself as Queen." "Between Worlds: Mixed Race/Adoptee," noon next Sunday in the lecture hall. Four shorts, including Erika Surat Andersen's "None of the Above," a film about mixed-race children searching for cultural identity, and Kip Fulbeck's "Banana Split," an autobiographical 37-minute video about attending UCLA, or "the University of Caucasians Lost Among Asians." "From Hawaii to the Holocaust: A Shared Moment in History," 12:30 p.m. next Sudnay in the auditorium. Narrated by Ed Asner, Judy Weightman and Ryan Septon's hourlong documentary focuses on the Japanese-American soldiers who liberated the Nazi concentration camps. Also on the program: Nicole Newnham's 14-minute short, "Unforgettable Face," about a blindfolded prisoner at Dachau, where Jewish prisoners weren't sure whose side their Asian-American saviors represented. "MSG . . . Money, Sex & Guns: An Open Conversation with Asian-American Filmmakers," 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the museum's board room. Peter Feng, an Iowa film critic, will moderate this panel discussion, which includes Steven Okazaki, John Pai, Linda Mabalot and other participants. "Life of the Land," 2 p.m. next Sunday in the auditorium. Two hourlong films make up this program: Linda Ohama's "The Last Harvest," about a Canadian-Japanese family that relocated from Vancouver to the Canadian interior during World War II, and Edgy Lee's moving documentary about Hawaiian cultural survival, "Papakolea: A Story of Hawaiian Land," which was photographed by the Oscar-winning cinematographer, Haskell Wexler ("Bound For Glory"). "Northwest Showcase," 3:30 p.m. next Sunday in the lecture hall. Eight short films produced in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. Jay Koh's touching "My Brown Eyes" deals with a Korean boy's difficult first day in an American school. John Pai's "Tsu Liang Ching" is a portrait of the Seattle filmmaker's mother. Also from Seattle: Jesse Wine's "American Fish," Doug Ing's "Castle," and Irene H. Kuniyuki's "Splayd Molecular Time." Vancouver is represented by Troy Suzuki's "For Anyone Returning to Earth After Being Away" and Julia Kwan's "Inflamed," and Portland by Grace Lee-Park's "Daughterline." "Tongue in Groove: Words & Music on Screen," 6:30 p.m. next Sunday in the lecture hall. "I'm British, But . . .," Gurinder Chadha's half-hour documentary about shifting cultural identities in England, is the main event on this program of six shorts. John Pai's "Ode to Joy," Nith Lacroix's "Lam Lao" and Martha Chono-Helsley's "Thirty Miles From J-Town" are also included. "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision," 7 p.m. next Sunday in the auditorium. Maya Lin's creation of the Vietnam War Memorial is at the center of Freida Lee Mock's Oscar-winning film, which deals with the battering Lin took from critics - and the ultimate vindication of her carefully thought-out design. Without getting preachy about it, the movie is a powerful rebuke to those who questioned Lin's motives and even the appropriateness of her sex, youth and race. Admission is $6.50 for most programs, $12 for opening night (the Okazaki program), $8 for closing night ("Maya Lin"). The panel discussions are free. Ticket venues include Bailey Coy Books, Cinema Books, City Books, the Elliott Bay Book Co. and Kobo. Some tickets will also be available at the door. Information: 525-0892.