Not a "Twilight Saga" fan? I am not - my loss, I am sure - so I never saw Booboo Stewart portray the werewolf Seth Clearwater. In fact, I missed out on all his vast repertoire, ranging from CSI episodes to touring with Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus to Target commercials... and he just turned 18.
Now, however, I saw and appreciated Booboo greatly (sorry, can't resist using the first name instead of appropriate but less interesting family name) in a preview screening of "White Frog," the opening film of the 30th annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Today's announcement says a hundred films and videos will be shown (http://caamedia.org/blog/category/sfiaaff-2012/) in five venues, March 8-18, including 10 world premieres, seven U.S. premieres, from two dozen countries. This ambitious, wide-ranging festival runs on a $500,000 budget, plus in-kind contributions that perhaps double funding - still way short of the cost of producing a single film, even an indie such as "White Frog."
If you combined Asia and North America, what would be the most striking characteristic of that mighty, if hypothetical, entity? Variety. That's also the dominant characteristic of the festival in the vast diversity of subjects, locations, media, activities.
Based on experience - this will be my 30th festival - I can guarantee variety, interest, experimentation, and a youthful spirit (to a fault, more about that later).
Other than Joan Chen (subject of a special festival tribute), David Henry Hwang, BD Wong, and a few others, the whole cast of the Quentin Lee-directed "White Frog" appears to be Twenty-Somethings.
Producer/co-writer Ellie Wen is a 2009 Stanford graduate. Festival director Masashi "Sushi" Niwano is 30, a bowtie balancing a discreet shock of blue hair. Festival managing director Christine Kwon and the majority of the staff are in the same age bracket.
That youthful zing drives film selections, festival administration, pop-and-rock events, setting this apart from most major festivals. Drawbacks are few, but they do exist. Take, for example, this exuberant misstep:
"BELIEVE THE HYPE!" - in capital letters, with a bang at the end - says the festival website about "White Frog." Besides the fact that the hype exists only in the description that evokes it, I cannot think of a more certain way to kill this interesting, small, good film - or any work - than to raise extravagant expectations.
The other downside of not being sufficiently marinated in history and tradition is the astonishing neglect of the best of Asian classical art - traditional and modern - for which the Bay Area has been a famous hotbed for close to a century. There is no representation or any kind of recognition for this in the festival's multitudinous live and on-screen music content.
This is true against the fact that the area has been home to Ali Akbar Khan, elements of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road, the San Francisco-Shanghai Conservatory collaboration, and - just from the Subcontinent - the Chitresh Das and Abhinaya dance companies; Bal Bharati, Chhandam, Kalanjali, Prabhath Academy, and many other schools.
Moving on, here are just a few of the festival's events. Note that the spiffy new San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) Cinema on Post Street seats only 143, so those tickets will be hard to come by - http://festival.caamedia.org/30/guide/all is the website for purchase:
- Eduardo W Roy Jr.'s "Baby Factory" is about the chaos and joy in a Manila maternity ward; March 9, SFFS Cinema; March 12, Sundance Kabuki Theaters
- "Return To Burma" is a rare feature film shot in that country, telling the story of a Burmese laborer in Taiwan returning home; March 10, 14, SFFS Cinema; March 11, Pacific Film Archive
- "Always," from South Korea, a contemporary adventure film with So Ji-sub and Han Hyo-joo; March 10 and 15, Kabuki Cinemas
- Festival Forum is the festival's largest event, bringing together filmmakers, artists, performers, etc. on outdoor stages in the Japantown Peace Plaza; noon to 5 p.m., March 10
- "Abu, Son of Adam" is India’s official entry to the 84th Academy Awards, a story about what it takes an elderly couple in Kerala to perform the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj; March 11, SFFS Cinema; March 18, Camera 3 (San Jose)
- Eliaichi Kimaro's "A Lot Like You" is an autobiographical film about an American from a Tanzanian-Korean marriage moving to Tanzania and examining multiracial identity; March 11, SFFS Cinema; March 13, Kabuki
- World premiere of Tadashi Nakamura's documentary about ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, with live performance following the screening; Castro, March 14
- World premiere of "Prison Dancer: The Interactive Web Musical," a Canadian variation on the Youtube sensation of Filipino prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The event (this deserves the name!) features video, live performances, and audience participation; March 15, SFFS Cinema
- Michael Kang's "Knots" is a romantic comedy taking place in Hawaii, featuring Sung Kang and Illeana Douglas (but not George Clooney); March 16, Camera 3 and San Jose Museum of Art
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