 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
United by Contrasts: Southeast Asian Cinema TodayOver 500 million people live in the ten countries of ASEAN, speaking literally hundreds of different languages and dialects, coming from different cultures and ethnicities, forming a truly diverse entity. This year's selection of cinematic gems from this dynamic region emphasizes this aspect of Southeast Asia - a region that's so diverse and yet willingly become united in the form of ASEAN. Opening the festival is the satirical drama "Gone Shopping," a debut feature from the award-winning Singaporean short filmmaker, Wee Li Lin. It follows three characters' journey seeking fulfillment at a shopping mall, a place where our modern society spend a lot more than we should. From the sleek skyscrapers of Singapore, Lưu Huỳnh's tale of a young woman's struggle to keep her family together will take us to Vietnam in the chaotic period towards the end of the French occupation. "The White Silk Dress" won the top prize at the 2007 Vietnam's Film Academy Awards - the Golden Kite Awards. Southeast Asia in the recent years have been experiencing a renaissance in its film industry and the world is taking notice. Films from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore are commonly present in the global film festivals, while Vietnamese and Indonesian films are garnering positive reviews from the global film community. A quick example of this achievement is Filipino Brillante Mendoza's "Serbis" and Singaporean Eric Khoo's "My Magic" which were in competition for the top honor at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. While the foreign cinema enthusiasts need no more encouraging to see a Southeast Asian feature, most people still discount films from the region as a novelty item, an exotic product that's more about where it's from than what it's about. This is exactly what the GRACE Heritage Foundation wanted to change when it establishes the US-ASEAN Creative Project with the US-ASEAN Film Festival as its flagship event. We want to introduce the rich culture and heritage of our region through contemporary art forms such as the cinema and modern literature. The Fifth Annual US-ASEAN Film Festival is presented by the US-ASEAN Creative Project in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler Galleries. We are proudly sponsored by the Embassy of Indonesia, the Embassy of Singapore, the Royal Embassy of Thailand, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the Washington Post. For more information:
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
