Cultural
March 31st, 2009- Vietnamese International Film Festival
ViFF 2009 Comes INTO VIEW April 2-12 ViFF 2009, the Vietnamese International Film Festival, hosted by VNLC and VAALA is just around the corner! Starting from this Thursday (April 2) with Opening Night, until Sunday April 12 (Closing Night), screenings of films, shorts, animations and documentaries, and several gala events will be hosted at UCI, locations around Orange County, and UCLA. On Thursday April 9 (week 2), UCLA will host FREE shorts and film screenings on campus, with more information below.
ViFF @ UCI, UCLA, Orange County
April 2-5 April 9-12
More info on screenings and events, visit www.vietfilmfest.com
ViFF @ UCLA "DAY OF THE BRUINS"
Thursday April 9, 2009
Shorts Screenings: 4:00-5:40pm @ Ackerman 2nd Floor Lounge
Film Screening "When Autumn Sunlight Comes":
7:30-9:10pm @ Moore 100
Contact Mai Hong: maihong[at]gmail[dot]com / 408-705-7485
ViFF Volunteer Opportunities ViFF 2009 is one of the greatest events hosted by VNLC (and VAALA), and we need all the help we can get! We especially need people to check-in guests & VIP, movie-ushers, gift-bag distributors, ticket checkers, etc. On Tuesday (March 31) we are holding a VIFF Volunteer Orientation at UCLA, where you can sign up for Volunteer shifts starting Thursday April 2 upto Sunday April 12. There is going to be free food and we are going to raffle off 10 free ViFF'09 t-shirts! ViFF Volunteer Orientation @ UCLA
Tuesday March 31, 2009
6:00-8:00pm @ MS 6201 (meet at the Bruin Bear @ 5:45pm)
FREE FOOD and ViFF'09 t-shirts
Contact Hang Do: hangadoo[at]gmail[dot]com / 408-416-1459
March 30th, 2009- Oh, Saigon
The multiple award-winning documentary, Oh, Saigon (Sài G̣n O'i), about a family divided in the Vietnam War, with appearances of its New York-based director/producer, Ms. Đoan Hoàng, and some of the film's cast and crew, will be screening at Chapman University in Orange Thurs., April 9 from 5:30 to 7:30PM.
Executive produced by Academy Award and Emmy winner, John Battsek, and directed by Vietnamese-American, Hoàng, Oh, Saigon has enjoyed a number of sold-out screenings and a very strong interest from the Vietnamese communities here in the US, including sold-out shows at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the San Francisco International Asian American Festival, and in the beginning of March at the Weisman Museum in Minneapolis where Vietnamese-Americans stood in the aisles to see the film and Ms. Hoàng speak. Oh, Saigon had a very successful run last spring on PBS with over 140 broadcasts on PBS nationally and has played in festivals and screenings in 10 countries, including Vietnam, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom, & Germany.
This is Ms. Hoàng's first public appearance in Orange County, where Hoàng's family, who were the film's main characters, are based. Orange County's own Ham Tran, director, worked as director of photography and associate producer on Oh, Saigon before he made Journey From the Fall. Called "a remarkable story" by Newsweek's David Ansen, named on APA magazine's "Best Films of 2008" list, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and Best Documentary & Best Brooklyn Film at the 42nd Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival.
Oh, Saigon Synopsis: Airlifted out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Doan Hoang’s family was on the last civilian helicopter out of the country at the end of the war. Twenty-five years later, she sets out to uncover their story. The film follows her family as they return to Vietnam after decades of exile, where her father, a former South Vietnamese major, meets his brothers again to confront their political differences: one was a Communist, the other a pacifist. Meanwhile, Hoang tries to reconcile her own difficult past with her half sister, who was mistakenly separated from the family during the escape.
For more information, see www.ohsaigon.com or call or email Nuoc Pictures at 646.279.0350, info[at]ohsaigon[dot[com
For high-resolution photos & official PBS press release, see:
http://www.itvs.org/pressroom/press_detail.php?pressId=6589
SCREENING INFO:
Vietnamese International Film Festival
Director in attendance!
SCREENING & Director's Q&A
Sun. APRIL 5 Noon to 1:50PM: University of California, Irvine: HIB 100
IRVINE, CA
http://www.vietfilmfest.com
PANEL DISCUSSION featuring Director
Sun. APRIL 5 at 3-4:30 PM: University of California, Irvine: HIB 100
Crossing Boundaries: Female Filmmakers and Questions of Gender and Genre
Click link here
Chapman University School of Law
Oh, Saigon screening with Director's Q&A
THURS. APRIL 9 at 5:30 PM - 7:30PM
Chapman University School of Law - 1 University Dr., ORANGE, CA 92866 - Donald Kennedy Hall - Room 237AB
FREE