Ooooh!!! You know we love the Asian-American Film Festival! We love the feature films by the young ambitious Asian-American directors, we love Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, we love the KQED-ready documentaries about identity and history, we love the beautifully shot foreign films, and we loooooooooove Music Video Asia! MAN, do we love Music Video Asia. (Plus -- a sing-along Colma The Musical!) The film festival starts in two weeks and runs......

Long-time readers of SFist will know that we love (love!) all things Air Guitar, both for its obvious silliness and its devotion to the rawk. So when we heard that Air Guitar Nation was playing at the San Francisco Independent Asian Film Festival, we knew we were destined to see it. How was it? Well, we’ll describe it using the one word we heard other people describe it-- awesome. It's true. We hung out......

SFist Mihi reports in from the SFIAAFF this weekend! The world premiere of Shanghai Kiss played on Saturday night at the Castro Theatre and the house was packed. One of the themes running through the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival last year was about how there weren't enough Asian-American men in movies. Clearly things have not improved since out of the three movies we saw over the weekend, two of them featured the......

The moving and inspirational Na Kamalei has the distinction of being the first movie to sell out in this year's San Francisco Int'l Asian-American Film Festival -- and the buzz only got better once the SFIAAFF announced that local San Francisco hula troupe Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu would perform before the screening. We met up with SFist Jim at the AMC 1000 lobby, and he took the gorgeous picture above. (We took......

Yes, lucky readers, that's right: Jennifer Siebel's movie The Trouble With Romance is screening in San Francisco for the SF Int'l Asian-American Film Festival. And who better to review the press screener we received, than our special guest correspondent, and Chronicle Culture Blog Gavin Watcher..... Beth Spotswood!!!! The infamous SFist Rita took time away from her remote cave lair and evil blogging minions to hook me up with an advance copy of The Trouble with......

On our tightly-packed MUNI ride to the Castro to the opening night festivities for the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival, we were squooshed next to three thrilled Asian-American film lovers eagerly listing all the movies they were planning on seeing over this week. Excitement is running high! The SFIAAFF opening night screening was for Finishing the Game, a faux-documentary comedy about the casting of a replacement Bruce Lee to finish Lee's last movie......

The SF Asian-American Film Festival hosts not only ten days of the latest and greatest in Asian and Asian-American film, but two nights of current highlights from the Asian-American music scene too: one of hip-hop and electronica, and one of indie rock. Every year these concerts sell out, so get ready, get set, and get those tickets! Hip-hop/Dance: Friday, March 16, at the Independent, 5th Platoon's Neil Armstrong and Vin Roc, and SF MC......

In the words of opening night movie guest: Stop! SF International Asian-American Film Festival Time! That's right, ladies and gents, guess who's showing up tomorrow at the opening night screening of Finishing The Game (a Bruce Lee comedy) at the Castro? Everyone's favorite local rapper in baggy pants, MC Hammer!!!! Also appearing: local reality TV star and fashion model Yul Kwon. You know we are so there. (Tickets are still available -- but move quick,......

It's our de rigueur day-after-the-scandal post, where we compile all the links we can find about the thing we were all talking about yesterday and turn it into a post for the next day! For those of you just tuning in -- here's the link to our original story, and here's a link to Jennifer Siebel's infamous comment (the one that the Chron has chosen not to print). So before we get started, we just......

Even as we continue to enjoy the movie cavalcade that is our beloved Indiefest, we're also getting ready for the next big film festival coming to town: the SF Asian-American Film Festival! This is the 25th SF Int'l Asian-American Film Festival, and they're celebrating their silver anniversary this year with a special focus on Chinese-American film, a retrospective of the work of Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo, and a sing-along Flower Drum Song, among other special......

When it comes to Hollywood movies, Asian-American men get no loving. They're nunchuck throwing assassins or emasculated nerds. Working your pimply teenage sex-appeal is hard enough for any adolescent but try doing it when Sixteen Candles was released. That movie ruined the lives of many Asian-American men, we hear. If you don't believe us, just say "whassa happenin hoss stuff" to any Asian man who endured Long Duk Dong imitations during high school and......

We're at SXSW, so this week's column is a day late and a dollar short. It's a bird, it's a band! OK, since we're late for a date with some breakfast tacos in Austin, we will cut and paste a description of Guillemots from Allmusic.com: "The multinational Guillemots, comprised of English singer and classically trained pianist Fyfe Dangerfield, Brazilian guitarist MC Lord Magrao, Scottish percussionist Rican Caol, and Canadian double bassist Aristazabal Hawkes, use their......

Every Asian-American music listener has that list of Asian-American stars they whip out at a moment's notice: Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, the half-Japanese violinist (of course he's a violinist) from Yellowcard, Karen O, Jay-Z, and Amerie .... but how nice to have the option to find others. The Asian American Film Festival's Directions In Sound show tomorrow night features four local Asian-American indie rock bands to get to know: From Monuments to Masses (post-punk), Whysall Lane (intricately crafted), Love Like Fire (dreamy Britpop), and solo singer Mike Park (no description, but probably singer-songwritery, you know?). The show starts at 9 (doors at 8) at Cafe Du Nord tomorrow night. Tickets $10 -- but act fast, the show's selling out. ...

We don't usually have our weekends planned out this far in advance, but this time we know our dance card is filled with the 24th Annual San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. Opening Thursday night with the screening of Americanese and reception at the Asian Art Museum (we had a blast at last year's), the festival runs in San Francisco from March 16 - 23, Berkeley from March 17 - 25, and San Jose from......

The picture to your left is a still from the documentary Presumed Guilty, and profiles SF public defender Jeff Adachi when he was still an assistant public defender. Well, Adachi must have been inspired by the experience or something, because on top of his duties in criminal court, because the Chron is reporting that Adachi will be making his directorial debut at this year's Asian American Film Festival, with "The Slanted Screen," a documentary about the portrayals of Asian-American males in American movie history. Wha? Well, we suppose if the DA's really not charging anyone with crimes these days, Adachi's gotta do something to fill his time, right? (Are you sure this isn't just someone else named Jeff Adachi, guys?) At the preliminary hearing on the Pamela Vitale murder, a roommate of suspect Scott Dyleski testified that he saw a to-do list hidden in Dyleski's dresser drawer that said "knock out/kidnap, question, keep captive to confirm PIN, dirty work, dispose of evidence (cut up and bury)." Terrible. But also, can we just ask? Why do you need to write that down? Can't you just remember that on your own? And in the South Bay police blotter -- police confirm that a briefcase left outside the Fresh Choice in San Jose was not a bomb, someone in Palo Alto's guitar tuner was stolen, and someone else heard mysterious noises inside her house, ran downstairs, and found ..... (dramatic music) .... someone else's key chain on her kitchen counter! You know the would-be thief's all like, running home, pant pant pant, and then reaches into their pocket to open the door, and is like .....doh! ...

Director Kang Je-Gyu is arguably Korea's hottest director right now. His first big hit, Shiri, about a dangerous North Korean female assasin broke records in Korea and grossed more than Titanic. His latest hit, Tae Guk Gi, shattered box office records again and it's estimated that almost a third of the country turned up at movie theatres and plunked down their hard-earned won to watch this tale of brothers and country torn apart by the......

Sure, we love IndieFest, but it's hardly the only Fest going on this week. This year's Korean American Film Festival opened last night, and continues through February 12. We know, we know, the website is damn near impossible to navigate and just plain confusing. We promise the time you devote to wading through it will be worth your while, as there are many, many cinematic gems buried within. We'll be seeing some of the......

To live in the Bay Area is (frequently) to be able to count more than one aspiring filmmaker in one's circle of acquaintance. The next time you're at some dinner party/Zeitgeist get-together/orgy at the Power Exchange and someone starts blabbing on about their unfulfilled creative vision, remind them of the opportunities available to them to get said vision out there to the masses. For example, the 2006 San Francisco Women's Film Festival is presently......

The scene at the Kabuki for the last night of the Asian-American Film Festival was jam-packed, with three movies all starting at the same time, and people dressed to the nines for the closing party. We were in attendance at the sold-out show for part three of the thirteen-part series Chinese Restaurants, a labor of love for Chinese-Canadian director Cheuk Kwan, who has eaten in Chinese restaurants around the globe -- including Israel, South Africa, Mauritius, Cuba, and Turkey -- and sought to learn the stories of how the proprieters came to live in these unexpected places. Chinese restaurants are a constant source of fascination -- the co-sponsor for the screening was the Chinese Historical Society, which is currently showing an ecstatically-reviewed photography exhibit of Indigo Som's pictures taken in Chinese restaurants in Mississippi. (You may also remember Som's other project, collecting all the Chinese takeout menus from across America.). The movies screened on Thursday -- Three Continents and two shorts, BBC House Special and Selling Louie's Village -- all explored the role of the Chinese restaurant in representing the Chinese diaspora. Egg Foo Young, a Chinese restaurant in Norway, and Chinese people with Liverpudlian accents, after the jump. Images from ...

We always try to have something for everyone at SFist, and last week we feel we really hit it out of the park. Some examples: Last week offered continuing coverage of two local film festivals, from one-woman reviewing machine SFist Mary-Lynn's final Cinequest coverage to the beginning of our coverage of the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. Our food coverage just gets better and better, with reviews of reataurants swanky and not, with......

SFist was thrilled to receive an invitation to opening night of the 23rd Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. After the screening of the fantastic Saving Face, the action turned to the gala reception, held at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The evening began well for SFist, for as soon as we entered to Museum, we ran into Alice Wu, director of Saving Face, which we had just seen and......

NAATA must be so proud of the great opening night screening of Saving Face at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. There was a big crowd outside the Castro Theater as we arrived, and as we entered the theater we were disconcerted by all the folks who seemed to be reserving seats for others. Then, we realized that we were being total rubes, and that the "purses" in the theater chairs were......

Our live music picks for the week of 3/10-3/16. Whether you long to discover new artists, or your hanker for the music you grew up with, San Francisco's venues have something special in store for you this week. If you don't have tickets to see Slint's sold out reunion shows tonight or tomorrow, why not check out some new music? The Futureheads bring their British buzz to Slim's tonight. Their cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds......

SFist is proud of our coverage of local events, including SF IndieFest, SF Noise Pop, and Cinequest. We're really happy to continue this tradition with our coverage of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, running in San Francisco from March 10-17, Berkeley March 11-20 and San Jose from March 18-20. While our coverage will focus mainly of the San Francisco screenings, most of the films are being shown in multiple locations. Brought......