Asian American Directors Take Spotlight at 22nd Edition of the VC FILMFEST 2006 - The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Asian American Directors Take Spotlight at 22nd Edition of the VC FILMFEST 2006 - The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Record Number of Asian American Feature Films Will Include LA Premieres of Ham Tran's 'Journey From the Fall' and Eric Byler's 'AMERICANese' to Bookend Eight Day Festival

LOS ANGELES, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The 22nd edition of VC FILMFEST - The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival presented by Honda will feature a record number of feature films from Asian American filmmakers during its eight-day film fest beginning May 4 - May 11 in Los Angeles. Visual Communications (VC), the nation's pioneering premiere Asian American media arts resource and education center will present over 140 films, shorts and videos with an unprecedented 16 feature films from 18 Asian American artists.

"This is truly an historic number of feature films from our own artists," states VC executive director, Leslie Ito. "This year's showcase of Asian American films underscores the fact that these filmmakers are not waiting for Hollywood to call and are doing it on their own. With Ang Lee being the first non-white director to win the Oscar for Best Director, we are hopeful that these emerging storytellers will also become future contenders. For VC, these artists and their stories illustrate the strength that our organization has in terms of developing, shaping and supporting their works."

The opening, centerpiece and closing night films of this year's festival are from three Asian American filmmakers whose careers got their start with short films showcased at previous VC FILMFESTs. This year, the Festival is proud to present the Los Angeles Premiere screenings of the Sundance hit film "JOURNEY FROM THE FALL" from local filmmaker Ham Tran as the Opening Night feature on Thursday, May 4, 2006 at the Directors Guild of America (DGA); the centerpiece screening of Sundance award winner "EVE & THE FIRE HORSE" from Julia Kwan on Saturday, May 6 at the DGA; and Eric Byler's "AMERICANese" as the Closing Night film on Thursday, May 11, 2006 at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre in Little Tokyo.

The list of Asian American features being presented at this year's fest include:

* JOURNEY FROM THE FALL - HAM TRAN
* PUNCHING AT THE SUN - TANUJ CHOPRA
* THE MOTEL - MICHAEL KANG
* CONVENTIONEERS - MORA MI-OK STEPHENS
* THE MISTRESS OF SPICES - PAUL MAYEDA BERGES
* SAIGON LOVE STORY - VINH "RINGO" LE
* EVE & THE FIRE HORSE - JULIA KWAN
* THE QUEEN FROM VIRGINIA - DAVID NGO
* ONLY THE BRAVE - LANE NISHIKAWA
* KIEU - VU T THU HA
* RIGODON - SARI LLUCH DALENA/KEITH SICAT
* ASIAN STORIES BOOK 3 - RON ODA/KRIS CHIN
* PURITY - NARHEE AHN
* FINDING HOME - ART NOMURA
* COLMA: THE MUSICAL - RICHARD WONG
* AMERICANese - ERIC BYLER

Established in 1983, VC FILMFEST is Southern California's leading showcase for Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema. This year, the eight-day movierama will also include a complement of filmmaker seminars and panel discussions, workshops, and filmmaker awards. The Festival will take place at the Directors Guild of America, Laemmle's Sunset 5 Theaters, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy/JANM, and the Aratani/Japan America Theatre.

VC FILMFEST 2006 is presented by Honda and supported by the following sponsors: PREMIUM - Directors Guild of America; PLATINUM - L.A. Weekly, National Endowment for the Arts, Workplace Hollywood; GOLD - Multicultural Radio Broadcast, Inc., Project by Project, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Wahoo's Fish Taco, Heineken; SILVER: Department of Cultural Affairs - City of Los Angeles, Eastman Kodak Company, FOX, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Mole-Richardson Co., MTV Films, MUSE, Tiger Cinema; BRONZE - Diskovery Center, East West Players, Hitachi, Ltd., Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, National Center for the Preservation of Democracy/JANM, SAG Indie, Union Bank of California, Warner Independent Pictures, and Writers Guild of America, West Inc.

For ticket and program information, a complete listing of sponsors and partners, and to purchase tickets, log on to www.vconline.org or contact Visual Communications at (213) 680-4462 x68.

Source: Visual Communications

CONTACT: Winston Emano of David Magdael and Associates, +1-213-624-7827,
for Visual Communications

Web site: http://www.vconline.org/

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