8 Asians

UPDATE: Congrats to the winner! “alicewong” will be seeing the movie this weekend at Landmark’s Shattuck! Also, filmmaker Will Tiao will speak with audiences for Q&As on Friday, February 26, at AMC Cupertino Square 16 in Cupertino at 1:40 showtimes, and at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley at 7:05 showtime (following the Shattuck Q&A will be an informal “meet-and-greet” at Lot 68 Lounge at same location.)

Formosa Betrayed has been on my radar for years and as I was driving to a screening of this film last week, I was afraid that I’d built up so many expectations in my mind that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

A few months ago, I met up with Will Tiao and Adam Kane in Formosa Films’ Hollywood offices on the eve of my own trip to Taiwan. At that time, Formosa Betrayed had just been picked up for distribution by Screen Media Films. We discussed how Formosa Betrayed is not a documentary and how the filmmakers were trying to create a great narrative story with the true untold history of Taiwan as a backdrop. Bravo to the filmmakers for telling an important story that has been silenced for too long. Although the characters are fictionalized, I was impressed by the accuracy regarding many of the historical events mentioned in the film.

After the screening, I met a couple of ladies who had questions about Taiwanese history. The movie sparked a wonderful conversation between us — one of the ladies was of Taiwanese descent, but said that her family never talked about “this stuff” because her parents sat on opposite sides when it came to Taiwanese politics. I encouraged her to use events she saw in the movie as a springboard for her to have conversations with her parents — not about politics, but about her family history and how historical events shaped them.

Although much of the storyline is through the eyes of a American (white) FBI agent played by James Van Der Beek, the hero(es) of the movie are Taiwanese. I often hear Asian Americans complain that they don’t see their stories being told on the silver screen. Kudos to Will Tiao for taking the bull by the horns to write, fundraise for, and produce the story he wanted to tell.

My conversation with Will & Adam was in the back of my mind as I headed to Asia; without even seeing the film, it had already inspired me to ask questions and learn more about my family history in Taiwan. Many of the things depicted in the movie were things that people were not allowed to talk about in Taiwan for decades. I am grateful Taiwan is now a democracy and that people can be free to ask questions about subjects that had previously been unmentionable.

I plan to see the movie again during opening weekend– this time with my Mom and other friends. Will you see this?

To make it easier for some Bay Area folks: 8Asians is doing a ticket giveaway!

TICKET GIVEAWAY FOR BERKELEY OPENING!
Courtesy of Landmark Theatres, 8Asians is giving away a free pair of tickets for Opening weekend (2/26, 2/27, 2/28) in Berkeley (Landmark’s Shattuck Theatre)

All you have to do is to leave a comment with why you want to see this film and one lucky winner will be selected to go!

(Contest will be closed at 12 noon on Thursday, 2/25/2010)

Selected engagement information is located after the jump. [Updated screening schedule]
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Last week, former Sunnyvale, CA mayor and current city council member Otto Lee celebrated his safe return from Iraq with a wonderful welcome back party of over 300 guests. Numerous Asian American public officials came out that evening, including California State Controller John Chiang, State Assembly Member Ted Lieu, State Assembly Member Paul Fong, Cupertino Vice Mayor Gilbert Wong, Campbell Mayor Evan Low, former Mountain View mayor and city council member Margaret Abe-Koga, Palo Alto city council member Yiaway Yeh and many more.

Lee ensured that the event commemorated more than his return. Other attendees included many other veterans and military support groups who spoke about their missions, such as Gold Star Moms (an organization for mothers of fallen soldiers) and Blue Star Moms (mothers of current soldiers serving in conflicts). Hearing about their sacrifices reminded us not only what those in our armed services sacrifice for our country, but what their families sacrifice as well.

The highlight of the evening was Lee’s heartfelt gratitude for all the support that he and his family received while away in Iraq. He shared an overview of his experience in Iraq, along with some photos. Most heartwarming was Lee thanking his mother for her ongoing support with flowers, while tears flowed down her face. Commander Otto Lee, thank you for you and your family’s sacrifice. Welcome back!

Formosa Betrayed is a feature film set in the 1980’s about FBI Agent Jake Kelly’s investigation of the brutal murder of a Taiwanese-American professor on U.S. soil. With the help of his partner Tom Braxton and a sharp Chicago police detective, Agent Kelly discovers that the murderers have fled to Taiwan. Inspired by real events, the film follows the intertwining and complicated story of the Taiwanese and the United States governments, as well as Taiwan’s emergence as a country once ruled under marshal law but now thriving with democracy.

After making the rounds at several film festivals, Formosa Betrayed was picked up last fall for theatrical release by Screen Media Films and will premiere in select cities during the weekend of February 28th (For those of you who know something about Taiwan, “2/28″ is historically significant.)

The annual Lunar New Year celebration organized by local Bay Area Taiwanese American organization featured a special panel discussion about Formosa Betrayed, with director Adam Kane (whose TV credits include Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Mercy), actor Tzi Ma (Rush Hour, 24), actor, writer & producer Will Tiao, actors Henry Chu and Adam Wang, and associate producer Evita Huang. Lead actor, James Van Der Beek of Dawson’s Creek fame was on the East Coast for press interviews and was unable to attend. Ho Chie Tsai, founder of TaiwaneseAmerican.org, moderated the discussion before opening it up to general Q&A.

I first learned of the film when Will Tiao was looking for investors in the film a few years back. Since then, Will raised over $5 million+ dollars in “shares” of $25,000 chunks as he literally traveled across the United States and Taiwan to raise money to finance the film, even before a script was written or any actors or directors were attached to the film. As Will stated, if you want to tell stories that others are unaware or unwilling to finance, you have to do it yourself, just as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck did with Good Will Hunting.

Actor Tzi Ma said he has never met a more cohesive and committed Asian ethnic group as he has with Taiwanese Americans, which personally doesn’t surprise me. When an ethnic group and country like Taiwan are marginalized by China and — through China’s efforts — the world community, there is a certain survivalist mentality instilled in the community.

Henry and Adam are fairly new actors cutting their teeth in Hollywood and are happy to have real speaking roles in a major film production – one of the cast members was selected during an open casting call in Chicago. Evita, a recent college graduate, was amazed at the opportunity to be deeply involved with the production and promotion of the film, given that most of her fellow peers are still working on the production assistant level.

There were a few controversial topics regarding the narrative of Formosa Betrayed, including the complaint over featuring a lead white male actor in a film about Taiwanese history. Will Taio and the other writer/producers decided to move forward with James Van Der Beek to make the film more appealing to a mass audience that extended past the Taiwanese or Asian American community, much like how the character of Sydney Schanberg provided important context about Cambodia and Dith Pran in The Killing Fields. In this case, James Van Der Beek’s character would be able to introduce facts and background information in the plot to the audience. Before directing this film, director Adam Kane admitted that he didn’t know much about Taiwan or had ever traveled there.

Another controversy was the location of the actual production, parts of which were filmed in Bangkok rather than Taiwan. Will and Adam decided this for many reasons, including maintaining the film’s setting in the 1980s, which was hard to find in Taiwan since not too many places in Taipei resemble Taiwan in the 1980s due its rapid modernization. Secondly, Bangkok boasts a better film industry infrastructure over Taipei, and shooting the film in Taiwan would require them to  ship equipment there. Thirdly, they feared that the sensitive nature of this political thriller would have been too costly to film in Taipei and cause their production shut down for whatever reason. (The ruling party for most of Taiwan’s rule since the 1940’s has been the KMT, which regained rule in 2008). I also believe a major reason was purely financial: it has to cost less to shoot a film in Bangkok than Taipei. With all the different location and limited budget, it’ll be interesting to see if one can tell if the film was shot in Bangkok instead of Taipei.

They also answered my own question over the movie’s title and why they picked Formosa Betrayed instead of something along the lines of “Taiwan Betrayed.”  Their response was interesting and logical: Taiwan was given the name Ilha Formosa by the Portuguese, which means “Beautiful Island.” If the name “Taiwan” was used, most audiences who know little to nothing about the country would not care to see such a movie. However, “Formosa” sounds more ambiguous and mysterious, which could intrigue audiences into at least learning more about the film.

After the jump, check out a quick interview with Ho Chie Tsai, founder of TaiwaneseAmerican.org, before the Q&A panel with the panelists before they addressed the crowd. Once the whole panel discussion is available online, I’ll be sure to link to it in the comments.

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If you live in a big city, you may have subscribed to Daily Candy for their dispatches regarding things to do, places to shop, and where to eat.

In the latest “Weekend Guide” from Washington, D.C., Daily Candy recommends the Terra Cotta Warriors Film Festival this weekend at the National Geographic Society. They say that you can watch “Kung fu classics like Lao Tou Ho introduced by martial arts guru Craig D. Reid.” Cool!

But why is this worth attending? According to Daily Candy, it’s because “It makes total sensei.” LAME! Do I need to tell you that “sensei” is a Japanese word and kung fu is not Japanese? Should I mention that all the films in the festival are Chinese?!

WTF, Daily Candy? Who do you think you are?! Karate Kid 2010?! Bah!

(Don’t let Daily Candy’s idiocy prevent you from checking out the Terra Cotta Warriors Film Fest, if you are in DC, though. I love the NGS and the film festival features one of my favorite Chinese films– despite Zhang Ziyi’s inclusion in it– Hero (2002).)

h/t: Ming & Stephanie

America’s Best Dance Crew is back and this season — just like every other season — practically every crew has an Asian member and the all-Asian crew. The all-Asian crew this season is Poreotix (aka Poreotics); these guys got the name from popping, choreography and robotics.  Can Nguyen, and his other Vietnamese crew members Dumbo and Charles are from Orange County, known for having one of the biggest Vietnamese population in the United States. Making news in the dance scene at competitions such as Hip Hop International, their first performance on the show got very positive comments from the judges, especially from Lil Mama. She said that their performance was the best of the night, and also took into account their elements of theater and lyrical. WOW! I didn’t expect that from Lil Mama. Overall, I enjoyed their performance and was entertained by the fact that they would dance to a song by Taylor Swift and even throw in the Kanye West’s VMA comments. They seem to really enjoy what they do and try to put on a good show with their various forms of comedy as well.

Their appearance on ABDC didn’t go without some questions about their humor, however: before their performance, Can Nguyen (incorrectly labeled as Lawrence Devera in the video) responded to a question about why they wear sunglasses. He responds in a Vietnamese accent saying,”because we da Asian … we have da small eyes … and we like robot.” I’ve seen previous performances where he uses the Vietnamese accent for comedy purposes, so I expected this, but questions of his humor being degrading or enforcing stereotypes have been discussed on other blogs. I personally don’t think he meant any harm and was just trying to get a laugh, even a stupid one if he had to. Can Nguyen, and his other Vietnamese crew members Dumbo and Matt are from Orange County, known for having one of the biggest Vietnamese population in the United States.

I’m anxious to see what Poreotix can bring further in ABDC. Many past winners in ABDC has some breakdancers or crew members who show great athleticism with their tricks; it will be interesting if Poreotix can use their style and win it all.