The Asian Pacific Film Festival, run by the Asian American media arts center, Visual Communications, has today announced the full slate of films for its 2008 program.
In its 24th year, the Asian Pacific Film Festival was formerly known as the VC FilmFest, and has been acknowledged as Southern California’s largest and most renowned Asian American film festival. This year’s program includes over 160 films from Asian filmmakers from America and abroad.
When it begins on May 1st at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, the Asian Pacific Film Festival will open its program with Jessica Yu’s comedy, “Ping Pong Playa”. The weeklong festival will also be screening films at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Theaters, ImaginAsian Center, The National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, and the Aratani/Japan America Theater.
Some of the other notable films include Amyn Kaderali’s “Kissing Cousins”, which will be the festivals centerpiece film on May 4th. The festival will be closed on May 8th by Tony Ayres’ award winning “The Home Song Stories”, featuring Joan Chen’s groundbreaking performance as Rose, a Chinese nightclub singer who moves to Australia and struggles to establish a family life for her two children.
The 2008 program will also include a special section that will spotlight cinema of the Philippines, and will feature the films of six directors of Filipino or Filipino-American origin.
For more information, and ticketing information, visit http://www.vconline.org/festival/
The Feature Films Included in the 2008 Asian Pacific Film Festival:
North America – USA and Canada:
• AGAINST THE GRAIN: AN ARTIST’S SURVIVAL GUIDE TO PERU (USA/Peru) Dir: Ann Kaneko
• CONFESSIONS OF A SALESMAN (Canada) Dir: Ho Tam
• ETIENNE! (USA) Dir: Jeff Mizushima
• THE KILLING OF A CHINESE COOKIE (USA) Dir: Derek Shimoda
• KISSING COUSINS (USA) Dir: Amyn Kaderali
• LONG STORY SHORT (USA) Dir: Christine Choy
• NEVER FOREVER (USA/South Korea) Dir: Gina Kim
• OCEAN OF PEARLS (USA) Dir: Sarab Neelam
• OH, SAIGON (USA/UK/Vietnam) Dir: Doan Hoang
• OPTION 3 (USA) Dir: Richard Wong
• [OS] (USA) Dir: Ming-Yuen S. Ma
• PING PONG PLAYA (USA) Dir: Jessica Yu
• PRETTY TO THINK SO (USA) Dirs: Francis Hsueh, Steven Hahn
• SANTA MESA (USA/Philippines) Dir: Ron Morales
• SENSEI, THE (USA) Dir: Diana Lee Inosanto
• UP THE YANGTZE (Canada) Dir: Yung Chang
• WINGS OF DEFEAT (USA/Japan) Dir: Risa Morimoto
• YOURS TRULY, MISS CHINATOWN (USA) Dir: Daisy Lin Shapiro
International:
• BLACK HOUSE [Geom-eun jip] (South Korea) Dir: Shin Terra
• BLOOD BROTHERS (Hong Kong/Taiwan/PRC) Dir: Alexi Tan
• CHANTS OF LOTUS (Indonesia) Dirs: Nia diNata, Upi, Lasja F. Susatyo, Fatimah Tobing Rony
• DRUMMER, THE (Hong Kong/Germany) Dir: Kenneth Bi 
• FLOWER IN THE POCKET (Malaysia) Dir: Liew Seng Tat
• FOSTER CHILD (Philippines) Dir: Brilliante Mendoza
• FUCKIN’ RUNAWAY (Japan) Dir: Motohashi Keita
• HAPPINESS (South Korea) Dir: Hur Jin-ok
• HOME SONG STORIES, THE (Australia) Dir: Tony Ayres
• JOYFUL LIFE (Taiwan) Dir: Anita Chang
• MADE IN KOREA: A ONE WAY TICKET SEOUL-AMSTERDAM (Netherlands) Dir: In Soo Radstake
• NEO-LOUNGE (Peoples’ Republic of China/Philippines) Dir: Joanna Vasquez-Arong
• PHILIPPINE SCIENCE [Pisay] (Philippines) Dir: Auraeus Solito
• PLOY (Thailand) Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
• QUICKIE EXPRESS (Indonesia) Dir: Dimas Djayadiningrat
• SLINGSHOT [Tirador] (Philippines) Dir: Brilliante Mendoza
• TRIBE [Tribu] (Philippines) Dir: Jim Libiran
• WIDE AWAKE [Riteon] (South Korea) Dir.: Lee Gyu-man
• YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE (Philippines) Dir: John Torre