Preview: Pac-Arts Spring Showcase

April 17

By Beth Accomando

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The wild diversity of Asian cinema is once again highlighted in Pac-Arts Spring Showcase (April 18 through 25 at the Digiplex Mission Valley) with films ranging from “Linsanity” to werewolf children.

Screening: 'Thermae Romae'

March 12

By Beth Accomando

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You don’t get many films that are in Japanese and Latin. And you don’t get many Japanese time traveling comedies about ancient Rome but “Thermae Romae” (the Pac-Arts March Quarterly screening tonight at 7pm at the La Jolla Arclight) is all that.

Review: 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'

March 8

By Beth Accomando

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“Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” (playing as part of the Park Chan Wook Retrospective I'm hosting on March 9 at 4:00pm at Reading’s Town Square Cinemas) was the first of Park Chan-wook’s Revenge Trilogy yet it arrived in the U.S. after Park’s "Oldboy," which is the second installment. But it doesn’t matter what order you see these devastating films in, just see them, and you'll have a chance to catch all three this weekend.

Review: 'Oldboy'

March 8

By Beth Accomando

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Back in 2005, South Korean director Park Chan-Wook was not well known in the U.S. But that changed when his film “Oldboy” hit American theaters. The film won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and has celebrity fans such as Quentin Tarantino singing its praises. The film plays Saturday March 9 at Reading’s Town Square Cinemas as part of the Park Chan-Wook retrospective that I’m hosting.

Review: 'Lady Vengeance'

March 8

By Beth Accomando

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If the person who said “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” had met Geum-ja, he might have revised his sentiments and said “hell hath no fury like a woman seeking revenge.” Geum-ja is the main character in “Lady Vengeance,” (playing Sunday March 10 at Reading’s Town Square Cinemas as part of the Park Chan-wook Retrospective) and she’s hellbent for revenge in this concluding chapter of Park Chan-wook’s deliciously twisted South Korean Revenge Trilogy. If you thought Uma Thurman was on a roaring rampage of revenge in the Kill Bill films, then fasten your seatbelts for “Lady Vengeance.”

Marcela Zhou: Face of the Young Undocumented

March 6

By Monica Medina

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Marcela Zhou, an engaging young woman, is a recent graduate from UCSD, who earned her B.S. in Human Biology in just three years. Soft spoken and polite, she smiles brightly when she thinks about all she has been able to achieve.

Rants And Raves: Drive-By Cinema

Feb. 28

By Beth Accomando

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The San Diego Asian Film Foundation recently rebranded itself as the Pacific Arts Movement. One of its experimental new projects is Drive By Cinema. Here's how they are bringing movies to the streets.

Tom K. Wong on Life as an Undocumented Youth

Jan. 9

By Monica Medina

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Tom K. Wong is haunted by a childhood memory. It is of being awakened in the middle of the night by his mother, and being taken into the hallway, along with his older brother. There, she held them both tightly and sobbed while helicopters hovered overhead.

Review: The Studio Ghibli Collection

Jan. 3

By Beth Accomando

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Landmark Theatres presents a two-week long retrospective of Japanese animation called The Studio Ghibli Collection, and it offers a great opportunity to see the works of master animator and storyteller Hayao Miyazaki on the big screen.

Rites of Passage—A Community Exhibit

Nov. 28

By Monica Medina

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Imagine if you were handed the keys to a museum and told you could plan an exhibit. What would it be? How would you fill it? And, how exciting to be faced with that challenge?

Photo Of 93-Year-Old WWII Veteran Voter Goes Viral

Oct. 22

By Beth Ford Roth

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Frank Tanabe knows how important it is to vote. The 93-year-old fought for that right during World War II, and he wasn't going to let terminal cancer get in the way of casting his ballot. A photo of Tanaba voting by absentee ballot from his hospital bed has gone viral, perhaps inspiring others to exercise the right Tanabe fought for almost 70 years ago.

San Diego's Election Ballot Translated For Growing Chinese Community

Oct. 22

By Susan Murphy

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Responding to growth in the San Diego Chinese voter population, the Registrar's office is printing the ballot and other voting materials in Mandarin Chinese.

George Takei On 'Allegiance'

Sept. 17

Midday Edition

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"Allegiance" is a musical making its world premiere this week at the Old Globe Theater. It focuses on the Japanese American internment and has Broadway aspirations. George Takei, probably best known to people as Sulu in the original "Star Trek" TV series, describes the play as his "legacy project."

Ikunosuke "Mike" Kawamura

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: 2012 Honoree

May 10

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Kawamura was one of five production engineers from the Kyoto Ceramic Company, Ltd. ( now Kyocera Corporation), who left Japan in 1971 for a bold new assignment in California – opening the first manufacturing plant outside of Japan. Mr. Kawamura’s ideas and relentless efforts at Kyocera helped create a new generation of semiconductor packages that paved the way for the mass-commercialization of many important semiconductor technologies. In addition to his work as a chemist, manufacturing engineer and training/education professional, Mike Kawamura is actively involved in promoting intercultural understanding and harmony.

Dennis-Michael Broussard

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: 2012 Honoree

May 10

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A New Orleans native, Mr. Broussard is the founder of Silk Road productions, an event management and production firm, through which he has created acclaimed special events and raised thousands of dollars for numerous non-profit organizations. He is responsible for bringing several important events to San Diego: the Asian Cultural Festival; the Filipino American Culture and Heritage Festival; and the AMP Music Festival. Mr. Broussard has a reputation for being down to earth, inspirational to others, a leader in the community and willing to take action for the benefit of the San Diego community.