S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's show , the arts and culture shaping San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. We'll tell you about a film that explores long kept family secrets. Then a new book rides us through skateboarding culture. Plus , here a preview of this year's Asian Film Festival. That's ahead on Midday Edition. What is it that defines a life ? That is the first question among many asked in the documentary film been between Africa.
S2: Dear mommy , dear parents. Dear folks. Dear.
S3: Then I really want to know what happened to you. This mysterious uncle I know so little about.
S4: He was a real knowledge seeker.
S3: He was very into storytelling.
S5: His mind was just always going.
S3: I think he would be fascinated by you.
S6:
S3:
S1: The documentary leads her to discover boxes of letters that unearth long kept family secrets. Spanning continents and generations , it will be part of an upcoming double feature of films exploring family memory and connection. The event is called Framing Memories and will be held at the Museum of Photographic Arts next Thursday , November 13th. I'm joined now by Ariel Lee. She is a San Diego based filmmaker and director of the film Ben Between Africa. Ari , welcome to Midday Edition.
S3: Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad you're here. So tell us about Ben , who is your uncle and the central character of your film ? Yeah.
S3:
S7: So I actually never knew Ben in real life. He died about seven years before I was born. He's my mom's older brother , and my mom and her family grew up in Ethiopia as missionaries , Mennonite missionaries. And by the time I was like 35 years old , I realized that I knew so little about Ben , and that really bothered me. And then I heard a rumor that a few days before he died , he sent out a final letter , and I decided that I would make a journey out of trying to find this letter. And I got really lucky , because one of the first things that happened is I found a bunch of boxes and my uncle's attic , and through those boxes I started unpacking them. I found hundreds of other letters that my family exchanged with each other while they were in Ethiopia. So my mom and her siblings were sent away to boarding school , and every week they had to write a letter home. And then every week my grandparents would write a letter back. And my grandmother held on to all these letters. And when the family moved back to the States , she put them into an attic. And so in the attic I found about a dozen boxes. They were full of letters , photos , keepsakes , slides. And in the film you see me slowly go through those boxes. And as I do that , I learn more about Ben and more about my family's time in Ethiopia during a really big historical period. And so throughout the film , I'm also looking for Ben's final letter. Wow.
S1: Wow. So what made you want to learn more about him And really just the life that he lived.
S7: Um , it bothered me that there was a family member that I knew nothing about , and it bothered me that we didn't talk about him. And I thought that it was odd that I questioned , why didn't we talk about him like he had been my mom's older brother. They had grown up very close with each other , and I think my initial desire to find his letter and learn more about him , let's just kind of figure out if his life and death had any relation to this feeling I had , that there was something fractured about my family. And so the documentary kind of takes a very emotional personal route because it looks into the long term effects of boarding school and how and how that affected my family. And then if there was any connection between his death and the way that he was raised. And so the letter to me was like this defining , maybe key to figuring this stuff out , but I think I was also curious about him because we have a lot in common. He was a photojournalist. I'm also into filmmaking and documentary. He's a Taurus. I'm also a Taurus , which I thought was like a nice little thing I discovered about him as I was learning about him. And then I also felt that learning about him would help me also understand my mom a little bit better. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you mentioned how your film captures history as well in the Mennonite missionary community where your family was part of. Tell me about the history that you capture in the film.
S7: Yeah , so my grandparents were part of a group of people that were invited to come and serve in Ethiopia by Haile Selassie. So Selassie was the last king of Ethiopia. And when he came to power , he was dealing with , like the post-World War One world. And he really wanted to have Ethiopia be competitive in the greater world. And so he thought education was like the key to that. And so what he did is he opened up the country to have foreigners come in and set up schools. And he felt like education was key. So my grandparents came in as teachers , as English teachers , and they ran a boarding school and a village called Burano. And they were one of many different types of missionaries that were coming in to set up schools and bring Western education. And in the film , we explore how this initiative actually probably led to his downfall. So he was in charge of a generation of people who had access to Western education , and through that , better understood the limitations of what Ethiopia had to offer to them. And so there's a whole generation of Ethiopians whose lives were changed by this influx of Western education and having foreigners come and live in their country. And my family was a part of that. And so it's a 25 year period where you go from these foreigners coming in , building schools , bringing a lot of like Western lifestyle and culture into the country. And then you have a whole generation of Ethiopians that end up moving abroad and going to school. And then the idea was to have them come back and then help enrich Ethiopia. But what ended up happening is there was a revolution and Haile Selassie was dethroned. And then that also totally threw off my family's time there. Um , a lot of the foreigners were asked to leave around that time. Wow.
S1: Wow. And that is so interesting , given that Ethiopia was one of the first nations to embrace Christianity so many thousands of years ago. Um , that that revolution that you were talking about. What's that , 1960.
S7: So there was a coup in 1960 , the first attempt to dethrone him and then the revolution I'm talking about. Um , it's kind of a window of time , 1972 to 1975. And I think he was totally out of office by 1975. Wow.
S1: Wow. So what did you ultimately learn ? Not just about your your uncle and that history , but your family actually , in making this film ? Yeah.
S7: So what I end up uncovering in this film is how being sent away at a really young age , to boarding school really affected my family for generations. And one of the like best things that happened now that I'm on tour with the film is meeting other MKs , missionary kids and third culture kids , TCS , and then having them relate so closely to the film. And so it's like a pretty huge range of people from the 1950s to now that were sent away to boarding school. Um , and they're a community that no matter whether they're in their 60s or 70s or they're just still in their 20s and 30s , they deeply relate to the topics that are coming up in my film. And that has been a huge surprise to me. I didn't quite expect to have contemporary MKs relate so deeply to the themes I bring up in the film , because they were sent away. My mom was sent to a , you know , 1957. These kids went to boarding school in the 80s and 90s and to have the same parallel experiences that the film portrayals has been really eye opening to me.
S1: Yeah , well , people you interviewed for this film often revealed things that you , you know , hadn't told. They hadn't even told their , like , their closest loved ones. I mean , these are deep secrets. What did you think that why do you think that was really. I mean. That.
S3: That.
S7: Was so fascinating to me. So I would interview multiple members of a family. I would interview like the parents who were the missionaries. I would interview the kids who were the missionary kids and then also their siblings. And oftentimes I would hear the parents say something that I would later hear an interview with the kid that they really wanted to hear. And I'm saying , kid , but I'm talking about people in their 60s and 70s. And it was really fascinating to me how much these families couldn't speak directly and being vulnerable with each other. But I became like a surrogate , like a conduit for these conversations. And then oftentimes the families during this tour would come to my screenings , and I would see all of them in a row together , and I would think , oh , they're going to have such interesting conversations after the screening. And I think one of the beauties of the film is that it's such a deeply intimate , vulnerable project that it allows people to really relate to the subject matter and then go home and have their own conversations with their families. And at the heart of it , the film was about talking about the thing that you've always wanted to bring up and always been so nervous to , because you don't know if the relationship can , like , survive it. And it's. And for me , I have to confront my mom and you see our relationship survive it. And so I think that's why a lot of people are relating to the film , whether they can relate to the missionary upbringing or not.
S1: So those boxes in the attic , I mean , led you on a seven year journey to make this film. How did you handle , you know , the heaviness of of what you uncovered while researching your family. And , you know , I mean , tell me about that. We'll stop there.
S7: I can very easily say that when I started this film , I was not a crier. Like , I , like not a lot. Made me cry. And then in the process of making this film , I think something broke up in me where , like , broke open and me where , like , I would just come across things that were so like , I understood my family so well after coming across them. And I thought , oh , so this is the source of this wound , or this is why we are the way that we are. And I mean , I went in even so far to go and research my great grandparents and then the family members that came over from Europe a couple hundred years ago and just really understood , like this whole lineage of our family. And so I definitely was in therapy , definitely had a lot of friends that I talked to. And then I think the interviews themselves were really cathartic , like I would meet people that was in my interviews that would tell me things that would put into words feelings I had. And I think , I think that really helped me kind of manage , like all the emotions that was coming up in myself and get me into a place where I could finally sit down and interview my mom. Like all these conversations with everyone around my mom like to warm me up , to eventually be able to sit down with her and have one of the hardest conversations of my life. Wow.
S1: Wow. So this was really healing for you.
S7: It was definitely healing for me. It was healing for my family , and I now have been on a year long tour of the film , and I can see that it's healing for other people , and I can , I can. I've been getting emails and testimonials on Facebook , people telling me just like how this was the film they needed to see in order to have an important conversation with one of their parents or with their kids. And so I think the film , not intentionally , I never made this film to be a healing journey for myself or anyone else. But I think because it's such an honest story , I think it allows people to kind of like break down some walls and open up a little bit.
S1: Well , that is fantastic. Glad it's got that kind of a reach. Another film of photographic memory is also being shown next week at the Museum of Photographic Arts. Here's a little bit of that film.
S8: I have no memory of my mother. She died when I was very young. But when I discovered her interviews a few years ago , I got to hear her voice for the first time since I was a baby.
S9: The first thing is that.
S1: Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So Rachel and I met a year ago , maybe two years ago in L.A. at a conference , and I was really struck about the parallels in our film. So we both had family members. She. Rachel's mother , passed away when she was only 18 months , so she never really got to know her mom and my Uncle Ben passed away before I got to know him as well. And then we both get to know these family members through the work they left behind , their photographs , their recordings , eight millimeter film. And I just thought it was really beautiful that here we were , two people , you know , in our early or late 30s , early 40s , um , getting to know our family members in that particular way. And they're both deeply personal documentaries. And so I booked Mark tour in my head for about two years now , and I went to go see a photographic Memory in LA earlier this summer and was so moved by her work. You see her , hear her mom's voice for the first time on film , and just her dedication to discovering who her mom was and like , and bringing her mom's work to life. This really celebrated photojournalist. I just thought it was just amazing dedication to love and to learn how to love someone that you've never met. And in the film , she says when she started the film , she didn't think she had a mother. By the time she was done making the film , she felt like she had a mother. And I can relate. When I started this film , I didn't even know the first thing about Ben. And now I feel like I can talk to you about him , like I know him. And so I just think he's one of the things I hope people get out of both of our screenings and both of these films shown together , is that we all have family stories stored away somewhere in archives. We have photo albums , we have family members journals. We have maybe , you know , text messages that they left behind. And in that is not only our personal family history , but it's a part of a larger history that these people live through. And I just love that both of these films are great examples of what we can do is just some things we find laying around in an attic. Wow.
S1: Wow. And quickly , you're going to be showing both of these films next Thursday. Um , tell us more about what you have in store for this. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. So I'm starting to call this a mini documentary film festival in my head , because it's going to be both films shown back to back. Um , so it's going to be at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. It's at 4:00. We're allowed to come in and see the exhibit that's happening at the museum for free , and walk around and network with each other. I'm targeting the San Diego creative community , specifically photographers and filmmakers. Storytellers. I want it to be a night where we can come together and share film and dialogue and meet each other. We have some amazing partners. We have medium photo , APA , girls on film , beers and cameras , and then Mopar as our sponsors. And so , yeah , I think it's going to be a really fun night.
S1: That is excellent. And of course , we'll have a link to the film screening at our website , kpbs.org. Ariel is the San Diego based documentary filmmaker and director of the film Bin Between Africa. Ari , thank you so much for being here.
S3: Thanks for having me.
S1: Still to come , we've got a look at a new book called Skateboard Life. KPBS midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS midday Edition ? I'm Jade Hindman. Skateboarding is more than just a hobby. It is a way of life in a sport rooted in community. A new book , The Skateboard Life , profiles over 65 skateboarding legends who've shaped the action , sports scene and culture as we know it today. Professor Naftali Williams is the author behind the book. He's also the director of Sdsu center for skateboarding , action , Sports and Social Change. Professor Williams , always good to have you on the show.
S10: Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here as always.
S1: Okay , so tell me the book starts with a bit of your own journey into the skateboard life.
S10: And seeing that everyone from every particular background saw skateboarding as this new space , this new way to have fun and and really build community. So just getting started with everyone with hand-me-down skateboards , the whole community coming together when someone didn't have a board or a board was broken. I was really , you know , I was really moved by it and just excited to be part of the culture early on. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , people may be also surprised at the influence skateboarding culture has on mainstream culture.
S10: And so just just that fact. And I do a little bit of a , um , just sort of an acknowledgement to , to virgin Virgil Abloh , who passed away and who was one of the head designers. So even just starting the book , recognizing that skateboarders are in all places at all times , it really , really focuses and focuses in on that and then really dives deep into , you know , all the people who have helped make skateboarding , skateboarding amazing. Wow.
S1: Wow. And , you know , each one of the chapters in the book really profiles someone , uh , you know , that's like a mover and a shape. Yes.
S10: Yes.
S1: Uh , first tell me a bit about who you chose to spotlight and why.
S10: Okay , so one of the reasons I , one of the reasons behind the book was I wanted people to understand why skateboarding , why is skateboarding everywhere ? Why are they seeing it in The Guardian , in the New York Times , San Diego , like everywhere. Someone's nieces , nephews , aunties , uncles , grandmas are skateboarding and I wanted them to be able to pick up the book and say , oh , okay , because everyone is skateboarding , because there is a really rich history. And so I wanted to just kind of make it so you could see just the wide breadth of people who participate , and in particular see that we've all been purchased or we've all been skateboarding together for decades. And so that was something that was really important to , to help people understand , okay.
S1: Each chapter in the book is also labeled like the activist. The Uber is the artist. Um , tell me about that.
S10: Oh , so so I was just thinking , like , what would be the methodology to kind of like , there's so many skaters. It's such , you know , just a wide , diverse group. But what I try to do is , is pull it apart in a sort of themes. What things have been important in skateboarding , like the hubris , who are those who've just , you know , across the decades been the people and then the activists who are the people now and very few books will have. Sure , they'll have Tony Hawk , of course , and maybe they'll have Niger Houston , who's , you know , an Olympic level skater and amazing. But very few books are going to have Brianna. I mean , no one's else , but Brianna is going to have Brianna King and Peggy Oakey in the same book with Jason Guadalajara , Stephanie Pearson , and I say that to go. What that does is show that everybody's been involved. And these themes of the hubris , the technologists , the documentaries , these themes of of what sectors within skateboarding culture people participate in so that they're so that the average reader doesn't think like , oh , they're just a bunch of athletes that that there's more to the culture than just being a great skater. The activists are those who right now are changing the game or making skateboarding more inclusive , or thinking about skateboarding as a space for social change. Um , the documentaries , those are the folks who gave us the inspiration and showed us what was going on. And that's across the decades now and now and previously. And so it's a the the culture list like that section is those who've just contributed something that everything else is sparked off of.
S1: And the culture is much bigger than even just connecting people , right ? I mean , these are this is that's great. I mean , speaking of Brianna King , I mean , you also focus on women skaters and artists and the paths they've all paved in the scene. Talk about that.
S10: Well , I would just say one of the great joys of the book is as to I'm just going to say it , to show my sisters that way is to really go. We've been doing this thing together forever , and even when people were not looking at women's skateboarding , when it was sort of sidelined. Like , Lisa Whittaker is in the book. And she is. I mean , she should be in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame already. The what ? She's contributed to skateboarding as a whole. Um , you know , she's just absolutely incredible. And so being able to say , here is a light on the folks , you don't get enough of that sort of support and or , you know , they do , but maybe it's not talked about as much as I'd like to talk about it so that like , uh , Vanessa Torres , Samaria Brevard and Stephanie Pearson , like the first African-American female pro to be able to put them in one space in the same book with Tony Hawk and with Nigel Houston , so that people can look at skateboarding and say , I didn't know it was this diverse. I didn't know that this is why skateboarding is global , because there was somebody to inspire everyone at every level , at all times. Wow.
S1: Wow. You know , another thing that I , that I just really noticed about this book is your photography. Oh , thanks. You did this. You. I.
S10: I. Yes , I. Other than the vintage photos , I did most of the photos that are in the book. So it was a real labor of love , of flying the folks , making the time and then also writing all the texts. But like , you know , taking the time to shoot with a Tiba who's a legendary skate photographer , you know , Grant Brittain , it's it was just a real honor to put that aspect of my life also into the book. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean , you got action shots in here , and then you have your really artistic looking shots of things. I mean , all right. I mean , of course , you also profiled Tony Hawk , and I'm looking at I was looking at his photo as well. The goat. Yes , yes. Uh , hometown hero for us here in San Diego.
S10: People think of him as you know , he is our greatest skateboarder , our greatest ambassador in the tricks and the 900. But it's the private work to make sure that skateboarding continues to grow. That he's done that. That is the thing that I don't think people really realize the impact that's had. The skate park project , they built hundreds and hundreds of parks in in Tony's name and participate in , you know , thousands of thousands of different endeavors. It's , um , it's just that's the part that moves me the most. People don't think about that. I don't feel like they ask him those things enough in interviews of his legacy , is giving us all space to find our own voice in skateboarding.
S1:
S10: First of all , I mean , there are few skateboard designers in the world and skateboard or skateboard designers. and he's the leading African American and one of the only skatepark designers in that space. And that is here in San Diego. And he has had an incredible legacy of skateboarding here , both him. Other skaters like Brandon Turner , OG's Oscar Jordan. But even on there in the documentary side , like Grant Britton being here , these are just it's just been the home of so many skaters. And I you know , I have to do a shout out to the OG Transworld Skateboarding magazine was here in San Diego. I mean , the legacy here is so deep. And truthfully , it was one of the reasons I moved to San Diego in the first place is it was something I felt they didn't get enough love while I was in LA , and I was like , man , I just gotta , I gotta do more on SD. And you know that things worked out for me to be at Sdsu , at San Diego State , and now the book gets to really showcase and highlight those folks to wow.
S1: Well , sandwiched between the profiles are important places in skateboarding , history and culture. Any in particular that you really wanted to highlight or that you feel a special connection to ? Yeah.
S10: So there's interstitials between those profiles. And one of them that I love the most is is what we call Macba or the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Spain. That is a skate spot that is legendary. As a matter of fact , I just watched some clips from from the from the museum this morning. So skaters all over the world have gone to Spain and made that their home. And so that really talks about all of the architecture in Spain. Spots like parallel that are there there. Skaters around the world go to and enjoy. But also I looked at Bordeaux and then what's happening in Malmö and those scenes where they're building scalable sculptures and scalable architecture. So that's highlighted in the book is these new developments which we just got approved. We'll be doing some of that at Sdsu. So I'm very excited about that. So the interstitials are a way for for people to connect to skateboarding culture and again , see that it's not just about being the best skater , it's where's the community form and the show that it's a global phenomenon. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you know , I mean , you know , you mentioned history there.
S10: I'm slightly. I don't have a favorite , but I'm slightly partial to like 90s , late 90s , 2000. And I just say that because the , the combination of like hip hop and urban and street culture just really took off within skateboarding. And it's a moment in the 90s , a really when skateboarding went away from sort of the bigger ramps in the 80s and that sort of like , you know , I would say that sort of gated space to like going back to the streets. And so that time is just wonderful. It's what happened in the in the 60s and 70s. It kind of got away in the 80s , but the 90s , everybody was coming together to explore street spots to really , like , reevaluate the city. And it's , you know , that's there's punk rock music happening , there's punk rock , there's hip hop happening , jazz is happening. And it just really becomes another level of like adding the fabric of skate culture. Also , that's when everyone kind of had video cameras at the same time too. So like , it's also one of our most documented times and it's , uh , it's , it's , it's part of the reason that skateboarding really exploded it and went global. Two is everyone got a little piece of that. When I'm in Brazil , they're listening to Brazilian hip hop or Brazilian jazz , but they're all skating. As it became more urban , everyone got to participate. And that's that's why it's so big now.
S1:
S10: That was yeah , yeah. Okay , so that's the two. That's 2000. That's in the 2000 space.
S1: Yes yes I do. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. Oh yeah. No I will say that's a , that's a great touchstone. When that song came out one skaters were are excited , but the whole world was listening and loving it and I just remember her hearing it everywhere. And so shout out to Lupe. You know , of course , you know , also in our current time , you know , Lil Wayne , when Lil Wayne started skating , Ty Dolla Sign skating , there's NFL players who are also skating. It's really just , you know , it's an important time of skating now. And I actually will just want to add one part , which is this part of the book being out now is we have few ways in which we see that everybody contributed to building the culture. And , you know , people want to keep us separated these days. But when you look at this book , anyone can see that for generations , skaters from all backgrounds have been together. And so that's , you know , for for me , it was to put that testament out there to say like , no , this is not just for just for kids in San Diego or just kids in LA. Like , no , we've been doing this together forever , and there are so few things that are like that.
S1: Well , the skateboard life. It is out now and what a great book it is. I've been speaking with Professor Neftali Williams , author of The Skateboard Life professor. Thanks for coming on. It's always great.
S10: Thank you very much. I love being here.
S11: Thank you.
S1: Up next here a preview of this year's Asian Film Festival. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back to midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The film forge will kick off the San Diego Asian Film Festival at La Paloma Theater in Encinitas tonight. The ten day festival will showcase 50 films from 30 countries. KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando spoke with artistic director Brian Hu for a preview.
S12: Brian , this is the 26th annual San Diego Asian Film Festival , and what I love about your programming is it's so wildly diverse , and this time I don't want to talk about the big titles that will sell out , but I want to talk about some of the little gems that might fly under the radar. And I have to say , I was screening some of these films in advance , and I immediately fell in love with the film debut , or objects of the Field of Debris , as currently cataloged by Julian Castronovo. And I really don't know how to describe it. So I'm going to play a short clip from this film , maybe to just give people an idea.
S13: Our subject now suspects that he lives in a room once occupied by a skilled forger who. The letter seems to indicate , has been missing for 20 years. He believes that he now possesses objects or texts which function primarily via some clandestine communicative system or subterranean mode of signification. In other words , Julian thinks he has found a number of clues which might confirm his suspicions or somehow reveal new information regarding the disappearance of the artist.
S12: Okay , so this is like Peter Greenaway meets film noir.
S14: We had played a short film previously. I think he was a student at CalArts , and he wrote me an email saying , hey , just so you know , like Asian film festivals don't really like playing my movies. They didn't play my short. And for some reason , that immediately made me want to watch this new feature that he was wanting to to pitch my way. And by this point , I had played this major film festival in Europe. So I took a look at it and it's the film with a very long title. And I too was just like , who ? Not just what is this , but who are you ? Julien Castronovo , and he plays himself or version of himself. And I think he's talked about how he made this during Covid. So it has a very handmade quality. A lot of it is just feels like he's making this on his desktop and proudly so. It's a mystery. The film itself is a mystery. It's about how he got this apartment in New York City. He's finding clues embedded in the apartment itself , like who was buried under how many layers of paints , and that maybe there was something kind of suspicious going on here. Things involving art forgery and a deer. And that leads him on , like across the country. It leads him to the filmmaking business. It goes in some really unusual places that are mysterious , but also just weirdly funny. Yes. And and also like , just he he's like , he's not taking himself too seriously too. There's a way in which , like a title like debut or objects of the Field of Debris as currently cataloged just sounds like such a art school project. But you could tell he's just he wants to have fun with this , and he's using every aspect of the medium to engage us and to lead us down this weird rabbit holes.
S12: I hope people find this film. I loved it so much. This has a definite arthouse vibe to it , but you also make space for films that are just deliciously pop entertainment. And one of my favorites , of course , is Mystery Kung Fu Theater.
S15: Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
S12: And this year you also have a Bollywood film from the 90s. Now , some festivals will ignore this kind of film or this kind of genre. So what is it about these holy pop entertainment films that are really designed for a mass audience just to enjoy ? Why do you like programming them and making them a part of the festival.
S14: I mean , I fell in love with art cinema at the same time. I was falling in love with Bollywood films , but in some ways , like they're doing something similar , which is like Bollywood knows how to use cinema , it knows how to use sound and picture and sweep us with all the tools at its disposal , the same way that a film like debut like this art film understands. Except it's just it's aiming for the sort of maximalist energy that is sort of like unlocking all the things that Hollywood seems to be afraid to do. It's similar to arthouse cinemas , also trying to unlock things that Hollywood is afraid to do. But so are these like big time entertainments like the ones from Bollywood ? I mean , the film was showing called Andaz Apna Apna , which you mentioned. This is this 90s classic comedy. Like every genre is in this movie. There's romance , melodrama , comedy , action , there's assassin. But there's like these guys trying to fall in love with a girl and there's musical numbers , and it's just a reminder that there was a time before the Narrow casting of the streaming world where everyone watched the same movie , like your whole family went out and there's movies had something for everybody in them , and you'd sit down for three hours and just have a great time. And this app , like when it first came out , it didn't do that great. And it was nominated for some of the like Bollywood awards , but it was kind of a for having such huge stars like Amir Khan in it. It was a bit of a disappointment , but since then it's grown in stature. It's now considered one of the great cult comedies and I dunno. To me it's like like a film , like airplane , right ? Like like from the 70s. Yeah , in some ways. Like , we could just , like , laugh at it and say , that's frivolous fun. But I mean , that is just orchestrated mayhem the way like the Looney Tunes are and Three Stooges. There's art to that , too. And this is Bollywood at its Three Stooges finest.
S12: Well , you mentioned Three Stooges. I just want to play a few sound effects from this film , because even if you are not watching it , I think you will probably imagine things to these sounds Wow.
S16:
S12: And the musical numbers in this are crazy. Now , a lot of times Bollywood films are well known for big production numbers on huge stages , but what I really enjoyed here too was there's one on a bus , a tiny space.
S17: Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum.
S14: Yeah , and you get the sense that , like , they are , they're endlessly innovative. Yes. And in the way that I know we both love 90s Hong Kong films , the 80s Hong Kong films where they're just churning these things out and they have to be extremely economical and inventive. Sometimes you just you show up to the scene , you're like , all right , how are we going to do this ? And moments like that on the bus , you feel like they're just they were just struck with ingenuity at this moment , and they're going to turn into a musical number.
S12: Well , this and Mystery Kung Fu Theater are the types of films where the audience is really invited to partake. Like you need to hoot and holler and engage with what's going on on the screen.
S14: And that's what film festivals are for many of these films. Yeah , you can maybe watch them on streaming one day , but you can't replicate that mystery kung fu theater experience. No. At home , I mean , unless you have , like , 20 people in your house. Um , otherwise , yeah. The energy you get from that theatrical experience , especially for these sort of rowdy movies that don't take themselves too seriously , but that have just this unabashed commitment to having fun.
S12: And you also highlight genre filmmaking , which , of course , I love. And I really enjoyed this film mag mag. And this comes from a person who is like an influencer or somebody who has this huge following outside of a film career. So how did this fall in your lap ? Yeah.
S14: Mag mag is directed by Urine Retriever , who is one of the biggest comedians in Japan. She's somewhat well known in the United States , having appeared on America's Got Talent a few times , but she's sort of this like she's a very self-deprecating , physical comedian. She was recently on this series in Japan where she plays like a wrestling heel , but for her first feature film , she decided to make. A horror film like a ghost film in the classic Japanese mold. But she's also playing around with the form a little bit and keeping us guessing. It's not just the standard , you know our House is haunted kind of horror movie.
S12: I hope people seek this one out.
S14: And the director will be here for that rare opportunity to have a major Japanese Um , talent here in San Diego.
S12: And people may have questions.
S14: Oh , there you have questions.
S12: Now , a filmmaker who sometimes needs support in terms of getting the theater filled just because of the length of their films is sometimes daunting. And this is Lav Diaz. And a lot of times these films are very long and kind of mundane in terms of what the story is , but absolutely riveting. But this year , it's going to be a little different , and you may not have as much trouble filling the house for Magellan because it also stars Gael Garcia Bernal.
S14: Usually don't cost him very much. They're just made on cheap cameras , and they're like five hours long and they're about the pain of the Filipino soul. I'm sure like when he went to some financiers and say , how about I make a movie where Gael Garcia Bernal plays Magellan ? I think people are like , all right , that I will give you money for. And so , yeah , the , the elements of it that are new for him , it's a period film. Its high production value in the sense that there are costumes and sets. There's big ships , it's in color. His films typically are in color , and it's a it's a mere two hours and 40 minutes , which is a short film for DS boy. But boy , this still film still kind of goes to Lav Diaz places. It is. It is showing just how kind of how the desire to to conquer the world or to to to try to command the , the elements , sort of the toll it takes on the soul. But it also brings to the fore the perspective of the quote unquote native people. So in this case , love is interested in the fact that Magellan this is not really a spoiler , but he dies in the Philippines in his in trying to go around the world. And so he's interested in the way that , like the Philippines has a kind of symbolism in terms of the Western globalisation , and he uses that premise as a way to get into the darkness of it all.
S12: I am so excited to see him kind of hit a different kind of scale in his filmmaking , and I am sure this is going to be well worth seeing on a big screen. Now , I think you have already sold out , or are close to selling out for someone who does not need me to cheerlead for him. And this is Park Chan Wook has a new film. No other choice.
S14: Um , I mean , yeah , but you're right. Like this film , we ran out of tickets online very , very quickly. Much faster than for any other film. So for listeners who don't know , Park Chan wook is the director of films like Oldboy , sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. He was. He most recently directed the HBO series The Sympathizer. But yeah , he's considered one of the most famous directors in the world , and he's made some of the more shocking and exciting films out of South Korea , and his new film is called No Other Choice about this guy who he's up for a job and he knows pretty much everyone in town who would be qualified for this job , so he decides to eliminate them. I'm sure there will be some seats available. It just depends on how many of our batch holders show up for it. It's on Saturday night , so if you want to take the take , take a chance. Come out out on Saturday night.
S12: Now you have films , I believe , from 30 different countries. What are you kind of most proud of in terms of finding some films that maybe are , maybe are from countries that don't normally get as much attention ? Yeah.
S14: I mean , I think in general , Southeast Asian films don't get as much attention versus the films from , say , Japan , Korea , China. We have a film called Chinaman from Vietnam , which just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival , which just won its huge award at the Hawaii International Film Festival. And it's just this sensuous period film. And we have another film called amoeba from Singapore , another filmmaker who's we've known her since she were her short film days. But for for feature debut , she's making a film of teenage girls in Singapore and very conservative Singapore who decide to buck the system by forming their own girl gang. And there's a film from Thailand called A Useful Ghost about this person who comes back as a ghost but takes the form of a vacuum cleaner. So it's a ghost film , but it's also a hilarious comedy , and it's a good thing that the kind of thing that is both artful and strange , but also exciting enough for to be Thailand's submission for the Oscars.
S12: And this year you are going to be opening up at La Paloma. Uh , so this is a bit new. Yeah.
S14: Yeah. We've never opened at La Paloma before. We've had screenings , and I always wanted to show them some love. It's been a while since we've been up there , and we're opening with a film about art forgery , and that theatre itself is a kind of art piece and that can never be replicated.
S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with Brian Hu , artistic director of the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Again , the festival opens tonight at La Paloma and continues through November 15th at Ultra Star , Mission Valley and UC San Diego's Price Center. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
