San Diego Asian Film Festival

From Los Angeles I've gone down to San Diego a few times for the San Diego Asian Film Festival. 2008 was its 9th year of bringing Asian and Asian American films to the community. They are really organized and put together a great event. Unfortunately, I'm too poor to attend their closing night ceremony dinner (I think its a fund raiser as well). But if you have a chance, I recommend visiting San Diego in October, then you can catch some cool cinema as well.

LINK: San Diego Asian Film Festival

Wong Fu Productions

Ouch! I haven't touched this project for almost a year! I have a really good excuse though, I started working full time and just didn't have the time to put together any more interviews. But Fresh Off the Box was always in the back of my mind. There were other issues as well -- wanting to improve the look of the site, figuring out how to get better video quality, finding a new host... I did shoot some more over the summer, but have been slow to edit. But I plan on keeping this project alive, so if anyone is reading this, thanks for your support!

Wong Fu Productions are three nice guys who like to make videos and post them on YouTube. They've built up quite a following. I cornered them at Nucleus Gallery in Alhambra where they were doing a meet and greet with their fans. Sorry the video quality is so crappy. Enjoy!



LINK: Wong Fu Productions

David Ngo

Jackie Bong Wright entered a beauty contest and won. She was 64 years old at the time. Her story is more than just about a beauty pageant for seniors--it's about a woman who was displaced by war and started up a new life in a new land. At its heart, her story represents the Vietnamese community and the realization of the American dream.

David Ngo grabbed a video camera and documented her story. The documentary, "The Queen from Virginia: The Jackie Bong Wright Story" screened at a few film festivals including the VC Film Festival where it won the Best Documentary Feature in 2006. The doc is now available on DVD at www.doubleohthree.com.

David talks about "The Queen from Virginia"


David talks about the Second Wave of Vietnamese American filmmakers

Allan Axibal

I first met Allan as a reporter for a website at UCLA called Asia Pacific Arts. This was before he co-wrote a theatrical show, performed in front of packed houses, and has been non-stop touring for the past four years. I can say I knew him when.

His show has a controversial name -- "N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk". These words might never go away, but we can try and take the hate out of them by challenging the way people think about racial stereotypes. Listen to what Allan has to say about it:





N*W*C Promo

The Slants

I was checking out some of the booths at the Pacific Media Expo a week ago and saw some guys sitting at a table pimping their CDs. Their band is called The Slants -- a name that raised my eyebrows above my slanted eyes. They drove all the way down from Portland to perform in LA. So I was like, "Hey, how long are you going to be in town? I want to interview you guys." And they were cool with it. I drove home and got my video camera and a microphone and set up in one of the hotel bedrooms. Check out the interview:



The Slants are a fairly new group. Their latest CD is called "Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts". Look for a tour next spring. For more info, check out www.theslants.com.

Eddie Kim

First off, you'll notice something new on this video. Yes, we have a new background! Ok, seriously, Renee has moved on to bigger and brighter challenges and so that leaves me to handle the task of interviewing our guests. You can tell I'm thinking and talking at the same time and I don't look comfortable up there, but give me a few interviews to get used to sitting in the chair, I promise I'll get better!

I started the Eddie Kim interview by asking him about NewSpeak TV, only to find out that it's part of something bigger called Projekt NewSpeak. You can see Eddie's videos on his YouTube page. Better yet, catch him live in "The Sketch Comedy Show" on Dec. 1 at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood.

Part 1: NewSpeak TV and Projekt NewSpeak


Part 2: Eddie explains why he got into acting

miwaLyric

miwaLyric got her moniker when she was a little girl because she used to always write lyrics in class. Now she's all grown up, but she still continues to write as well as perform as both a solo act and with a new band, bleumseed. miwaLyric uses her music to raise awareness to issues close to her heart, like promoting peace and protecting the environment. Find out more about this artist in her interview...