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-March 25 , 2005-

VC FILMFEST 2005 CONFIRMS ITS OPENING, CLOSING NIGHT FILMS
Visual Communications Event Welcomes Returning Helmers’ 1st Features

 
Alice Wu’s SAVING FACE                                       Georgia Lee’s RED DOORS

VC FILMFEST: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is doubly pleased this year to bookend its 21st edition with two delightfully accomplished first features by directors who first came to our attention at the 2003 edition of the Festival. The Festival, set for April 28 through May 5, 2005, will present nearly 150 films and videoworks by artists of Asian Pacific heritage, and will include screenings, seminars and workshops, and other special events.

Join us on Opening Night at the DGA as we present the Los Angeles premiere screening of Alice Wu’s SAVING FACE. New Yorker Wu (whose dark and twisted acculturation comedy TRICK OR TREAT was featured at VC FILMFEST 2003), observes the lives of surgeon Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiec) and her mother (Joan Chen), pregnant out of wedlock and ostracized within the family. Ma Pang unexpectantly moves in with Wil, who is negotiating a halting, clandestine romantic encounter with Vivian (Lynn Chen), a gorgeous dancer on the cusp of international stardom. Caught between her emotionally disconnected mother and increasingly impatient new love, Wil must decide if she will carry on the Pang family’s dubious inheritance, or be true to her own feelings.

Then, make a date to cruise on up to J-Town as VC FILMFEST closes out Festival Week 2005 at the Aratani/Japan America Theatre with the West Coast premiere of RED DOORS, the impressive first feature by former Golden Reel nominee Georgia Lee (EDUCATED, Festival 2003). RED DOORS reimagines Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" as a domestic drama in which a career office worker (Tzi Ma) finds retirement to be much less than fullfilling. As a result, daughters Samantha, Julie, and Katie (Jacqueline Kim, Elaine Kao,Kathy Shao-Lin Lee) are left to resolve their own romantic entanglements—with mixed results—while Pa further estranges himself from wife and kids by fleeing to a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York in an effort to find his own sense of peace.

VC FILMFEST is a production of Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, which celebrates its 35th anniversary year in 2005. Recognized by the L.A. Weekly’s "Best of L.A." as one of L.A. Top Five film festivals, VC FILMFEST 2005 is presented by Asia Street on International Channel. Major sponsors include Directors Guild of America, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

All proceeds to benefit Visual Communications’ education and support programs.
RSVP by April 22, 2005 to Visual Communications.
For program info: (213) 680-4462 x68

FACT SHEET:

OPENING NIGHT:
Los Angeles Premiere screening
SAVING FACE Directed by ALICE WU
starring Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, and Lynn Chen

Thursday, April 28, 2005
DIRECTORS GUILD of AMERICA, 7920 Sunset Blvd. (One block west of Fairfax Ave.)
6:00 p.m. Festival VIP Reception
7:30 p.m. OPENING NIGHT PROGRAM -Gala Celebration to follow

Opening Night Tickets:
$100.00 VIP Screening and Gala Celebration
($75 Friends of VisualCommunications members)

$30.00 Screening and Gala Celebration
($20 Friends of Visual Communications members)

CLOSING NIGHT:
West Coast Premiere screening
RED DOORS Directed by GEORGIA LEE
starring Jacqueline Kim, Freda Foh Shen, Elaine Kao, Kathy Shao-Lin Lee, Mia
Riverton, and Tzi Ma

Thursday, May 5, 2005
ARATANI/JAPAN AMERICA THEATRE, 244 South San Pedro St.
(between 2nd and Third Sts., Los Angeles Little Tokyo)
7:00 p.m. Festival Award Ceremony
7:30 p.m. CLOSING NIGHT PROGRAM -Gala Celebration to follow

Closing Night Tickets:
$15.00 Screening and Gala Celebration
($12 Friends of Visual Communications members)