The Asian Film Festival, a joint venture between the Asian Studies Program and Communication department, opened at the University of Massachusetts this week.
“This film festival is an extension of these efforts,” said professor Anne Ciecko, who teaches Asian popular culture and contemporary world cinema. “And it’s open to the public.”
The festival started on Tuesday night with the film Nang Nak in Herter Hall. The tale is a rendition of a Thai folk story by Nonsee Nimibutr.
The festival showcases various films from different Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Singapore and India. Genres from horror to romance can be expected throughout the week.
These films demonstrate cinema that are not influenced by Western culture and are works that have been proved successful in Asia.
“People have a skewed perception of what’s popular in Asia,” Ciecko said. “I feel people’s perception of Asian films has western influence.”
Ciecko said these films were a “natural extension” of Asian cinema and wants to make that more public through this event.
“One of the main goals has been to increase exposure to international films,” Ciecko said. “Especially those which haven’t been widely seen in the U.S.”
James Hafner, who is the director of Asian Studies at UMass, also contributed to this event. He is also a part of the Five College Asian Pacific American faculty.
Tonight’s films are co-sponsored by the UMass Korean Student Association called Foul King and Attack the Gas Station, which are both South Korean films. They will be shown in Herter 231 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
These two comic films are an example of recent popular films in Korea.
Tomorrow’s films, which also be shown in Herter 231, take on a different mood, with a short Japanese anime-style movie titled Blood: The Last Vampire at 7 p.m. followed by an Indian film called Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai [Tell me You Love Me] at 8 p.m.
“Films like Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai are favorites with diasporic audiences,” Ciecko said. “In this case, South Asians around the globe.”
The highlights of the festival are the conferences that are planned for the weekend with special guest speakers, which are co-sponsored by the Communication department’s Center for the Study of Communication.
Discussions and guest speakers such as Peter Feng, Gina Marchetti, and filmmaker Kimi Takesue will speak and present films.
Feng will speak from on Saturday’s conference, which is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Herter 231.
He is an assistant professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware and is a renowned scholar of Asian cinema. Feng will present the film, A.K.A. Don Bonus, which portrays the story of a Cambodian immigrant in America.
He has two books that will soon be released. They are titled Screening Asian America and Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video.
“Feng is a famous scholar [on Asian cinema] and it’s exciting to have him,” Ciecko said.
Two other films titled History and Memory, which is a Japanese film, and Measures of Distance, an Indian film, will be shown on Sunday with other short films and a conference by Marchetti also to follow. This will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Herter 231.
Marchetti, who has also produced work on Asian cinema, will lead a Five College faculty forum discussing the parallels of the Japanese internment experience in the U.S. and the current Arab circumstance.
She is an assistant professor of film studies at Ithaca College. She wrote the book Romance and the ‘Yellow Peril’: Race, Sex, and Discursive Strategy in Hollywood Fiction.
“It’s exciting to raise exposure,” Ciecko said.
Takesue, who is an independent filmmaker, has produced numerous works, will also present one of her films. She has worked both in the U.S. and Europe.