Just like the soaring temperatures that hit the metroplex this time every year, moviegoers can once again look forward to screaming-hot movie options at the 7th Annual Asian Film Festival of Dallas, scheduled from August 14th - “ 21st, 2008 at Landmark's Magnolia Theater. With more than 40 films to choose from, movie fans can beat the heat with 8 days of film from 10 countries, including Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines.

The AFFD is more than just a film festival - “ it's a combination of cinema and cultural experiences that help spread the importance of diversity among Asian Internationals, Asian-Americans and other groups in our community.

With entries that range from traditional and lyrical beauty to the bleeding edge of modern film expression, the AFFD is proud to once again offer a fiery palette of movie options to Dallas enthusiasts. Many of these films are currently making the festival circuit, and more still have been imported directly from other countries. Either way, this may be your only option to see many of these on the big screen, before they gain a US distributor! VIP Passes are now on sale at http://affd.org/2008 .

The full schedule will be announced in July, but here's some tantalizing previews:

This year's festival will open with "PING PONG PLAYA", the latest film from JESSICA YU, Academy-Award winning director of BREATHING LESSONS and IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, who will be in attendance with lead actor JIMMY TSAI.

The Opening Night screening will be held at Landmark's Magnolia Theatre on August 14th at 7:00 pm.

The Closing Night Film is the much-anticipated satire "BE A MAN! SAMURAI SCHOOL", the directorial debut of Asian cult film hero TAK SAKAGUCHI (VERSUS, DEATH TRANCE), who will also be in attendance.