2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
As Southern California’s largest and most prestigious film festival of its kind, the LAAPFF launches the celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month through this year’s slate of 188 films from both Asian Pacific American and Asian international directors from over 20 countries. Over the past 28 years, the Festival has presented over 3,500 films and shorts by Asian American and Asian international artists. This year, 46 feature films and 142 shorts will be showcased throughout the 10-day fest. The Festival will feature many returning filmmakers and producers who continue to make films and still hold true to their own voices as exemplified by amazing curated programs,
special presentations and sneak previews of upcoming commercial releases, and the launch of two new programs for the production of new Asian American content.
The festival kicks off with the Los Angeles premiere of SHANGHAI CALLING, directed by Daniel Hsia. Hsia is a 2003 alumnus of Visual Communications’ Armed With A Camera Fellowship.
Starring international hearthrob Daniel Henney (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE; THREE RIVERS) SHANGHAI CALLING is a romantic comedy about modern-day immigrants living in an unfamiliar land. When an ambitious New York attorney (Daniel Henney) is sent to Shanghai on assignment, he immediately stumbles into a legal mess that could spell the end of his career. But with help from a beautiful relocation specialist, a well-connected foreign businessman, a clever but unassuming journalist, and a street-smart assistant, he might just save his job, discover romance,
2 and finally learn to appreciate the many wonders of Shanghai.
How hot is Daniel Henney in “Shanghai Calling”?
This is Hsia’s feature-length directorial debut, and co-stars Eliza Coupe (HAPPY ENDINGS) and Bill Paxton (BIG LOVE,
HAYWIRE). Filmmaker, cast and crew to attend screening.
The festival’s International Centerpiece is the Sundance award-winning VALLEY OF SAINTS, directed by Musa Syeed and produced by Nicholas Bruckman. The film is an India/USA production bringing to the screen the beautiful landscape of Kashmir. The story follows a young tourist boatman and his best friend, as they try to run away from the provincial life in their lake village. A
military curfew and political uprising derail their plans, and the two young men must wait it out deciding on a new plan. VALLEY OF SAINTS won two major awards at Sundance – World
Cinema Grand Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Award.
This year, for the first time, the LAAPFF expands to Long Beach during the Closing weekend, where Film Festival award-winners and a showcase of Pacific Islander works will be presented at
the historic Art Theater of Long Beach.
For program information, a complete listing of sponsors and partners, and to purchase tickets, log on to www.vconline.org/festival
Tickets go on sale on April 13.