The AAFilm Lab 72 Shootout all girls team
This weekend we followed all girls team, Pretty Face Six Pack Abs, led by Shuo Zhang for the 5th Annual 72 Hour Film Shootout. Other team members include Kathleen Changho (producer), Andrea Bickert (actor) and Yiyu Liao (Director of photography). Kathleen, Andrea and Shou met in an acting class together. Shuo met Yiyu when she did her movie. Yiyu had cast Shuo without ever knowing her. She had seen her headshot and offered her the part because it's so hard to find mandarin-speaking actresses. They have 72 Hours to write, direct, shoot and edit a film. The theme given? A First Goodbye.
After Team PFSPA received the theme for the shootout, they headed over to Katz Diner on the lower east side to write the script and brainstorm.
In keeping with the theme, Shuo's concept was a little Heaven's Gate with a some David Hasselhoff thrown in. That's all we'll say for now. Team Pretty Face Six Pack Abs shot in Hoboken, NJ. Hopefully you'll get a chance to stop by the New York Asian American International Film Festival as judging has just begun. The Top 10 films will screen at the New York Asian American International Film Festival organized by Asian Cinevision (July 10-19, 2008), the First Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (October 24-30, 2008), and a special screening event organized by NYC-based Aspire Asian Film Circle.
This year’s Shootout will include a special category juried by the Musuem of Chinese in America (MoCA). Films that incorporate Chinatown as a location or theme are entered into the “Chinatown Award” category. Selection of the winning film will be decided by both MoCA and AAFilmLab. (The inclusion of the Chinatown element of a film has no bearing whatsoever on judging for other award categories.)
DC APA Film and Scion Motors have partnered up again this year to bring you the 2008 DC APA Film Festival Trailer Contest, now in its third year. It’s all pretty simple. You make a 30-second trailer promoting our festival. Our special jury of Asian American film makers and industry folk will view all submissions and choose three finalists. The public will vote on the finalists and decide who wins the prizes.
This year we’ve enlisted the generous services of veteran film maker Grace Lee (THE GRACE LEE PROJECT, AMERICAN ZOMBIE), prolific producer Karin Chien (THE MOTEL, ROBOT STORIES), and up-and-coming film maker Tze Chun (WINDOWBREAKER, writer: CASHMERE MAFIA), all of whose excellent films have screened at previous DC APA Film Festivals, to panel our contest jury.
In addition to having your work reviewed by a distinguished jury of Asian American film makers, your trailer may be highlighted on our site and included as part of our promotional efforts leading up to the festival. The Grand Prize winning trailer will also be screened before most — if not all — screenings throughout the festival. And if that’s not incentive enough for you, we’re awarding cash prizes to the top two finalists, $600 to the grand prize winner and $200 to the first runner up.