4/12/12 API American Films: Giap and the Last Ironing Board Factory, Exiled Americans, and more

On this edition of Apex Express:

MARIE CHOI brings us samples from GIAP AND THE LAST IRONING BOARD FACTORY a new film about the mother-son relationship between Giap Nguyen and Tony Nguyen. Giap is a refugee who fled Vietnam in 1975 while two months pregnant. A single mother who has worked on the grueling assembly line for nearly 35 years, she is finally retiring. Set in Seymour, Indiana, this short documentary provides an intimate look at life inside the last standing ironing-board factory in the United States. Filmmaker Tony Nguyen captures his mother’s last day at the factory and attempts to reconcile an unknown past. This quirky and deeply personal film explores parental love and the refugee experience in small town America.

MARIE also gives us sounds from EXILED AMERICANS ~ Studio Revolt’s new video featuring a group of Exiled Khmer Americans. Their previous video, MY ASIAN AMERICANA by Anida Yoeu Ali, was a finalist for the White House AAPI’s “What’s Your Story” video contest. My Asian Americana features Asian Americans, both those who can return to the US and those living in exile, sharing their memories of home. Although My Asian Americana won the popular vote by a landslide, they refused to invite representatives to the White House. Studio Revolt is calling for supporters to write to Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, and ask her to investigate how the Office of Public Engagement silenced the voices of exiled Americans despite the fact that they won the popular vote. You can email her at vjarrett@who.eop.gov. For more information about people living in exile in Cambodia, visit spokenkosal.com.

SISTA XTINA & EL FALCON bring us a teaser of an upcoming interview about ANTI~TRAFFICKING MOVEMENT WORK with JEAN ENRIQUEZ, a founding member of BUKLOD WOMEN’S CENTER in the Philippines, who was selected as one of Yahoo Southeast Asia’s Heroes of 2011. Full length ANTI~TRAFFICKING interview will be presented Sunday, May 27th, 7-11pm on the API HERITAGE MONTH SPECIAL, “THE INDO~PACIFIC EDGE 2012″ on KPFA~FM 94.1 (((BAY*AREA))).

KAPATID TISAYE shares impressions of the new documentary, THE ISLAND PRESIDENT, about President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives and the effects of Climate Change on the island nation. TICKETS to Bay Area showings will accompany the review.

SELEKTA LAPULAPU briefly reviews the new music/dance/martial arts drama, BUFFALO’ED, about AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS during the PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR, and we’ll give away TICKETS to see BUFFALO’ED this weekend at the SAN JOSE STAGE COMPANY.

We will also be giving away tickets to new Pacific Islander and Asian films, screening in the SF Bay Area, including the new film about AUNG SAN SUU KYI (played by MICHELLE YEOH) called “THE LADY”!

Hosted by Selekta LapuLapu aka Bruddah K.

3/15/12 SFIAAFF, Micropixie, and Jeremy Lin(sanity)!

This past week, San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival coalesced the community through the moving image. Robynn Takayama offers a short commentary about what the festival means to her. (Check out APEX Express collective member R.J. Lozada’s film, Among B-Boys)

The festival continues through this weekend and there’s a film you’ve got to catch. It’s called In the Family and Robynn also brings us an interview with Patrick Wang, the film’s director.

We also have an interview by Preeti Shekar with Micropixie aka MPX who performed at the festival’s DIRECTIONS IN SOUND club night.

Finally, the Shaolin B-Boy talks to his dad and cousin about a basketball-based disease that hit the nation in February and has a special effect on Asian Americans. They call it, Linsanity!

Community Calendar

• Are you a green card holder interested in becoming a U.S. citizen? As a U.S. citizen, you can live in the United States and can travel outside the United States without worrying about being deported or being denied entry, and can more quickly and easily be reunited with family overseas. Citizens also gain the right to vote, to serve on a jury, to apply for government jobs and certain government benefits. East Bay Naturalization Collaborative is holding a free Citizenship Workshop on Saturday, March 17 at Chabot Community College in Hayward.  Attorneys will be available to help eligible immigrants fill out the application for U.S. citizenship, answer questions and provide resources for you.  All participants must register in advance. For more information and to register, please call Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (APILO) at 510-251-2846.
• The Balboa Theater in San Francisco hosts the Bengali Film Festival from March 16-20. Featuring contemporary and classic Bengali-language films, the festival will also spotlight Nagmoti — a film from the early 1980s by the now legendary musician, ethnomusicologist and filmmaker Gautam Chattopadhyay.
• In the Family screens on Saturday, March 17 at 8 pm at the Pacific Film Archive Theater.
• On Tuesday, March 20, Movie Night at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center brings us Thai film, Tears of the Black Tiger. According to IMDB, “With its loud acting style, exuberant sets and stunning shots in pastel colours, this Thai cult film is as much a parody as an homage to the Western and the romantic tearjerker.”

3/1/12 Honoring Grace Lee Boggs (Part 1), SF Film Fest, &Tree City Legends

Photo from Robin Holland

This week and next week on APEX, we are highlighting one of our favorite movement sheros – Grace Lee Boggs. She will be in town this weekend for a speaking tour around the Bay Area, so we are honoring her and her amazing work with two back-to-back APEX shows. This week, we talk about the history of Grace Lee Boggs and hear clips from some of her powerful speeches from the past.

We also finish our coverage of the SF International Asian American Film Festival, with special film reviews by APEX’s own DJ Bruddah K.

And lastly, you’ll hear a special interview about the widely acclaimed new theatre piece – Tree City Legends. I was able to catch writer Dennis Kim and performer Taiyo Na backstage after one of their first shows. Tree City Legends only has a couple of nights left in SF, so tune in to hear more about it! And you can buy your tickets here.

Hosted by Ellen Choy.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• Grace Lee Boggs Events:
  • On Revolution: A Conversation Between Grace Lee Boggs and Angela Davis
    Friday, March 2nd
    Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley
    Opening ceremony at 4pm
    This event is hosted by the Women of Color Initiative at the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, the Ethnic Studies Department at UC Berkeley and is held in conjunction with the 27th Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference. Admission is free and open to the general public.
    For more info: http://ewocc.wordpress.com/grace-lee-boggs-and-angela-davis/
  • Building the Next American Revolution: A Celebration and Tribute to Grace Lee Boggs
    Saturday, March 3rd
    Chinese Culture Center, SF Chinatown
    1pm – Doors Open & Reception | 3pm – Book Signing
    $5-$20 sliding scale, purchase tickets in advance online
    Hosted by Chinese Progressive Association. Co-sponsored by Asian Law Caucus, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Chinese Culture Center, Chinese Community Development Center, Movement Strategy Center, and more.
    More info: www.cpasf.org
• Tree City Legends, a multidisciplinary theater work that melds post-hip hop aesthetics, urban folklore, Korean traditional tales, live music, legend, and parable, opens this week at Intersection for the Arts. 
  Dates: 8 p.m., February 16 – March 3, 2012
  Tickets: $20-$25, www.brownpapertickets.com/event/221342
  Location: Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103

2/23/12 SFIAAFF features

We’re offering a pair of tickets to Front Line and Ninja Kids as a thank you gift to KPFA subscribers on a film focused edition of APEX Express.

Selekta LapuLapu and producers from KPFA API SPECIALS and “ROOTS KOMMUNIKATIONS” combine forces to bring you coverage of a selection of films from the upcoming San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, including Tibet in Song, Papa Mau: The Way Finder, and more.

10/6/2011 Filipino American Jazz, API film previews, and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement

Tonight on Apex Express, we bring you the sweet sounds of Annie Brazil, Lena Sunday, Ann Marie Santos, and the S.F. Pinoy Jazz Quartet. They are performing at the Fourth Annual San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival this Sunday at Yoshi’s. We also have four pairs of tickets to see these amazing performers, so tune in!

Apex contributor Marie Choi interviews Oscar Peñaranda, Associate Director of the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival on the rich history of jazz in Filipino communities, hidden histories, and the connections between jazz and politics.

Also, Apex contributor DJ Bruddah K brings us a preview of API films screening at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

And finally, as the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement heads to congress this week, we bring you an encore of Preeti Mangala Shekar’s interview with Christine Ahn, executive director with the Korea Policy Institute.

8/18/2011 “Amigo” and growing unrest over drone strikes in Pakistan

Academy Award nominated writer/director John Sayles‘ new film “AMIGO“, about the U.S. Invasion & Occupation of the Philippines, will open in the U.S. this Friday, August 19th. It has already been screening in the Philippines, where the Philippine Department of Education has recommended it to schools. Tonight on APEX EXPRESS, we’ll share an interview with the director by Selekta LapuLapu, speak with the lead actor Joel Torre on the phone, and give away TICKETS to the opening of this Philippine-American War film in San Francisco!

Also, drones or unmanned aircraft have been in use since at least since 2004 in Afghanistan, and in the tribal regions on the border of Pakistan. It is estimated that every “drone strike” kills 10-15 civilians for every 1 “suspected militant,” with some estimates from Pakistani media stating 5,000 people have already been killed by the un-manned aircraft. The U.S. government justifies this by claiming 9 out of the 20 most wanted terrorists have been killed with this technology. U.S. government has released information that so-called “stealth drones” were used in the tracking and monitoring of Bin Laden before and during the assassination mission by U.S. Navy SEALs. Tonight on Apex we’ll learn about the growing resistance in Pakistan as well as in the U.S.

7/7/11 Vikki Law, Tony Nguyen, and Vijay Prashad

• An excerpt of a talk given by Vikki Law, a photographer and activist working with and supporting incarcerated women. She is the author of “Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women.”

• Also, live in the studio, we have special guest, Tony Nguyen who will talk about his recent film “Enforcing The Silence” which investigates the story of Lam Truong Duong, a 27 year-old Vietnamese journalist and activist who was murdered in 1981. It premieres in San Francisco on Thursday, July 21. Half of the proceeds from the evening’s screening will go towards the VYDC, Vietnamese Youth Development Center founded by Lam Duong. The benefit screening will be at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco.

• Lastly, we bring you a talk by writer, intellectual, and activist, Vijay Prashad. He spoke at Riverside Church in New York this past May as part of a fundraiser for Critical Resistance and the Brecht Forum called “The World We Want Is The World We Need.” Special thanks to Isaac Ontiveros of Critical Resistance.

We’re your hosts, Ellen Choy, Karl Jagbandhansingh, and Marie Choi.

3/3/11 Hawaii – A Voice for Sovereignty

This week, as a premium for a pledge of $60, we’re featuring the ground-breaking documentary DVD “Hawaii – A Voice for Sovereignty,” by award-winning director Catherine Bauknight, telling the real story and issues facing Native Hawaiians.

“Hawaii – A Voice for Sovereignty” is a documentary film by photojournalist Catherine Bauknight that explores the culture of the Native Hawaiians and their connection to the land. At the forefront of the film are social, economic, and ecological issues that have developed in Hawaii since the takeover by the U.S. in 1893, revealed in interviews with grassroots indigenous people and scholars such as author, Haunani-Kay Trask.

With Hosts Ellen Choy and Karl Jagbandhansingh.

Produced by Karl Jagbandhansingh.

10/28/10 Third I Film Festival, And She Said, and the Data Center

On today’s show, we bring you highlights of some wonderful progressive events happening this fall in the Bay Area.

We begin by showcasing the 3rd i’s Annual San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival. Meet local film makers who will be screening their films at this exciting film festival happening next month in San Francisco.

We also discuss a special alternative Indian dance performance with women’s poetry called “And She Said” that will premiere in the Bay Area next month.

And finally, we feature activists from Data Center, a grassroots research justice group based in the Bay Area to talk about their work and an upcoming fundraiser.

10/21/10 Media Triple Threat: literature, film, and music

It’s a media triple threat extravaganza on tonight’s APEX EXPRESS with hosts Eloise and RJ. Tune in!

We have noted historian, professor and author Mae Ngai talking with us about her new book, The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America.

We also interview filmmaker Wendy Champagne about her documentary, BAS! Beyond the Red Light which is being featured in this year’s DocFest at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.

And singer/songwriter Alice Tong will grace our airwaves with an insider’s look at her new album, “Please Be Brave Before the Lions They Come.”