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.”