2020 Festival Schedule and Tickets
In partnership with Denver Film

Thursday, February 20
​2020 Opening Reception
6:00-7:15PM

Sie FilmCenter 
2510 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206
Our Opening Night and Festival Kickoff is sponsored by Dae Gee Korean BBQ! Come early for our plant-based food reception, have your photo taken on our Red Carpet, then join us in the theater for the Colorado premiere of the South Korean documentary on foraging for wild foods, The Wandering Chef!

As part of our Opening Night, we will also be launching a local Asian American Artist's Showcase! Come engage with food, art, and film!
Festival Pass - Includes Opening Night and tickets to all 10 festival film & shorts blocks!

Opening Film: The Wandering Chef - 7:30PM
Colorado Premiere
Thursday, February 20

(2019 - Documentary)

Running Time
1h 27m

Country / Language
South Korea / Korean

Director
Hye-Ryeong Park
​
Starring
Im Jiho

Synopsis
Celebrity chef Jiho Lim, better known as the “Wandering Chef” travels from one end of the Korean peninsula to the other, in search of natural ingredients with medicinal properties. He journeys through different landscapes, meeting diverse people, and feeding a multitude of communities. All of his sources come from mother nature itself, who was his nurturer due to his unusual upbringing. He grew up sleeping on her soil using leaves as his blanket and eating herbs for survival. But the pain of having had no one to call ‘Mother’ was a trauma he carried for years. Until one day, he meets someone very special on the road that leads to the most important cooking of his lifetime.
"Celebrity chef Im Ji-ho devoted much of his life to wandering through Korea in search of interesting culinary and medicinal ingredients—and for more than a decade director Park Hye-ryeong has wandered along with him. ...

“I distinctly felt that he was different from other chefs that I’d met in that he would use ingredients that people no longer used, things people threw away, seemingly useless ingredients, and then transform them into very rich food creations,” said Park. “I was very curious as to what the philosophy behind his creations was and also what sort of human story developed that philosophy.”

As Chef Im wandered, he not only shared the medicinal and nutritional uses of his findings but emotional stories about his past.

“His father was actually a doctor of Korean medicine,” said Park. “He spent his early years foraging in the mountains looking for herbs with his father, so some of that really came from an early training.”

Successful foraging benefits from training, but knowing how to prepare and present foraged ingredients requires a unique gift. In his famous restaurant Sandang (Mountain Village), the chef has crafted inventive and delicious meals uniquely designed to benefit his diners.

“He did not go through the standard forms of training when it comes to becoming a chef,” said Park. “It was usually him just trying things out on his own, trying things and almost coming to the brink of death because he consumed things that weren’t supposed to be consumed.”

It’s not just potentially delicious but possibly dangerous ingredients he chooses to assess, but also the potential ailments of person he is cooking for. ...

“The way he cooks and the ingredients he uses have actually been tradition for centuries in Korean culture, so it’s not something that is completely new or novel,” said Park. “It’s just a way that Koreans have not been in touch with for some time now. His creativity is really utilized in the presentation of the dishes he makes, that's different than the way it would have been centuries ago.” ...

“It’s his philosophy that everything can be eaten but it’s also a matter of how to prepare the ingredients in a way that will bring out their healing properties the most,” said Park. “So he really does study and do trial and error to come to conclusions that will be the best for that individual.”

Im began wandering in search of ingredients when he discovered the woman who raised him was not his biological mother, and that his birth mother died in an accident, shortly after leaving him with his father. A few years later his adopted mother also died and this longing for lost maternal love became entwined with his search for the nourishing power of food. ...

“Communication and bonding through food has been my niche, so to speak,” said Park. “I’ve made a lot of human documentaries. I want to focus on people who are in the margins, people who communicate and bond together through food. When it comes to filmmaking I want to keep on doing that as well.” ”--Joan MacDonald, Forbes

Friday, February 21
​Creative Conversations

​Tattered Cover Book Store - Basement Floor
2526 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80206
1:00PM - ​Best Tasting Wild Foods of Colorado​
Introduction to foods and medicines found in the backcountry of Colorado. Learn how to identify wild plants and utilize them in some basic recipes!

Presented by Katrina Blair, founder of non-profit Turtle Lake Refuge and author of The Wild Wisdom of Weeds.
Learn more!

Friday, February 21

Boba and Beer Happy Hour - 6:00PM

In honor of the renegade grandma featured in our Friday night film, we're hosting a pop up with free beer from Cerebral Brewing and free boba tea from Tea Street Denver! Join us in the Sie FilmCenter lobby to help us toast to the fierce women in our lives!

Lucky Grandma - 7:00PM
Colorado Premiere
​In partnership with Women+Film

(2019)

​Running Time
1h 40m

Country / Languages
USA / Mandarin, English, Cantonese
​
Director
Sasie Sealy

Starring
Tsai Chin, Hsiao-Yuan Ha, Michael Tow, Woody Fu, Wai Ching Ho​

Synopsis
Set in New York City's Chinatown, an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandma goes all in at the casino, landing herself on the wrong side of luck - and in the middle of a gang war.

Official Selections
Australia - Sydney Film Festival
Belarus - Minsk Listapad Film Festival
Hawai‘i International Film Festival
Israel - Haifa Film Festival
Korea - DMZ Docs
New York City - Margaret Mead Film Festival
Norway - Films from the South Festival 
Poland - Warsaw Film Festival
Santa Barbara Film Festival 
Spain - San Sebastian Film Festival

Press Release
"Veteran actress Tsai Chin (THE JOY LUCK CLUB, A LEADING MAN, CASINO ROYALE) turns in a compelling and funny performance as an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandmother with a small-time gambling habit. She cherishes her independence, which worries her family. When a local fortune-teller predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to work off that newly acquired good luck and head straight to the casino. She goes “all in” and lands herself on the wrong side of luck. She soon becomes entrenched in the the middle of a NYC Chinatown gang war. Realizing she cannot simply walk away from this turf war, Grandma decides to get some muscle and employs the services of a bodyguard from a rival gang.

Director Sasie Sealy brings to life a dark comedy about immigrant life, the vulnerabilities of aging, and an unexpected friendship. Set in alleyways, casino buses, and underground mahjong parlors with a cast of richly drawn characters, including Taiwanese breakout talent Corey Ha as the bodyguard. In the end, LUCKY GRANDMA is a love letter to Chinatown and an homage to all the badass ‘poh-pohs’ out there in Chinatowns everywhere." --Anderson Le, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Saturday, February 22
​Creative Conversations

​Tattered Cover Book Store - Basement Floor
2526 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80206
10:00AM - Healthcare & Mental Health Forum
​Join us in a discussion with Asian American physicians and health professionals on topics that cover health, mental health, and challenges faced by Asian American professionals in the health field. Members from the health industry and the public are all invited to come ask questions and share your own experiences!
​11:15AM - Mushroom Foraging 101
Learn how to find choice edible mushrooms in Colorado's high country:
Porcinis, Chanterelles, Morels & more.

Presentated by Trent and Kristen Blizzard of Modern Forager.
Learn more!

​Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence - 11:00AM
​​Saturday, February 22

"THERE’S nothing quite like the deafening blare of beeping car horns to make you feel like you’re on the bustling streets of Mumbai, a city that is estimated to be nearly 50 times more noisy than London and New York.

If you’re visiting, these sounds will form the backdrop to your trip but imagine for one moment that you can’t escape them. That you’re entire life is plagued by the audio of urban life; traffic, music, conversations. Well that’s the situation protagonist Namdev Bhau (Namdev Gurav, who is a non-professional actor and an actual driver) finds himself in Dar Ghai’s ‘Namdev Bhau In Search Of Silence’ ...

Stylistically shot in widescreen, it’s a captivating watch with scene after scene of exquisite backdrops that have an almost mythical quality to them.

From empty streets lined with colourful prayer flags to huge expanses of land where the screen is filled with blue skies and barren grounds, upon which Namdev looks like a tiny ant; it’s a film made for the big screen where you can fully immerse yourself in the tranquillity of the settings.

Namdev’s plans to seek out silence sadly don’t all go to plan. On one occasion he’s faced with sharing a hotel room with a talkative girl scared of ghosts, then later his expedition is hijacked by a young boy who too is heading into the mountains and won’t stop chatting to him.

Namdev himself is a man of small words yet his character is one with maximum impact. ...

When out of the blue he delivers some lines, it’s surprising how emotional it becomes for the viewer, to see this man we’ve cared for from the moment we first met him, to finally communicating his thoughts.

Ukranian Director Dar Gai tells this unexpected story with an intimacy that’s hard to fault and it will no doubt have you contemplating what silence means to you." --Momtaz Begum-Hossain, Asian Culture Venture
(2018)

​Running Time
1h 24m

Country / Language
India / Hindi

Director
Dar Gai​
​
​Starring
Arya Dave, Namdev Gurav, Zoya Hussain

Synopsis
​Chauffeur Namdev can’t take noise Mumbai or his jabbering family anymore so he sets off on a quest for a fabled Himalayan retreat -Silent Valley. On the journey, he meets a chatterbox kid, who begins to show him a new perspective on life.

Official Selections & Awards
Guam International Fim Festival – GIFF Grand Jury Award, Best Narrative Feature
Busan International Film Festival – World Premiere
BFI’s London Film Festival – UK Premier
Palm Springs International Film Festival – U.S. Premiere
Stuttgart International Film Festival – Opening Film

The Portrait (Ang Larawan) - 1:30PM
Saturday, February 22
​Post-Film Reception and Filmmaker Meet & Greet - Sponsored by NaFFAA and APIA Vote

"The musical pedigree of "Ang Larawan," an official entry to the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), traces back to Culturtain Musicat Productions' (formerly Musical Theatre Philippines) 1997 musical adaptation of Nick Joaquin's 1950 landmark play "A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino." Why such a masterwork has stood the test of time is what this film adaptation wants you to fully grasp.

Directed by Loy Arcenas, "Ang Larawan" is a lavish, absorbing family drama whose original lengthy English dialogues were translated into mostly colloquial Tagalog by Rolando Tinio and set to music by Ryan Cayabyab.

Its story follows the plight of spinster sisters Candida Marasigan (Joanna Ampil) and Paula Marasigan (Rachel Alejandro), daughters of the celebrated visual artist Don Lorenzo Marasigan (Leo Rialp) who chooses to live as a recluse in the walled city of Intramuros, right before the Second World War. ...

Director Loy Arcenas, together with production designer Gino Gonzales, cinematographer Boy Yñiguez, and colorist Marilen Magasaysay, vividly captures--albeit in a nearly sepia film color temperature and with set pieces and props of the same color scheme--that wistful spirit of Old Manila.

Supporting the film's elaborate feast for the eyes are Rolando Tinio's elegantly-written lyrics (some are spoken, but most are sung), where Ryan Cayabyab's affecting, soaring score has found its heartbeat and the film's musical rhythm specific to its dramatic storyline." --Oliver Oliveros, BroadwayWorld

Join us in the lobby following the film to meet the writer and producer Girlie Rodis, and for a food reception sponsored by the National Federation of Filipino American Associations and ​Asian Pacific Islander American Vote!
Learn more!
​(2017 - Musical)

​Running Time
2h 4m

Country / Language
Philippines / Filipino, Tagalog

Director
Loy Arcenas
​
​Starring
Joanna Ampil, Rachel Alejandro, Paulo Avelino​

Synopsis
In a musical tale about standing together against materialism, two impoverished sisters anguish over whether or not to sell a painting, the final masterpiece by their recluse father. A bitter struggle for survival against betrayal set in pre-World War II Manila.

Awards
Metro Manila Film Festival – Best Picture, Gatpuno Antonio J. Villegas Cultural Award, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Special Jury Prize, Best Musical Score, Best Production Design

2020 Asian American Documentaries Showcase & Talkback - 4:00PM
​Saturday, February 22
Reception and Filmmaker Meet & Greet - Sponsored by TECO Denver

Featured Documentaries

Palliative | Golden, CO (36 min)
John Beder and Donald Stader

Presented by TECO Denver
Love Boat: Taiwan | San Francisco, CA (63 min)
Valerie Soe
Post-Screening Filmmaker Talkback
Facilitated by Professor Daryl Maeda
Join us after our documentary showcase to hear from the filmmakers themselves!

Reception hosted by TECO Denver / Filmmaker Meet and Greet
Join us for tasty bites, meet our filmmakers, and learn more about Taiwan from the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Denver in the theater lobby!

Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams - 7:00PM
Saturday, February 22
Introduction by Japanese Consul General

​(2019 - Documentary)

​Running Time
1h 34m

Country / Language
USA / Japanese, English

Director
Ema Ryan Yamazaki

​​Synopsis
Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include US baseball stars Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. As popular as America’s World Series, the stakes are beyond high in this single-elimination tournament. For Coach Mizutani, cleaning the grounds and greeting guests are equally important as honing baseball skills, however, demonstrating discipline, sacrifice and unwavering dedication. Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki follows Mizutani and his team on their quest to win the 100th annual Koshien, and, in the process, goes beyond baseball to reveal the heart of the Japanese national character.
Interview with Director
"After living in New York for nine years and returning to Japan in 2017, I had a renewed outlook of the country I grew up in. I was overly grateful of the trains running on time, of people lining up for things, and everyone generally being considerate of one another: things that are normal in Japan, but what I’d learned to be not necessarily so outside of Japan.

It was at this time that I watched Koshien, the annual summer high school baseball tournament, which I hadn’t seen in a decade. I saw in high school baseball — the helmets in a perfect line, the strict adherence to rules, the team-first mentality — a microcosm of Japanese society itself.

But in recent years, being one of the most extreme part of society, the Koshien culture had been forced to re-examine its values. Learning that the 100th Koshien was upon us, we thought picking high school baseball as a way to examine a changing Japan would make a documentary that could help explain the mysteries of Japan to the outside world.

We hope our audience will have deepened their understanding of Japan: the kind of society it is, its qualities, and challenges in these modern times. Much of the struggle Japan faces is universal — how to keep tradition while adapting to the influences of globalization, and how to honor where we have come from while facing a future that is no longer the same.

I often feel that Japan is only known for a few specific things internationally — sushi and anime, to name a few. I hope the film provides a more complicated and human view of Japan, and provides hints of understanding of why Japan is the way it is — where it has come from and where it might be headed." --Jenna Dorsi, Women and Hollywood

Sunday, February 23

CO Dragon Film Fest &
University of Colorado Denver
​College of Arts & Media ​present:

​2020 Colorado Showcase &
Filmmaker Talkback
​2:00PM

Join us for narrative and documentary shorts exploring wellness in outdoor sports, arts, motherhood, and LGBT communities. Meet our filmmakers after the screenings and learn how they're connecting Colorado to diverse cultures!
The Rock Within: Film Project Overview
Jessica McGaugh & Roma Sur

Ma: Production Overview & Film Preview
Roma Sur​

For Tashi | Colorado, 2019
​J. Cecilia Wu

(people) of water | USA, 2019
Forest Woodward

Not Pictured | Mumbai, Summer 2019
CU Denver Study Abroad Program

I Put the Bi in Bitter | Colorado, 2019
Marin Lepore

Showcase will be followed by Q&A Session with our filmmakers - Facilitated by Lauren Grisham Sloan.

Overseas - 4:00PM
​Sunday, February 23

(2019 - Documentary)

Running Time
1h 30m

Country / Languages
Belgium, France / Filipino, English

Director
Sung-a Yoon

Synopsis
In The Philippines, women get deployed abroad to work as domestic workers or nannies. To do so, they frequently leave their own children behind before embracing this big unknown. In a learning center dedicated to the domestic work, several candidates prepare themselves for homesickness and for the abuses that they will possibly endure. In role playing exercises, they play the worker's role as well as the one of the employer. The documentary Overseas brings to light the question of domestic slavery in our globalized world, while emphasizing those women's determination, their sisterhood, and the strategies they find to face the obstacles that awaits them in the near future.
​Official Selections and Awards
Poland - Warsaw Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature
Austria - This Human World
Belarus - Minsk International Film Festival 
Belgium - Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur
Canada - Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal Canada
Netherlands - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 
Russia - Message to Man International Film Festival
South Korea - Busan International Film Festival
Switzerland - Locarno Film Festival
UK - BFI London Film Festival​

2019 Jury Statement, Warsaw Film Festival
"The author of this film stands on the side the weak and the wounded; in a delicate film form shows us drama of women compelled to separation with their families, loneliness and ruthless exploitation. In this lucid but very moving story, we saw the metaphor of a modern world full of injustice in which slavery still exists. This film is an excellent example of what “art of documentary” means – it’s humane, it’s precise and it’s making us reflect on our existence. The Best Documentary Award goes to “Overseas” by Sung-a Yoon."

Chinese Opera Mask Making - 6:15PM

​Our festival's closing night features To Live to Sing, a Chinese film about Sichuan Opera! Join us in the Sie FilmCenter Lobby before the film to make your own mask and learn about the meaning of mask colors in Chinese opera!

Closing Film: To Live To Sing (Huo zhe chang zhe) - 7:00pm

Sunday, February 23
​Colorado Premiere
Synopsis
A Sichuan Opera troupe are faced with the demolition of their theater and dissolution.
(2019)

Running Time
1h 45m

Country / Language
China, France, Canada / Sichuan Mandarin

Director
Johnny Ma
​
​Starring
Xiaoli Zhao, Guidan Gan, Xihu Yan