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March 27, 2007

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival - Recap

The_gang_at_sfiaaff What can I tell you about my experience at the SF Asian American film festival this year?

  • I got a badge this year, for being a screenwriter of Ang Pamana: The Inheritance - w00t!
  • We had 2 SOLD OUT screenings, one of them in a 360 person capacity theatre at the AMC Van Ness 1000.
  • My best friend, Romeo Candido, the director/writer, flew out from Manila, joining his wife Caroline Mangosing, the producer/actress, who flew out from Toronto. I was their joint "best man" at their wedding.
  • We met up with Johann and Dorothy Camat, who live in South SF with their baby Joey, and who graciously opened their home for us to hang out (especially with 3 of my sisters who drove from all over Southern California to watch the film). Romeo, Dorothy, Johann and I have known each other for over 13(?) years, when we all performed in the Original Canadian cast of Miss Saigon together.
  • Dustin Nguyen, of 21 Jumpstreet fame, still looks young and fit, but he smokes Marlboro Lights.
  • I didn't see MC Hammer at the Opening Night party.

At least 30 of my friends and their friends represented by coming out to see the film, many of them joining us for food and drink at the Olive Bar prior to the Tuesday screening. Shouts out to them: Jim+Lori Sottile, Jonathan Abrams and his girlfriend Martine, Chris Baum and Mai Le, Courtenay Wilson and her friend, Josh, Philip and Jackie Conklin, Charmaine Araneta and Luis Gutierrez, Tony Tintiman and Peter Santos, Alex and Tre Weir, John Flaniken and his girlfriend, Jen, Courtney Patubo, Scott Myers and friends, Miri Nakamura, and of course my 3 beautiful sisters, Toni, Zandi and Nikki. If I forgot to add your name, call me and yell at me.

The 2nd screening was the BEST.  The audience was packed, and fully engaged from the start - loud, boisterous, screaming, laughing and making sounds in advance - totally understanding all the in-jokes, the foreshadowing and the references that audiences in Manila just couldn't relate to.

My_name_on_screen The hype is over now. When my name flashed across the screen, all I wanted was a cheer from my friends in the crowd.  I got that, and it felt good to see words I wrote coming out of actor's mouths.

The film moves on to film festivals in other cities - an independent screening in Toronto, then on to a film festival in Chicago, etc.
Hopefully we can get picked up by a distributor or sponsor who will help us release it in theatres in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, we're working on our next projects . . .a kitschy original musical comedy about beauty queens, the first martial arts movie focusing on Filipino martial arts, a dark musical about a dominatrix saying goodbye to her secret life. . all coming up from the creative team at The Digital Sweatshop, Inc.

We have some pictures of the creative team and 3 of the actors: Phoemela, Darrell and Caroline, at the Filipinas magazine website.









Posted at 11:07 PM in angpamana, balikbayan_renaissance, sanfrancisco, screenwriting, sfiaaff |

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