Monday, May 27, 1996
Event to present both new and established filmmakersBy Dina
Gachman
Daily Bruin Staff
It may seem that in the past few years Asian cinema has
increased in popularity. But for Melnitz’s Director of Programming
Cheng-Sim Lim, who organized this year’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific
Film and Video Festival, the mainstream status of many Asian
directors is only a beginning.
"Obviously one of the goals of the festival is to show that even
if there are directors like John Woo and Tran Anh Hung," says Lim,
"who are now increasingly known to audiences  that does not
mean that they are necessarily appreciated either. We showed John
Woo’s works at some early festivals before he really caught on, and
one of the goals of the festival is to introduce new
filmmakers."
This goal has been accomplished by Melnitz’s program, which has
been screening films from Asia and the Diaspora for over a decade.
This year’s festival began at LACMA’s Bing and Brown theaters last
Thursday, and continues at UCLA’s Melnitz Theater until May 29.
Several directors, such as Vietnam’s Dang Nhat Minh and Tran Anh
Hung ("The Scent of Green Papaya"), will attend the screenings and
participate in question and answer forums after their films.
Lim believes that the festival’s diversity and range has greatly
expanded over the years.
"About four or five years ago," she explains, "it became much
more of a global melange. The festival is showing more works from
the Asian Pacific and the Diaspora. It is not concentrating as much
as it did in the past on Western works. That’s not to say that the
U.S. work has diminished in volume, but the festival has really
grown."
Much of this expansion can be attributed to people like Lim, who
expresses a genuine interest in and passion for the subject. UCLA
sponsors over 300 film festivals each year, and the programmers
devote much of their time and energy to researching and organizing
the events. Lim says that another function of the festivals is to
show films non-judgmentally, so that their "tremendous richness and
diversity" can be appreciated.
Both students and programmers benefit from this exposure to new
and ground-breaking films.
"Each year you encounter new filmmakers," Lim says of her own
experiences, "and rediscover established filmmakers. When you see
their work, sometimes it is as if you are experiencing them for the
first time."
During the process of choosing new works for the festival the
programmers view the movies, and decide together which ones should
be included. But it is not only a matter of finding good films
 the pieces must reflect the overall purpose of the festival,
and convey their messages in a creative, unique way.
"We look at each film individually," says Lim. "We take into
account its historical and cultural context. Generally speaking, we
judge the work we get on whether it has something to say and on how
well it can say it. It sounds really simplistic, but it’s a
subjective judgment."
Does Lim believe that this process includes finding movies that
share a similar message?
"We don’t think that there is a common theme," she explains. "I
think that saying that risks homogenizing very, very different
sorts of cinema."
This year’s Asian Pacific Festival does boast an eclectic,
interesting cinematic mixture. Lim and the other programmers tried
to include films from men and women from various parts of the
world, whose works display the originality of the filmmakers’
visions. And attending the screenings, believes Lim, is especially
important for UCLA students.
"It’s important to the degree that  here is this resource
which doesn’t quite exist in most other institutions," she says.
"And it’s not so much important as it is useful. Here’s an
opportunity to see works that you would not otherwise get to see or
experience. And in terms of Asian cinema, much of what we are
showing is cutting-edge work."
EVENT: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival
screening at Melnitz Theater and LACMA. Admission is $6, $4 for
students. For more info call (310) 206-FILM.
Tran Nu Yen Khe and Tony Leung-Chiu Wai star together in
"Cyclo."