Four years ago, on Sunday, March 5, 2006, the unmistakable voice went silent, as Asian American broadcast pioneer Sam Chu Lin Sam Chu Lin died suddenly in Burbank, Calif. He was 67.
AsianConnections pays tribute to Sam. His birthday would have been this week March 3.
Click here to a video montage featuring Sam Chu-lin's work, produced by Christopher Chow.
Four years ago, on Sunday, March 5, 2006, the unmistakable voice went silent, as Asian American broadcast pioneer Sam Chu Lin Sam Chu Lin died suddenly in Burbank, Calif. He was 67.
AsianConnections pays tribute to Sam. His birthday would have been this week March 3.
Click here for more information about Sam Chu Lin, pioneer broadcast journalist.
Click below to a video montage featuring Sam Chu Lin's work, produced by Christopher Chow of Chow Associates, San Francisco.
Randy Gener Wins Two Awards for Writing Excellence in North American Travel Media Competition
PASADENA, CA The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) today announced that Randy Gener has won 2 awards of merit for writing excellence in the 2009 annual awards competition in both the leisure activity and personality/profile categories. This awards competition, now in its 18th year, honors travel journalists, publications and destination marketing organizations. Winners will be presented with their awards at the annual NATJA conference May 1114, 2010 at the Atlantis Hotel/Casino in Reno, Nevada.
"The North American Travel Journalists Association honors the best of the best in travel journalism," says Helen Hernandez, CEO of the membership organization. "This was a banner year for excellence. Given the creativity, writing and vision of the submissions, the judges had a difficult time selecting the winners from the more than 500 entries from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. We received so many creative and well-executed entries in all of the categories."
In the leisure activity category, Gener won an NATJA Award for "Why are the Dutch Invading Governors Island?," a travel essay about two interdisciplinary arts festivals from Holland (Terschelling Oerol Festival and de Parade) which produced the New Island Festival at Governors Island in September 2009. In the personality/profile category, Gener won a second NATJA Award for "Dreaming in Yoruba...
By Stephen Rakower
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethaku wins the Palm D'or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives a mystical reincarnation tale of a man with acute kidney failure who chooses to spend his final days with his loved ones in the countryside.
Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave - the birthplace of his first life.
The film is the sixth for the 39 year old director who likes to be called by his nickname, Joe, and the first Palm d'Or for Thailand.
Joe is outspoken about the current political troubles in Thailand, and the recent deadly clashes in the streets of Bangkok.
He says the clashes are due to the wide divide between the rich and the poor.
He is lobbying for more Thai government funding of films. This year he said, Thailand announced a new government film fund of $6.2 million, with half going to one film directed by a Thai prince to do a historical film. Just before flying to France to the Cannes Film Festival, he said he was lobbying Thailand's Ministry of Culture for more transparency in film funding.
Joe is the son of two doctors who moved from Bangkok to the northeast part of Thailand and built a hospital there. His film is set in the same northeast location as his childhood.
From 1994 to 1997, Joe attended the Chicago Art Institute where he was exposed to many kinds of films, especially experimental films. He initially had alot of challenges adapting...
Portrait of Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to Be Presented at the National Portrait Gallery
Congratulations to Former Transportation and Commerce Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, who will be recognized by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program with the installation of his portrait in a private ceremony at the Portrait Gallery. The portrait, by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler, will become part of the museums permanent-collection exhibition, "New Arrivals" on July 27, located at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C. "New Arrivals," is a rotating exhibition of subjects and objects that have been recently added to the museums permanent collection.
"I am delighted that this generous gift to the Portrait Gallery will be in our permanent collection," said Martin Sullivan, director of the museum. "Secretary Mineta's service to this country and his leadership efforts are central to the story about Asian Americans in the U.S."
Born in 1931 to immigrant Japanese parents in San Jose, Calif., Mineta and his family were detained along with 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent at an internment camp during World War II. Mineta's career in politics began with an appointment to a vacant seat on the San Jose City Council in 1967; two years later he won the seat in his own right. In 1971, he was elected mayor of San Jose, becoming the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S....
33rd Asian American International Film Festival Hosts Community Screenings in New York City
NEW YORK, NY (June 22, 2010) Asian CineVision (ACV) will present free community screenings at the Maysles Institute in Harlem and the Flushing Library in Queens from July 22 through July 24, 2010 as part of the 33rd Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF'10).
"The aim of the AAIFF10's community screenings is to bring our films to a more diverse audience," says John Woo, Acting Director of Asian CineVision (ACV). "Given the success of last year's community screenings, we hope that the AAIFF'10 will continue to reach out to communities in the New York City area."
The Maysles Institute in Harlem will screen Academy award winning director Freida Lee Mock's latest documentary Lt. Watada on July 22, 2010. Mock's film follows the journey of Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned military officer to speak publicly on his refusal for deployment and to challenge the Presidential war policy in Iraq.
Eight screenings will take place in the Flushing Library over the course of two days. On July 23, Stephanie Wang-Breal's documentary Wo Ai Ni Mommy and Leena Pendharkar's Raspberry Magic will be screened alongside two shorts programs Oh Family Where Art Thou? and It's a Little Bit Funny. The programming for July 24 will also consists of two features and two shorts programs. Ian McCrudden's The Things We Carry and Gerry Balasta's The Mountain Thief will screen in addition to...