Seattle Asian American Film Festival 2015 At Northwest Film Forum

The 38 films on the program include the best in recent independent cinema by and about Asian Americans. Highlights include: • The Seattle premiere of 9-Man, a documentary about a gritty, Chinese-American streetball game that's been played competitively in the alleys and parking lots of Chinatown since the 1930s. The film captures the spirit of 9-man as players not only battle for a championship, but fight to preserve a historic game. Director Ursula Liang won the Audience Award & Special Jury Award for Best Director at the 2014 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/9-man/ • To Be Takei, SAAFF’s opening night film, is a documentary about actor and activist George Takei’s journey from a WWII internment camp, to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, to social media superstar. To Be Takei was an official selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/to-be-takei/ • The Seattle premiere of Sriracha, a short documentary that tells the story of the ubiquitous, spicy sauce’s origin, its cult following, and the man behind the iconic “Rooster Sauce.” Sriracha won Best Short Film at the NYC Food Film Fest. http://seattleaaff.org/2015/shorts-programs/documentary-shorts-featuring-sriracha/ • Documented. In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in The New York Times Magazine. Documented chronicles the aftermath as he travels around the country as an immigration reform activist and provocateur, lands a historic Time magazine cover story and unexpectedly re-connects with his mother whom he hasn't seen in nearly 20 years.http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/documented/ • Kumu Hina. A powerful film about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the westernized society of modern Hawaii, told through the lens of an extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident mahu, or transgender woman, and an honored kumu, or teacher and cultural icon. Kumu Hina won the Audience Choice Award at the 2014 Asian American International Film Festival in New York. http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/kumu-hina/ • The Seattle premiere of A Picture of You, a story about family, loss, secrets and letting go. Two estranged siblings travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they make a discovery that turns their world upside-down. A Picture of You won Best Screenplay at the 2014 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/picture-of-you/ • The Seattle premiere of How To Fight in Six Inch Heels, a comedy of mistaken identity when an ambitious Vietnamese American fashion designer accidentally becomes Vietnam’s new “IT” girl. Director Ham Tran won Best Director at CAAMFest 2014. http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/how-to-fight-in-six-inch-heels/ • Cambodian Son. Forced to flee Cambodia to the United States as an infant, acclaimed poet Kosal Khiev was forcibly deported back to Phnom Penh after being imprisoned as a youth, and left to fend for himself in a land he never knew. Cambodian Son won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2014 Lebanon International Film Festival.http://seattleaaff.org/2015/films/cambodian-son/ Many films will be accompanied by panel discussions and director Q&A