by Hoc Poeng on October 7th, 2007

Hoc Poeng (Red Eight), Director Justin Lin, Edwin Wong (Red Eight), Wynn Salisch (Red Eight)

Roger Fan, Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Wynn Salisch

Tana Sarntinoranont (AAFilmLab), Host Ed Bennett

Filmmakers Risa Morimoto & Kimi Takesue

Filmmaker Fay Anne Lee, Hoc Poeng

Producer Phillip Lam, Entrepreneur Julie Azuma & husband Tamio Spiegel

Entrepreneur Shawn Liao & friend

Other Photos

247 More Photos | Flash Slideshow

by edwinwong on September 18th, 2007

New York, NY Sept 18, 2008 – Red Eight Film Circle, part of Red Eight, announced their next event, “Finishing The Game” Opening Weekend “Cast and Crew Meet and Greet” Networking Reception. The event will take place on Saturday, October 6th, 2007, 9pm-12am, at 723 Washington Street in Manhattan, NY.

”Finishing the Game”(FTG), is a new film by director Justin Lin (The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Better Luck Tomorrow, and Annapolis) starring Roger Fan, Sung Kang, James Franco, McCaleb Burnett, Dustin Nguyen, Monique Curnen, and others. More info at: www.youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com

Community and outreach partners include AAFilmLab, the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA), and Asian Cinevision (ACV). Sponsors include Verizon, 723 Washington Studio, Zink Magazine, Absalom Artists Group, EXIT Kingdom Realty, Mixr Media, Hyphen Magazine, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and others.

Event will include catered food and beverages, an opportunity to meet and mingle with the FTG Cast and Crew, as well as gift bags and raffle prizes. Event tickets will NOT be sold at door and must be purchased in advance online.

First 50 attendees with movie ticket stubs will receive a “free gift bag” and all ticket stub holders will have a chance to win raffle prizes.

Red Eight encourages everyone to watch the film the evening of Sat. Oct. 6th, then walk over from the IFC Center and join us for the networking reception. FTG OPENS IN NEW YORK CITY on Friday Oct. 5th! IFC Center , 323 6th Ave. at W. 3rd St. NY NY.

by Hoc Poeng on September 14th, 2007

Kathy has over a decade of professional experience at global companies such as Citigroup, KPMG Consulting (BearingPoint), Ernst & Young LLP (Cap Gemini), and Thomson Financial. Her experiences include financial services ( e.g.: investment / wealth management and alternative investments) and strategy / management consulting. She has much experience advising senior executives of Fortune 100 and companies of all sizes on expanding, improving, financing, and positioning their diverse international businesses through both quantitative and qualitative analyzes. She has managed and collaborated with global cross-functional and cross-cultural teams to develop investment and strategic solutions that meet the needs of diverse investors and other stakeholders. She is also experienced in leading through organizational changes such as M&A and restructuring. In addition, she has worked on both the investor and startup sides. She has evaluated business plans and recommended companies for equity / venture capital investments, as well as advised entrepreneurs.

Kathy holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with double majors in Finance and Multinational Management. She has a BS with Distinction in Applied Economics, Management, and Marketing from Cornell University. She is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. She had served in leadership and Board positions for alumni networks of both Cornell and Wharton. Kathy enjoys traveling, reading, volunteering, learning about diverse perspectives, wine & cuisine tasting, opera, and the wholesome pursuit of happiness.

She thinks of success in terms of the quote that is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children … To leave the world a bit better… To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

by Hoc Poeng on August 27th, 2007

158 More Photos | Flash Slideshow

Those interested in modeling for outdoor/indoor portraits or compositions, portfolio or any photo project should definitely contact Guillaume.

by Hoc Poeng on August 24th, 2007

135 More Photos | Flash Slideshow

by Hoc Poeng on August 18th, 2007

Wings of Defeat (entitled “TOKKO” in Japan) is currently in theatrical release in Japan nationwide.

The Filmmaker: Risa Morimoto produced the feature film, The LaMastas in 1998. Since then she has produced, written and directed for film and television. Risa produced the award-winning program Cinema AZN, a half-hour show on Asian film. President of Edgewood Pictures Inc., a motion picture production company, Risa graduated with a Masters in film and education from New York University in 1999. Risa served as Executive Director of Asian CineVision, a non-profit media arts organization from 2002-2006. A second-generation Japanese American, Risa studied at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

The Movie: Internationally, Kamikaze pilots remain a potent metaphor for fanaticism. In Japan, they are largely revered for their selfless sacrifice. Yet few outside Japan know that hundreds of kamikaze pilots survived the war. By the spring of 1945, when all Japanese planes were reassigned to kamikaze (Tokkotai) attacks, Japan could no longer defend its airspace and its naval fleet was demolished. Old airplanes and inadequate training resulted in many failed engines, leaving scores of pilots stranded. When Japan surrendered, hundreds of kamikaze trainees were awaiting sortie orders that never arrived.

Through rare interviews with surviving kamikaze pilots, we learn that the military demanded pilots volunteer to give up their lives. Retracing their journeys from teenagers to doomed pilots, a complex history of brutal training and ambivalent sacrifice is revealed. As U.S. firebombs incinerated its major cities and the country ran out of weapons and fuel, Japan’s military government refused to accept the reality that it could no longer fight. Instead they sent thousands of pilots off to targets nearly impossible to reach. Sixty years later, survivors in their eighties tell us about their training, their mindsets, their experiences in a kamikaze cockpit and what it meant to survive when thousands of their fellow pilots had died. Their stories insist we set aside our preconceptions to relive their all too human experiences with them. Ultimately, they help us question what responsibilities a government at war has to its soldiers and to its people.

Website: www.edgewoodpictures.com/wingsofdefeat

Producer: Risa Morimoto (IMDB) / Linda Hoaglund (IMDB)

Director: Risa Morimoto

Writer: Linda Hoaglund

What’s needed: Funding for post-production, rights
clearances. Volunteers to help with outreach, web master.

Recent Buzz: New York Times , Reuters, Japan Times, Variety.com,
Screen Daily

Contact:
Edgewood Pictures, Inc.
morimoto’@'edgewoodpictures.com

by Hoc Poeng on August 17th, 2007

The Filmmaker: Kimi Takesue is an award-winning filmmaker and the recipient of the prestigious 2005 national Guggenheim Fellowship in Filmmaking. Her films E=NYC2 (2005), SUMMER OF THE SERPENT (2004), HEAVEN’S CROSSROAD (2002), ROSEWATER (1999), and BOUND (1995) have screened at over 200 film festivals and museums internationally, including the Locarno International Film Festival, Rotterdam International, Vancouver International, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, the Walker Art Center and the Smithsonian. Takesue’s films have aired nationally on PBS, the Independent Film Channel, and the Sundance Channel.

Takesue’s directorial work has received support through filmmaking fellowships and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, New York State Foundation for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, The Arts Council of England, the National Asian American Telecommunications Association, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony among many others. Her films have received numerous honors including the SPIRIT OF SLAMDANCE AWARD, Slamdance Film Festival; BEST DOCUMENTARY, Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema; GRAND JURY PRIZE, Brooklyn Internat‘l Film Festival; JURORS’ CHOICE AWARD, Black Maria Film & Video Festival; GOLD MEDAL & GRAND JURY PRIZE; Brno International Film Festival, Czech Republic; BEST NARRATIVE SHORT, San Diego Asian Film Festival; and the GOLDEN REEL: NEW VISIONS AWARD, Los Angeles Asian International, among others.

Takesue has produced and directed commercials as well as television programming for A&E Network and PBS. She has been a visiting filmmaker at Yale University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Minnesota, University of California-Irvine, University of Texas-San Antonio, and Amherst College, among others.

Raised in Hawai’i and Massachusetts, Takesue received her B.A. from Oberlin College and her M.F.A from Temple University. Her films are distributed by Women Make Movies.

The Movie: A grief-stricken Japanese ice-carver mourning the death of his only child makes an unexpected connection with a struggling cabaret singer in New York City. Together they are able to face their painful pasts and rediscover their passion for life and beauty.

Producer: Vox3 Films: Andrew Fierberg (IMDB), Steven Shainberg (IMDB), Christina Weiss Lurie (IMDB), Jenny Schweitzer (IMDB)

Director: Kimi Takesue (IMDB)

Writers: Kimi Takesue

Lead Cast:

Maria Bello (IMDB) 2-time Golden Globe nominee: A History of Violence, The Cooler, Thank you for Smoking, World Trade Center, upcoming in The Mummy 3

Etsushi Toyokawa (IMDB) 2-time Japanese Academy Award Winner and 4-time Japanese Academy Award nominee: Love Letter, Ai no Rukeichi, No Way Back, Inochi, Year One in the North

Mark Webber (IMDB) The Hottest State, Broken Flowers, The Laramie Project, Storytelling

What’s needed: Seeking private equity investors looking to invest in a high profile independent film with name attachments.

Contact:
Jenny Schweitzer
Vox3 Films
jlschweitzer’@'earthlink.net

by Hoc Poeng on August 17th, 2007

The Filmmaker: Pooja Kumar plays the main character in 1001 Auditions and is also the producer of the film. Born in St. Louis, Missouri she gave her first dance performance at the age of 1 at the India Night function. After winning Miss India U.S.A., she was selected by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation and went to Mumbai, India, wherein she hosted the Miss World Pageant in Bangalore and acted in a feature film: “Kaadhal Rojave.” During her brief stay, she worked for Channel V and hosted numerous TV programs. She came back to the U.S. to complete her bachelors from Washington University of St. Louis. She then moved to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and attended various acting workshops. Since then she has acted in feature films such as: “Flavors”, “Night of Henna”, “Hiding Divya”, “Park Shark Chronicles”, and “Knots Urbane.” Her role in “Flavors” earned her the Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award and her performance in “Night of Henna” was widely appreciated by critic A. O. Scott from the NY Times. She has been in major ad campaigns for Pepsi, Budweiser, AOL, Verizon, Bombay Dreams, Pearl Vision, and Dodge.

The Movie: After years of ups and downs, countless auditions and struggling to make it happen in New York, Meera realizes her true karma.

Website : www.1001auditions.com

Producer: Pooja Kumar (IMDB)

Director: Arun Singh (IMDB)

Writers: Arun Singh

Lead Cast: Pooja Kumar

Contact:
info’@'1001auditions.com

by Hoc Poeng on August 17th, 2007

Francisco Aliwalas is a Manhattan based filmmaker. His documentaries, series, and promos have aired on MTV, Discovery Asia, and AZN. For the Travel Channel series, 5 TAKES, he has been the Director, Videographer, and Series Producer for three seasons. Francisco has made web content for Current TV, Google Travel, Ford Models, Aviation Week, General Electric, and Dress for Success.

Two of his latest documentaries, as Videograpger, have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Hot Docs in Toronto. Recently, he won Best Picture, Director, and Editor at MTV World’s 72 Hour Short Film Shoot-Out and his series for Conde Naste’s Concierge.com titled “24 Hours in…” won Best Online Video Series as voted by Magazine Publishers of America.

Website : www.franfilm.com

Company: Fran Films

Owners: Francisco Aliwalas (IMDB)

Location: New York, NY

Recent Buzz: Francisco’s pilot, THE HAPPY HOUR, has been selected in the upcoming New York Television Festival.

Contact: franciscoaliwalas’@'yahoo.com, franfilm’@'gmail.com

by Hoc Poeng on August 16th, 2007

Tana Sarntinoranont has produced several short films including “No Regrets” and “Blackout”, finalists of the 2004 and 2005 Asian American Film Lab 72 Hour Shoot Out Competition hosted by Asian Cinevision and MTV world. He co-wrote and co-produced the short film “BLUSH”, his first professional collaboration under Creamery Productions, a production company dedicated to telling the Asian American story through film. Sarntinoranont is now working on his feature length project planned for Mid-2008.

Sarntinoranont aspires to create films that are not only entertaining but relatable and truthful. He strives to make each film a unique experience that his viewers will be able to take away something.

Sarntinoranont not only has film production experience, but also stage which he derived from the past 3 years as an actor in New York City.

In addition to acting and producing, Sarntinoranont is currently President of the Asian American Film Lab, Executive Producer for Creamery Productions and a member of the Independent Feature Project, SAG and AFTRA.