Pacific Arts Movement (PacArts) is presenting its 7th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase from April 20 to April 27, 2017. This year’s showcase will be PacArt’s largest Spring Showcase yet, screening over 20 films from 10 countries over the eight-day festival at UltraStar Mission Valley…
Valerie Soe, a former Pacific Ties editor-in-chief (1981) and currently an associate professor at San Francisco State University, is an award-winning filmmaker. Most of her works are shorts, focusing on one social theme such as dismissing the stereotype of all Asians looking the same in her short All Orientals look the same. Soe will be filming and conducting interviews in Taiwan for her full-length documentary Love Boat: Taiwan this summer.
The documentary, directed by Salima Koroma and produced by Jaeki Cho, follows four rappers, Dumbfoundead, Awkwafina, Rekstizzy, and Lyricks, as they try to break into the hip-hop world.
Advertised as “shock therapy entertainment” in the trailer, “The World of Kanako” is certainly not a film for the faint of heart (or stomach for the matter). This film can best be described as a darker version of the “Taken” storyline with Tarantino’s over-the-top violence. Yet, if one can look past the spurting fountains of blood and disturbing use of household appliances, the story itself takes viewers on an intriguing exploration of the human psyche.