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Asian Americans, Rolling
Silkscreens film festival draws hundreds
By Lisa Scanlon

In his short film Game Boy, director Kevin Choi ’02 explores classic themes: love and infidelity, finding one’s identity, and the confining and liberating aspects of creative work. What makes the independent film different from its mainstream counterparts is that its stars and director are Asian Americans, a rarity in an entertainment industry that typically casts Asians as kung-fu masters or comic sidekicks, not romantic leads. So when Choi, a graduate film student at Columbia University, was invited to screen his film at an MIT festival celebrating Asian-American talent in the independent-film industry, he leapt at the chance.

Game Boy was one of several dozen films shown at the first Silkscreens film festival on campus last September. The two-day festival presented feature-length films, documentaries, student films, and a series of forums where actors, directors, and students could talk about the industry. “We wanted to encourage people who are interested in [film] to explore it and establish connections,” says Jennifer Fang ’05, the festival’s director. Fang estimates that nearly 900 people from the Boston area attended the festival.

The idea for Silkscreens came out of an encounter Fang had with biracial director Eric Byler at an Asian student conference in February. Byler, whose film Charlotte Sometimes was nominated for two 2003 Independent Spirit Awards, talked about how difficult it is for Asian Americans to survive in the film industry and even to get their work shown at festivals. “I didn’t know anything about film festivals,” says Fang, but she started thinking about holding an Asian-American festival at MIT. She mentioned the idea to some friends, and after a few months, she says, “it kind of snowballed.” Students from Harvard University and Emerson College got involved, and soon the festival’s planning committee included more than 25 students.

The committee scoured the websites of other festivals and found more films than it had time to show. The result was a collection of films that were diverse in their subjects and styles. Voices, a documentary made by Jimmy Hsiao, is about the survivors of Taiwan’s February 28th incident in 1947, when thousands of Taiwanese were killed by Nationalist Chinese troops. Another documentary, Dance Floor Diaries, by Si Chen and Todd Linden, explores the strange world of collegiate competitive ballroom dancing. Byler was present for the screening of Charlotte Sometimes, an antiromance about a love triangle that is upset by the addition of a fourth person.

A growing number of Asian Americans are interested in the film industry, says Choi. “There is a sizable community of writers, actors, directors, and producers, but they’re scattered about. And that’s why it’s great to have these Asian film festivals,” he says. “It’s great to feel that I’m part of that community.” But Choi stresses that it’s still rare for an Asian-American filmmaker or actor to find commercial success.

Fang and her fellow committee members hope that by continuing to hold the Silkscreens festival, they’ll provide encouragement and support for the next generation of Asian-American filmmakers and actors. Alumni interested in participating in this fall’s festival should write to silkscreens@mit.edu.