The Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF), which runs through Sunday, last night kicked off a weekend's worth of film screenings, performances and workshops that highlight the Asian-American experience and feature Asian-American filmmakers.
The BAAFF presents 14 films ranging from "AOKI" (2009), a documentary chronicling the life of Richard Aoki, a Japanese−American founder of the Black Panther Party, to "The People I've Slept With" (2009), a comedy about a young woman's love of sex and her quest to find her baby's father.
Events also include a workshop with Bee Vang, the lead actor in Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" (2008). The workshop, called Race, Acting, Sexuality, and Asian American Masculinities, will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Wolff Auditorium at Tufts Medical Center. Panels featuring film talent will also be held after many of the screenings.
Festival coordinator and Tufts alumna Janice Wong (LA ‘09) encouraged Tufts students to check out the festival.
"We have a diverse collection of films, from full length features to shorts — there is a genre for everyone. … After graduation, it is inspiring to find a committed group of Tufts alums who are still deeply dedicated to one of Tufts' host communities — Boston's Chinatown — but also the greater Asian-American community," Wong said.
"We truly believe that the film festival provides a great medium for both the Asian-American community and the greater Boston community to come together and support Asian Americans engaged in the arts," she said.
The BAAFF is presented by the Asian American Resource Workshop, a community organization that works for the empowerment of Asian Pacific Americans. Both the film festival coordinator, Wong, and the festival chair, Susan Chinsen (LA ‘98), are Tufts alumnae.
The BAAFF will be held at five different venues, including the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square and Paramount Theater in Boston. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for students. A complete listing of the film schedule as well as film descriptions can be found at baaff.org.
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