August 11th: Slant Film Festival 2011

Monday, August 01, 2011



I'm wanting to see Asian American Jesus myself.

Aurora Picture Show Announces
11th Annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images Festival


Houston's Asian American film festival, Slant: Bold Asian American Images, returns for the 11th year with an eclectic lineup that represent the best new works by Asian American filmmakers. From a mockumentary that follows a self-important spoken word artist to a sci-fi tale featuring a malfunctioning android, the five short films selected for Slant tell diverse stories. Slant will screen for one night only on Thursday, August 11 at 7:30PM at River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray. Curator Melissa Hung and filmmaker Soham Mehtawill be in attendance.

Works include Fatakra by New York-based, Houston-bred Soham Mehta, winner of a 2011 Student Academy Award. The film, about an immigrant family reuniting after years apart, screened earlier this year at South By Southwest (SXSW). Jaime Lo, small and shy, a charming animation by Toronto-based Lillian Chan, also tells a similar story about a family where one parent works abroad, but from a child's point of view.

J.P. Chan's Digital Antiquities and Tanuj Chopra's PIA are both science fiction films set in the future, but their characters are searching for the past. The program closes with Asian American Jesus, directed by Yasmine Gomez and featuring performer Samantha Chanse as six different characters in a hilarious mockumentary exploring post-racial art and excuses for bad poetry.

Slant was established in 2001 by Melissa Hung, the founding editor of Hyphen, a magazine about Asian American culture. In presenting this festival, Aurora Picture Show participates in exploring the power of moving images in crafting identity and community.

SELECTED FILMS:

Jaime Lo, small and shy by Lillian Chan
Jaime Lo, a shy Chinese Canadian girl, observes the world around her through her drawings. When Jaime's father is sent to Hong Kong for a year-long work assignment, Jaime must use her creativity to cope with his absence.

Fatakra by Soham Mehta
Naveen left India to chase his dreams in America. Three years and a recession later, his wife and son join him. Sparks fly as a family reunites.

PIA by Tanuj Chopra
In San Francisco, in the year 2063, much of human labor has been replaced with service androids called PIAs. One night, a mysterious and malfunctioning PIA appears at Syama Raval's front door.

Digital Antiquities by J.P. Chan
In the year 2036, a woman in an antique electronics shop meets a desperate young man seeking to recover data from an old CD.

Asian American Jesus by Yasmine Gomez
In this mockumentary, performer Samantha Chanse plays six different characters including Truth is Real, a self-professed 'mad scientist of the spoken word,' and the subject of college freshman Suzette Law's final project for her ethnic studies class.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Melissa Hung is the creator of Slant and the founding editor of Hyphen, a magazine about Asian American culture. She occasionally writes food reviews in haiku at NomNomNomHaiku.com and even more occasionally makes films ¾ her animation Bulldozer has screened nationwide. A native Texan, she now lives in San Francisco, where she directs a creative writing program for youth. Follow her adventures at fluffysharp.com.

WHERE AND WHEN

The 11th Annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images Festival
Thursday, August 11, 7:30 PM
Location: River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray

TICKET INFO

Tickets to the 11th Annual Slant Festival are $10 for non-members and free for Aurora Picture Show members. For tickets and information, visit www.aurorapictureshow.org or call 713-868-2101.

About Aurora Picture Show:

Founded in 1998, Aurora Picture Show is a non-profit micro-cinema that presents artist-made, non-commercial film and video. We are dedicated to expanding the cinematic experience and promoting the understanding and appreciation of moving image art. Aurora's human scale promotes a meaningful and community-oriented exchange between artists and audiences, and strives to not only be a launching pad for emerging artists but to create not-to-be-missed events for Houston.

Aurora Picture Show is funded by its stellar membership, Houston Endowment, Inc, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Brown Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, the Alice Kleberg Reynolds, Susan Vaughan Foundation, Kinder Morgan Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts. Aurora Picture Show is a proud member of Fresh Arts Coalition www.fresharts.org.