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The School Newspaper of Urban School of San Francisco

The Urban Legend

The School Newspaper of Urban School of San Francisco

The Urban Legend

Center for Asian American Media showcases Asian film to San Franciscans

A+poster+advertising+CAAMFest
A poster advertising CAAMFest

The Center for Asian American Media’s film, music, and food festival, CAAMFest, concluded on March 28 after 11 days of festivities.

A poster advertising CAAMFest
A poster advertising CAAMFest. Photo from caamfest.org.

According to the CAAMFest website, the festival, formerly known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, has expanded to include musicians and local chefs in “CAAMFest Salons.” The salons are a series of showcases of culinary and musical talents to live festival audiences.

This year featured a variety of musical performances, culinary demonstrations, and media workshops in addition to 100 films. These were presented by 230 filmmakers, artists, musicians, and local chefs from 21 countries to over 20,000 participants.

The heart of CAAMFest continues to be the film festival. Among the films were 21 narrative films, 19 documentaries, and 50 short films. CAAMFest is on the forefront of the Asian film industry with six world premieres, seven U.S. premieres, and 14 San Francisco premieres. “Linsanity,” a documentary about Asian basketball phenomenon Jeremy Lin, was the centerpiece of this year’s festival, showing to a sold-out audience, including director Evan Jackson Leong, the film’s producers, and Jeremy Lin’s parents, former coaches, and teammates.

Another highlight of the CAAMFest film festival was the Asian-LGBT short film festival, Queer Convergence. Queer Convergence played in the historic Castro Theatre to a mixed audience of LGBT and Asian festival participants. The curator of the festival, Munira Lokhandwala, described the program as “a rollercoaster ride of awkwardness, self-discovery, reflection, and humor.” The program featured seven films from the U.S., Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia covering a range of themes with a particular emphasis on adolescence and music. Each film explored the intersection of LGBT and Asian culture. Several artists attended the event and fielded questions from the audience after the program.

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Center for Asian American Media showcases Asian film to San Franciscans