APRIL 2012 – Screen Busy Business!
What a busy month April was and how exciting May looks so far!
This includes Colour Film Festival director Gary Paramanathan interviewing AAFFN’s Dr Indigo Willing, who co-convenes with Amadeo Marquez-Perez on why diversity on the screen is a beautiful thing!
Others in the Colour Film Festival interviews include Shinen Wong, a Malaysian, Buddhist, Queer and Melbournian artist, Aisha Kamara, an actor and filmmaker and more.
Visit Colour FF on FB to check out all the series!
Other news:
The world premiere of Colin the Dog’s Fabulous Midnight Adventure will be on Saturday 26 May at 9pm at The Astor Theatre in Melbourne. Writer: Julie Koh; Producer Jiao Chen.
Corrie Chen is a finalist for the QANTAS Spirit of Youth award. Make sure you cast a vote!
Well done to Kitchen Ninja Andy Minh Trieu who has been in numerous projects this month including making the finals of CLEO Bachelor of the Year!
Deadside, an Australian online web series with multicultural cast including Andy Minh Trieu, and with event photography on their FB page by Quan Tran, is now available for free online.
The Newtown Girls, also a web series featuring Renee Lim and Khanh Trieu amongst others, is available online to check out.
Agony Uncles featuring Lawrence Leung, Sam Pang and more made a debut.
Nammi Le features in a film that had a mini preview in Sydney April 3 – to read more visit “Careless Love” (directed by John Duigan) – the story of Linh, a Vietnamese-Australian.
In Sydney Maria Tran’s BREADSHOP screened at the Multicultural Arts Forum.
All up a very busy month for Asian Australians on and behind the screen! We can’t wait to see what will go on in May! Got news to share? Visit our own AAFFN FB page and let us know what you’re up to.
MARCH 2012: Online launch of special PERIL issue on Asian Australian Film Forum & Network (AAFFN)!
Today is the online launch of special PERIL issue on the Asian Australian Film Forum & Network (AAFFN)!
Please check out the link below to read and share stories on Asian Australian screen scene: http://www.peril.com.au/category/2012
Special thank you to the PERIL Team and especially issue editor Lian Low plus Tseen Khoo, Owen Leong, Hoa Pham and everyone who worked with AAFFN, including our inaugural event volunteers including Matt Pastor, Jacqueline Erasmus, Carlos & Nuria Marquez-Perez, speakers, filmmakers, advisory committee, the AASRN, our chief sponsor, as well as SBS, Madman, Village, Titan View, CAE, KOFFIA, Gung Ho Productions, and more all listed here.
Best wishes,
Indigo Willing & Amadeo Marquez-Perez
AAFFN co-conveners Asian Australian Film Forum & Network (AAFFN)
Website: http://www.asianaustralianfilmforum Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AsianAustralianFilmForum Twitter at: @AAFFN
February 2012: Diversity in Film and TV Becomes a Hot Topic in the Media
The importance of seeing diversity on the screen became a super ‘hot topic’ this month! The main themes – which the AAFFN thoroughly supports – is that actors, filmmakers and audiences are more than ready, and really keen to see faces and stories on the screen that reflect their everyday diverse and multicultural society, including from Indigenous, Asian Australian and a range of other ethnic backgrounds that make up the multiple storytelling heritages and rich talent that reflects the real Australia.
Most recently, The Australian (27 February) published the Opinion piece, ‘Commercial TV Drama Blind to Casting White out Reality’ written by Annette Shun Wah of Performance 4a, a pioneering actor, director and producer, who we were also most fortunate to have as the keynote speaker at the AAFFN’s inaugural event in 2011 and as a current AAFFN Special Advisory Group member. Shun Wah writes, “While no significant quantitative research into TV diversity has been conducted since 1999, the perception that our commercial small screen drama lacks cultural diversity remains strong.” She discusses the limited roles actors like those of Asian Australian backgrounds can get, such as being only cast as waitresses, gangster ‘molls’ or gang members while a range of roles go to Anglo actors. Rather than stereotyping, she reminds us, “A policy of “colourblind” casting has been advocated by the MEAA union for decades, but to limited effect”. She concludes, “Let’s give the viewers their due. We would all love to see characters who look like ‘us’, whose dramatic lives resonate with ours, so that we can truly engage with them.”
Also this month, actor Firass Dirani, star in Neighbours and Packed to the Rafters, called for commercial producers in TV to an end a type of ‘White Australia policy’ he believes occurs in local Australian casting trends (Daily Telegraph 15 February). Praised for bringing more diversity were shows such as East Meets West 101, The Straights, The Slap and Offspring.
Dirani’s interview article was joined quickly after by another article about diversity on the screen, with an interview with Jay Laga’aia (Daily Telegraph 16 February), a popular actor in the ABC Play School children’s television, who was also in Home and Away but had his contract ended. The actor expressed strong concerns that mainstream Australian television needs to be much more supportive of diversity on its screens. Laga’aia also stated on Twitter that he was “…someone who lost his job on H&A because they couldn’t write two ethnics that weren’t together, I’d like a chance to ply my trade freely.”
The importance of casting more diversely in Australia has also generated news stories offshore, including an article in BBC Online featuring Sachin Joab, who plays Ajay Kapoor, a member of the first ever South Asian family to move into Neighbours’ Ramsay Street (BBC Asia Network, 2 February 2012).
Film scholars have also come out to support these actors concerns, as seen in an article by Dr Melissa Phillips at the University of Melbourne about ‘All-White television’ programming failing to reflect Australia’s diversity (National Times on 21 February), and by Brisbane based research fellow Dr Sukhmani Khorana from The University of Queensland who highlighted similar themes in radio interviews for Radio National (Radio National 17 February) and Radio 2SER (2SER 19 February).
Furthermore, journalist Peta-Jane ‘PJ’ Madam of SBS News, who we were also fortunate to feature as a speaker at the AAFFN’s inaugural event in 2011 and who is currently an AAFFN advisory group member, produced a short story for SBS Television on the difficulties Asian Australian actors can face in getting roles in mainstream programs (SBS, 21 February). The story featured three speakers from the AAFFN’s inaugural event panels: Peta-Jane Madam (TV journalist), Joy Hopwood (actor) and Joyce Yuen (agent).
The voices of more Asian Australians will also soon feature in a special issue of Peril Magazine on the AAFFN – to be launched 10 March so keep an eye out here for updates! The issue features the event’s opening address by the AAFFN keynote speaker Annette Shun Wah (Eat Carpet, The Noise, This Floating Life & current President of Performance 4a), as well as a mix of ‘vox pop’ and feature interviews with panel speakers such as Peta-Jane Madam (SBS News), Maria Tran (director, actor, researcher on Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta and director of Downtown Rumble 6 part series on ABC1, and Quest for Jackie Chan, upcoming feature), Andy Minh Trieu (actor), Joy Hopwood (actor, Joyhouse Productions), Alfredo Nicdao (actor) & Min Tran (director) – by Tseen Khoo, Pearl Tan (Pearly Productions), Jiao Chen (Staple Fiction), Heng Tang (director) – by Owen Leong, Sky Crompton (director), Yu Ye Wu (arts, 4A Centre for Arts & ICE), Somchay Phakonkham (director, actor), David Cuong Nguyen and Hoang Tran Nguyen (Footscray by Night), Quan Tran (director, photographer), Jack Ngu (actor, director) and more, plus reflections from the AAFFN co-conveners (Amadeo Marquez-Perez and Dr Indigo Willing) and overview from Peril by Editor & Chief interviewer Lian Low.
More diversity in film and TV means a healthier, more inclusive and vibrant screen scene for everyone and future generations to follow!
Happy New Year of the Dragon (soon…) & Hello from Sydney!
SYDNEY:
Wishing all our members, followers and supporters a great new year for 2012 and soon for the Lunar New Year of the Mighty Dragon!
It’s fitting that our very first event for the year on 5 January 2012 was at the dragon gates of Sydney’s Chinatown, where the AAFFN held a casual catch up with a number of our Sydney based speakers from our inaugural event last year, plus a few new faces. The meeting was attended by Asian Australian actors, producers, directors, a photographer/composer, academics and a theatre artist/documentary maker. A special highlight for all was seeing Annette Shun Wah, our keynote speaker from the AAFF2011, who reminded everyone to make use of the Performance 4A Asian Australian performance directory. It’s free and has resulted in a number of gigs for folks. Additional thanks to the wonderful Yu Ye Wu, arts worker at ICE and 4A Art Centre, who suggested we all try out the new ‘MEET FRESH’ dessert bar for discussions about acting, directing, funding, studies and various ambitions for the year ahead. Additional thanks to Michael ‘Tokyo Love In’ Chin for photographing (with his enviously lovely Leica camera) our meet up – pictures posted on our FB Album here.
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Pictured above – Fresh 2012 new year meet up with Yu Ye Wu (ICE and 4A Art Centre), Mike ‘Tokyo Love In’ (Plum Jungle), Max Brown (Actor), Indigo Willing (AAFFN co-founder, UQ academic & community facilitator), Joy Hopwood (Joy House Productions), Pearl Tan (Pearly Productions), Annette Shun Wah (Performance 4a), Hee Ra Heaser (UNSW) and Dominic Golding (Theatre, Monash). Also at gathering: Karen S. (Scholar) and Jiao Chen (Staple Fiction). Pic by Karen. Sending apologies: Amadeo Marquez-Perez (AAFFN Co-Founder & Bayside FF), Francis Maravillas, Quan Tran, Maria Tran, PJ Madam and Julie Koh + AASRN’s Tseen Khoo.
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Other Sydney news to start of a vibrant year was the screening of WONDER BOY’s director Corrie Chen’s latest short, Bruce Lee Played Badminton Too which featured in the Australian program 2 on 6th of January at Bondi Pavilion. Fans can now vote online, also giving the voter a chance to win $100.
Beginning 8 January was SBS’s new 3 part documentary ‘Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta‘ (screening now, 2nd part shown next Sunday 15th). Researchers on the program included Maria Tran (also see Brisbane below for other news).
BRISBANE
AAFFN co-founder Indigo Willing has been attending meetings and in contact with film folks post-November event via online, but also hoping to find some Brisbane locals.
A quick shout out to a couple of great dinner guests, Maria Tran (visiting from Sydney) and Sukhmani Khorana who joined Indigo Willing for dinner 4 December in South Bank last month for a catch up on their various projects.
Maria Tran, director, writer and actor, is currently working on the feature film ‘Quest for Jackie Chan‘, due 2012, and was a researcher on SBS’s 3 part documentary ‘Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta‘ (screening now, 2nd part shown next Sunday 15th).
Sukhmani Khorana is a Brisbane based academic & documentary filmmaker, who recently presented at the Asian Australian Identities conference that was affiliated with our inaugural Film Forum event in Melbourne, and is the author of Ethnic Diversity on Australian Television published in Kill Your Darlings literary journal. You can also view her doc. on vimeo below.
Additional thanks to Michele Thistlewaite-Di Lauro, lecturer at Griffith Film School, for providing a tour on 9 December of the school’s sound stage, cinema and labs to discuss future possibilities for potential workshops and screenings for Asian Australian filmmakers and community members interested in storytelling.
MELBOURNE
AAFFN co-founder Amadeo Marquez-Perez has been traveling, including for work doing video-making workshops with various communities in rural and regional areas, and city-side and online has also been in contact with local film folks post-November event.
Peril Magazine prose editor Lian Low, based in Melbourne, has been busily overseeing an upcoming special issue on Asian Australian film, featuring a number of AAFFN speakers, filmmakers and guests, produced in collaboration with the AAFFN co-founders and the Peril writing team. Almost all the articles have been collected and a launch date will be announced soon. Contributors include Annette Shun Wah, Min Tran, Maria Tran, Jiao Chen, Andy Minh Trieu, Kieran Tully, PJ Madam, Joy Hopwood, Pearl Tan, Yu Ye Wu, Alfredo Nicdao and many more…
A quick shout out to Melbourne locals Somchay Phakonkham who has been busy working on his next film ‘The Boat’, Min Tran who is working on his next horror movie ‘The Hospital’, Chris Pang who you will soon see in ‘Quest For Jackie Chan’ amongst other projects, the ‘Footscray by Night‘ team (Hoang Tran Nguyen, Community Artist: David Cuong Nguyen, Emerging Filmmaker: Tinny Tang, Choreographer: Demi Sorono, M.C.: Bruce Vu, and Bin Le) for their successful community event, and everyone else based there who we’ve worked in various capacities.
Footscray by Night
Asian Australian Film Forum & Network Shout Outs Video now online
Asian Australian actors, directors, writers, producers, scholars and community members share their creative visions, experiences, advice and talk about why it’s important to have Asian Australians active on and behind the screen. Created and edited by Maria Tran, screened at the Asian Australian Film Forum & Network inaugural event November 2011. The AAFFN team wish to thank Maria and all the contributors for sharing their perspectives and insights for present and future generations. More AAFFN events in 2012 coming your way nationally!
Duration Approx 14mins
Join us at Asian Australian Film Forum & Network (AAFFN) asianaustralianfilmforum.com
Facebook at: facebook.com/AsianAustralianFilmForum
Twitter at: twitter.com/AAFFN
Email: contactAAFF@gmail.com
Duration Approx 14mins
Featuring (in order of appearance):-
Andy Trieu, Actor - vimeo.com/13541156
Ralph Lim, V-logger
Joy Hopwood, Actor, Writer, Presenter – joy.net.au/
Sky Crompton, Writer, Director, Producer - youtube.com/watch?v=rU2nFPAR164
Maria Tran, Actor, Filmmaker, Trainer – mariatran.com.au/
Somchay Phakonkham, Fimmaker - reinvent-films.com/index.html
Thai Phuong, Actor - imdb.com/name/nm3341026/
Steve Nguyen*, Channel APA, USA – channelapa.com
Renee Lim, Actor - imdb.com/name/nm1813111/
Chris Pang, Actor – christopherpang.com/
Kathy Nguyen, Actor - motherfish.com.au/cast/
Shaun Chang, Filmmaker
Quan Tran, Filmmaker – facebook.com/dragonvisionproductions
Pearl Tan, Actor, Filmmaker - pearlyproductions.com/
Heng Tang, Director - imdb.com/name/nm0849289/
Jack Ngu, Filmmaker, Actor - youtube.com/watch?v=F7MYaIeIRHA
Tamara Guo, Actor, Stunts, Singer - tamaraguo.com/
Hai Ha Le, Actor - vimeo.com/26755815
Dominic Golding, Theatre Artist, Doco Maker - youtube.com/user/mytho2006
Jiao Chen, Filmmaker - staplefiction.com/
Jen Thym, Director, Writer, Producer - vimeo.com/rockginger
Indigo Willing, Academic, Community Engagement, AAFFN co-chair with Amadeo Marquez-Perez - indigowilling.com
*Asian American supporter of Asian Australian peers
Thank you to everyone involved with the AAFF 2011 + AASRN and SBS & other supporters
End of year lunch – the Asian Australian Studies Research Network
MELB folks: The Asian Australian Studies Research Network (sponsors of AAFF 2011) warmly invite AAFFN speakers, filmmakers and interested film folk to a meet up with other Asian Australian artists, scholars and community people for an end of year casual lunch (pay your own way): https://www.facebook.com/events/226107964129070/
Check back here and on our Twitter and FB pages for updates on events around Australia.
Website: http://www.asianaustralianfilmforum.com
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AsianAustralianFilmForum
Twitter at: @AAFFN
All enquiries can be sent to the AAFF Email: contactAAFF@gmail.com
Think Tank – ‘Towards An Asia Pacific Screen Laboratory’
On 19 November the AAFFN attended a Think Tank – ‘Towards An Asia Pacific Screen Laboratory’ Griffith University Film School in Brisbane to listen, learn and identify opportunities to promote Asian Australian talent.
Read more about the event at Griffith Film School’s press release here
and you can view some photos on our AAFFN FB page here
Thank you for a great inaugural AAFF, and welcome to AAFFN!
Pic: Keynote speaker Annette Shun Wah
Thank you to our amazing audiences, speakers, filmmakers, staff, volunteers, sponsors and supporters for a great inaugural Asian Australian Film Forum. A real buzz with strong collaborative futures. So much to talk about now the conversation has begun! Look out for a special edition of Peril Magazine on AA film, and much more to come!
We’re evolving to match the community and its amazing vitality and futures, and will keep the AAFF available as an informal network for Asian Australian filmmakers nationally to keep in touch following the event, and our blog will soon evolve with us. We also have a new Twitter name: AAFFN (short for Asian Australian Film Forum and Network).
Our FB and website addresses stay the same.
http://www.asianaustralianfilmforum.com
http://www.facebook.com/AsianAustralianFilmForum
The event was free. You can also see photos from our recent event at Album 1 and Album 2
More news soon!
See you at the AAFF!
Looking forward to seeing everyone who has registered at the AAFF!
Limited no. of seats available on the day for all sessions but MOTHER FISH.
Thank you to all our wonderful speakers, filmmakers, sponsors, volunteers and of course, audiences for supporting the Asian Australian Screen Scene.
We also plan to keep the momentum going well after the event with a special issue on Asian Australian Films inPeril Magazine online due out in January featuring articles by a number of our AAFF line up.
The AAFF will also be handing around a survey on expressions of interest for an Asian Media Centre and much, much more.
Also, remember to keep in touch, including on twitter with the hashtag #AAFF & #AznOzfilms @AAFF2011
Congratulations to our five SBS winners of double passes to MOTHER FISH at AAFF(entries closed Wed 9 Nov 2011)
SBS Film held a competition for special double passes to MOTHERFISH on the AAFF’s closing night. Congratulations to our five winners. You will receive an email and your tickets will be available at the AAFF registration desk.
The MOTHER FISH session is now fully booked.
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO:
You can also win some other great prizes. Visit our Special Offers page to find our more.
Please note early registrations for the AAFF close 2nd November. There are only limited places left. For enquiries you can email: contactaaff@gmail.com
