The 2010 Chicago Asian American Showcase gets under way this week. The festival is book-ended by two imaginative comedies. The opening night film is Quentin Lee’s sexy THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH, about a lusty bachelorette’s search for her baby-daddy when a surprise pregnancy threatens to change her party-girl lifestyle. The opening night experience is enhanced by the opening in the Film Center’s gallery/café of the art exhibit “Laura Kina: A Many Splendored Thing” with a free reception. The closing night film, RASPBERRY MAGIC by Leena Pendharkar, is a delightful and timely tale in which a middle school science experiment proves to be key to a family’s survival of the economic downturn.

The selection of new features includes unsettling psychological thrillers STRANGERS by Michael Aki and MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME by Soopum Sohn. Abraham Lim’s GOD IS D_AD is a thoughtful yet wacky road movie, and Patrick Epino’s MR. SADMAN has fun with political satire through the story of a Saddam Hussein impersonator stranded in L.A. Award-winning CHILDREN OF INVENTION enthralls with superb performances by child actors in a story of two kids ingeniously fending for themselves. In honor of the 15th anniversary of Asian American Showcase, two Asian American classics, SHOPPING FOR FANGS and SUNSETS REVISITED, are scheduled for special screenings.

Eight feature-length documentaries range in subject matter from AOKI, a profile of social activist and Black Panther Party founding member Richard Aoki, to LESSONS OF THE BLOOD, an exposé of WWII Japanese chemical warfare, and A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES, a chronicle of the transformation of a Vietnamese American community in the wake of Katrina’s destruction. Three films, GOING HOME, OPERATION BABYLIFT, and WO AI NI MOMMY, explore from many perspectives the issues and repercussions of Asian adoptions in the U.S.

Two shorts programs, “Chicagoans” and “The Young, the Fresh and the New,” highlight developing talent. Chicagobased international jazz star Tatsu Aoki, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumnus, appears with his new band Tokyo Nami on the “Chicagoans” program. Special events include a tribute to performance artist Anida Yoeu Ali, the panel discussion “Byte This: Surviving the Digital Age,” and the music showcase “Declare INDIEpendence.”

For more information and tickets, go here.

Raspberry Magic trailer