Category Archives: movies

Help fund Yes, We’re Open film

channelAPA.com told you about the film “Yes, We’re Open” a few months back. The fourth feature film collaboration between director Richard Wong and writer H.P. Mendoza, “YES, WE’RE OPEN” was filmed on an ultra microbudget over 16 days in the San Francisco Bay Area. The script has a refreshing fun take on love, sex, and weird food. Here’s more about the film:

LUKE (Parry Shen) and SYLVIA (Lynn Chen) are the very models of modern individuals in a metropolitan relationship. Enter ELENA (Sheetal Sheth)and RONALD, the free spirited polyamorous couple who are hellbent on getting LUKE and SYLVIA into bed. A fun slice of liberal San Francisco life told as a sex comedy, but much more sophisticated than a bedroom farce, YES, WE’RE OPEN throws our unlikely heroes Luke and Sylvia into a hotbed of sex, jealousy, politics, sexual jealousy, sexual politics, sex and sex. And if they all play their cards right, there might even be some sex somewhere along the way.

Learn more about how you can support the film here.

Yes, We’re Open teaser

Help fund nightdreamblues

Leave a reply

Help fund nightdreamblues

A new film “nightdreamblues” is in the works from the people that backed The People I’ve Slept With. The movie follows three childhood friends who reunite for an impromptu birthday celebration. Here’s a synopsis:

An explosive, richly nuanced drama about the struggle to keep our eyes open when we lose our way, this contemporary feature-length film centers on one summer night in Los Angeles and examines the strained relationship between three high school friends, now in their 30s, whose lives have turned out to be nothing like they had imagined.

How do they reconcile the reality of their lives with the burden of their dreams?

This thrilling story begins with high stakes, when life hangs in the balance, with a fateful event that ultimately pulls three old friends back together. Soon, their reunion crashes them into the paths of three entertaining strangers, each a colorful mixture of unbridled enthusiasm for life and a unique perspective of the world around them.

But as the dark and knowing night goes, so go their guards and expectations.

À la great, classic ensemble motion pictures like, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, ANNIVERSARY PARTY, LESS THAN ZERO, ST. ELMO’S FIRE, GARDEN STATE, BEAUTIFUL GIRLS and THE BIG CHILL, this feature film bears the impressive ingredients for an unforgettable movie experience, with an urgent heart, a reckless sense of humor, a vibrant and moving soundtrack, and certainly a clear thirst for redemption and meaning in an uncertain world.

This film is written by West Liang and directed by Nadine Truong. Learn how you can help get this movie made here. Principal Photography begins in September 2011 with release date slated for September 2012.

nightdreamblues teaser

I Don’t Know How She Does It trailer with Olivia Munn

Leave a reply

I Don't Know How She Does It trailer with Olivia Munn

We haven’t heard too much from actress Olivia Munn since her show Perfect Couples went off the air. (See Olivia Munn and her Tiger Mom.) But for Olivia Munn fans, she’ll be in theaters soon with the film “I Don’t Know How She Does It”. Here’s more about the film:

Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn and Christina Hendricks star in I Don’t Know How She Does It, a comedy from director Douglas McGrath (Emma, Infamous) and producer Donna Gigliotti (The Reader, Let Me In). Based on the critically acclaimed bestseller by Allison Pearson, I Don’t Know How She Does It follows a Boston-based working mother trying desperately to juggle marriage, children, and a high-stress job.

Kate Reddy (Parker) devotes her days to her job with a Boston-based financial management firm. At night she goes home to her adoring, recently-downsized architect husband Richard (Kinnear) and their two young children. It’s a non-stop balancing act, the same one that Kate’s acerbic best friend and fellow working mother Allison (Christina Hendricks) performs on a daily basis, and that Kate’s super-brainy, child-phobic young junior associate Momo (Olivia Munn) fully intends to avoid. When Kate gets handed a major new account that will require frequent trips to New York, Richard also wins the new job he’s been hoping for—and both will be spreading themselves even thinner. Complicating matters is Kate’s charming new business associate Jack Abelhammer (Brosnan), who begins to prove an unexpected source of temptation.

“I Don’t Know How She Does It” hits theaters on September 16, 2011.

I Don’t Know How She Does It trailer with Olivia Munn

Glee 3D concert movie trailer

Leave a reply

The Glee 3D concert movie is coming out August 12, 2011 with a limited run for two weeks. The multi-generational phenomenon that has inspired millions to embrace their inner-Gleek will soon bring them together to experience Glee a whole new way. Your favorite Asian American Glee cast will be in it including Darren Criss, Harry Shum, Jr, and Jenna Ushkowitz. We even spotted the Asian mini Warbler (Kellen Mirador Sarmiento) in one of the promos. This will be an epic concert movie for all Glee fans. Sorry, no Charice as Sunshine Corazon as far as we know.

BTW – the film is directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who is the same guy behind Mortal Kombat Legacy.

Glee 3D movie trailer

Asian Mini Warbler at the 13 second mark in Sue Sylvester promo

Glee 3D Movie: On the Road with Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss)

Glee 3D Movie: On the Road with Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang)

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey trailer

Leave a reply

Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey trailer

Director Ramona Diaz is working on an upcoming film about Arnel Pineda, the new lead singer of Journey. It is an aspirational, rags-to-riches story set against the backdrop of some of the most anthemic songs of recent rock n’ roll history.

Halfway around the world, Journey, the iconic, quintessentially American rock band who recorded eight platinum-certified during their heyday between 1978 and 1986, chose a lead singer in a manner befitting this digital age: They found him on YouTube.

Filipino Arnel Pineda sang Journey songs for many years with his cover band Zoo in clubs all over Manila, his hometown, and posting their performances on YouTube. Arnel grew up in poverty; his mother died when he was 12 years old and he ended up on the streets. Neal Schon, Journey’s legendary guitarist, was half a world away in Northern California. He was frustrated about not having found a lead singer. Since the band’s most famous and distinctive frontman Steve Perry—whose power ballads catapulted the band to super stardom, filling stadiums all over the country — exited the band in the 90’s, it had been a revolving door for Journey vocalists. After literally singing for his US visa and a couple of live auditions and recording sessions later, Arnel was offered the gig as Journey’s frontman.

As the mainstream took notice, Journey found itself in a media frenzy. Is it the beginning of Journey’s second act? Meanwhile, there’s “an undercurrent of racism among some Journey fans.” “It’s both a blessing and a curse” says Arnel, “because up there on the stage I’ll be facing a lot of hard core Journey fans who will be comparing me to “the voice,” Steve Perry. Not only am I not Perry, I’m not even white. But it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll take that hit head on.” In this age of globalization, how will a non-white foreigner fronting a classic American band change the very nature of the group and possibly expand its fan base? How will he successfully sell songs about being “born and raised in South Detroit”? How long will this dream last and can he live up to expectations? As the band tries to navigate the difficult task of preserving a legacy and moving on with their new “Thrilla of Manila” at the same time, can they turn this media moment into something more than just a footnote in their thirty-year career?

Look for this documentary coming soon.

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey trailer

Resident Aliens trailer

Leave a reply

Resident Aliens trailer

In 2002, the United States began deporting former Cambodian refugees with criminal offenses, even those who had arrived as children or infants following the Cambodian genocide. The documentary “Resident Aliens” follows three Cambodian American outcasts forced to resettle in the unforgiving city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the land of their birth. It’s a story of finding your way in an unfamiliar world.

KK, China and Looney – all former gang members and ex-cons – are Cambodian refugees whose families survived a genocide that wiped out nearly a fifth of the country’s population. (See Enemies of the People). They grew up in the United States but were deported along with hundreds of others – after felony convictions – to a country they hardly knew.

With few skills, little money and no family to fall back on, they face new obstacles as they follow different paths towards reconciliation and redemption. While China and Looney erect emotional walls to keep the world at bay, KK, through breakdancing, takes on the challenge of helping kids in even more desperate circumstances than him.

The documentary makes its premiere on the East Coast during the 2011 NY Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

Resident Aliens trailer