By Robin Ianson
It wasn’t that long ago when discussions about Asian cinema revolved around the ubiquitous martial artist in the lead role and just how hilariously bad the dubbed dialogue was. While Asian cinema has become more accepted by the mainstream–evidenced by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s four Oscars–the stereotypes persist. Like an Asian Johnny Appleseed, Calgary Pan Asian Film Festival (CPAFF) organizer Ben Tsui is out to prove there’s more to Asian cinema than meets the eye.
“We’re trying to break the stereotype of what Asian cinema is,” says Tsui. “It’s not all kung fu and gangster films. It’s now these young filmmakers telling personal stories about being globalized and being cross-culturalized.”
Tsui originally served as one of the founding board members for Calgary’s immensely successful International Film Festival before deciding to kickstart the Calgary Pan Asian Cinema Society. The society was created to help promote emerging Asian filmmakers and its main event, the CPAFF, is now in its second year.
“I saw a calling for more exposure for Asian film directors from around the world including Calgary, Canada, North America and then beyond,” Tsui explains. “There needs to be more exposure in Calgary because we don’t normally see Asian filmmakers or films by Asians in Calgary on the big screen. A lot of the multiplexes only show mainstream Hollywood films because it’s dominated by American cinema. However personal stories and little stories are getting out and people are discovering that there are venues and places to show these films.”
Although Calgary’s Asian film festival is still very new in comparison to the more established festivals in Toronto and Vancouver, Tsui didn’t set out to copy their model. While most Asian film festivals focus on importing films from across international waters, the CPAFF also puts the spotlight on films created within North America’s Asian communities.
“What makes this film festival different from many other Asian film festivals is that we try and bring in cross-cultural films,” Tsui says. “A lot of the films are mostly in English or a dab of the original country language, but its primarily an English-speaking film festival. In most of these films it’s about discovering the other culture.”
In addition to the sometimes-prevalent cultural barriers, and with a total of 15 films being presented over three days, the CPAFF might appear a little daunting to the wide audience it’s trying to appeal to. Despite this, Tsui remains confident the festival has a few more accessible entry points.
“[For something] a little more mainstream and something quite exciting I would suggest The Host from Korea,” says Tsui. “This is the box office champion of all time in Korean cinema. It’s the Godzilla of Korea.”
“The Gift of Barong is probably a fun one for the young crowd,” he says. “The director, the producer and the star of this film are coming on their own expense because they have never been to Calgary and they got excited their film was invited to the festival. The director [Benito Bautista] is also the designer for these new surfboards, so many local boarders know about him and are coming to meet their hero. It won the best cinematographer award at the prestigious New York Film and Video Festival last year.”
While most of the films being screened are either from Asian countries or the United States there is a strong showing of Alberta films as well.
“I am very proud of our Asian talent in Alberta itself,” says Tsui. “We show that in the shorts program on Sunday called Sunday Shorts. This is a platform where we show many of the locally-shot films. Our main aim is to showcase emerging filmmakers that work within the North American industry as well as from overseas.”