From the official announcement:
6th Annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images
Houston, TexasJoin Melissa Hung, editor in chief of Hyphen magazine(hyphenmagazine.com) at Aurora Picture Show (aurorapictureshow.org) on a journey through the heartfelt and the wild at the sixth annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images. Featuring two days of eclectic programs, Slant presents the best short films and videos from emerging Asian American directors.
On June 3rd, take a journey through the strange, sarcastic and bold. Bunny & Clydo, by Rocky Jo, is an Asian take on Bonnie and Clyde. Cowboy Johnny Yamada, a comedy by Yohei Kawamata, features the director in the title role as a modern day cowboy in training. Patrick Epino’s Void is a sarcastic treatise on how to achieve happiness, while Karen Lum gives a verbal lashing at a bus stop in the poetic Slip of the Tongue. A Little Bit Different by Lynn Okimura, is an animated lesson on social acceptance channeled through Sesame Street characters. And a cashier keeps secrets in J.P. Chan’s Dry Clean Only. Two films broach the subject of death. Samuel Kiehoon Lee pieces together the story of one man from the perspective of several funeral guests in his one-frame film 5x90: The Wake while in Rafael Del Toro’s dark comedy, 6 Ft. in 7 Minutes, a teenager finds out why death has always played a big role in his life.
The screening on June 4th explores love and loss. Uptown/Downtown by Kwong Yin Brian Hung and Ka Ho Yue follows a pick-pocket through New York’s subway as he wonders about a woman whose wallet he has stolen. In Flight Safety by Christine Simpson, a man watches planes in a parking lot, rain or shine. In Pawns of King by Ming Lai and Michael Blair, World War II enemies find themselves face to face. In Jim Espinas’ Chasing Down Fish, Catching Up With Me, a woman tries to remember her father while in Samir Patel’s Time and the Hour Run, a man can’t let go of the memory of his dead wife. Eugene Ramos’s The Concoction takes us on a journey through real – and false – love when one man discovers a magical drink.
Slant began in 2000 when Melissa Hung, then a reporter for the Houston Press, approached the Aurora Picture Show with her idea of an Asian American film festival. It has since become one of the longest running festivals in Texas dedicated to Asian American film and has screened nearly 100 films, many of them premiering for the first time in Texas.
Slant: Bold Asian American Images
Program 1: Journey Through the Strange, Sarcastic and Bold
Saturday, June 3 at 8pm
Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora Street, 713.868.2101, www.aurorapictureshow.org
General Admission: $5 and Free with All Access PassSlant: Bold Asian American Images
Program 2: Explore Love and Loss
Sunday, June 4, 3pm
Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora Street, 713.868.2101, www.aurorapictureshow.org
General Admission: $5 and Free with All Access Pass
About Aurora Picture Show
Founded in 1998, the Aurora Picture Show is the only facility of its kind in the Southwest. Art in America has called it “one of the most interesting and unusual new spaces in Houston.” Housed in a 1924 converted church building in the Heights this 100 seat theater is part of the micro-cinema movement that began in the mid-1990’s. Aurora supports non-commercial independent and artist-made film, video and new media artists through fifty programs a year. Aurora’s human scale promotes a meaningful and community-oriented exchange between artists and audiences.Aurora Picture Show is funded by its stellar membership, Houston Endowment, Inc, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, The City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County, and National Endowment for the Arts. Aurora Picture Show is a proud member of Fresh Arts Coalition www.fresharts.org.
