Joy Dietrich's feature film "Tie a Yellow Ribbon," which she describes as "a rare view into the emotionally complex interior of young Asian-American women," recently won the Best Director nod at CineVegas and the Best Feature award at Urbanworld. The film screens next weekend at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York City. Read on for a quick update about how the festival experience has been treating Dietrich and what's next for her.
AsianAmericanFilm: Congrats on the two awards! Tell us a bit about the experience of nabbing the prizes at each festival.
Joy Dietrich: Both were quite a surprise. CineVegas is a great film festival with high profile films and A-list stars attending. So, I thought my tiny film was going to be sidelined. Much to my surprise, TIE A YELLOW RIBBON actually stood out because it was one of very few films about minorities in the festival. TYR was incredibly well-received there and the press loved it. When I won the Special Jury Prize for the Best Director, it was the icing on the cake. [Programmers] Trevor Groth and Mike Plante, both from Sundance, really put on a good show there.
As for Urbanworld, I had my doubts here too. I thought this film festival that is heavily African-American was going to award a film by someone in their community. So I was shocked to receive the Best Film award. I think they want to diversify and include all underserved communities. My win there proves it. Urbanworld by the way, is run by one man and three beautiful women!
AAF: What does winning prizes at a festival mean for a genuinely independent film like yours? What's been the result so far?
JD: We had a slow start, but everything picked up after CineVegas. Winning some sort of award really boosts your profile among industry people. So now we have distributors interested.
AAF: I could be wrong, but I don't recall Urbanworld giving an award to an Asian American film before. Tell us a bit about the festival and audience reactions at your screenings and what it means to you to be making an impact there.
JD: Our screening there was packed! Everyone there was laughing, crying and really generally supportive. This was a New York production so a lot of people came. It's also really great to reach out to another audience besides the Asian American community. My wins at both CineVegas and Urbanworld proves the universal appeal of TIE A YELLOW RIBBON which stars Asian American leads Kim Jiang, Jane Kim, Ian Wen and Theresa Ngo.
AAF: What are your plans for the film and where can people see it next?
JD: At one of the festivals, I met a producer who really loved TYR. She wants to develop some projects with me, so I'm doing that right now. I'm a very busy woman, juggling my day job, film work and coming up with new film ideas!!!!
You can see TIE A YELLOW RIBBON at our next screening at the Asian American International Film Festival on Friday July 27th at 9:15pm at the Asia Society Museum on 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street). For tickets, go here:
http://aaiff.org/2007/films/film_detail.php?i=194.
