Angela Lee, Programming Director of the South by Southwest Film Festival, Tells it Like it is

09.01 - Posted by Editor

		Angela Lee, Programming Director of the South by Southwest Film Festival, Tells it Like it is   Read on for the inside scoop on Angela   Or click here for the inside scoop on how SXSW makes its selections -- great practical reading for filmmakers!   Interview by Greg Pak

09.01.00 The South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, has become one of the nation's premiere venues for independent film and video work. After working for the festival in various capacities for seven years, Angela Lee became the SXSW Programming Director in 1999.     Links The inside scoop on the SXSW selection process   SXSW   NXNW   AAF   Could you give us a brief bio, including your educational background, how many years you've been at SXSW, and how you got into festival programming?   AL  I was born in Houston, Texas, but was sent to live with my grandparents in Hong Kong shortly after I was born. I came back to America to attend public school in Houston, but have always been thankful that Hong Kong offered me my first exposure to language and culture.     I've been with the SXSW Film Festival since its first edition 7 years ago. I've also freelanced as a Festivals Coordinator for some smaller music and film fests along the way -- and I've produced and acted in some shorts.     While working at SXSW, I was also waitressed my way through college. I got a Liberal Arts degree in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin. I was all set to become a crusty academic type and had almost completed my second degree in Language Pathology when the founding Program Director of SXSW unexpectedly resigned last year. It wasn't a difficult choice to leave school to run a film festival. Cinema is infinitely more exciting than dead languages.   AAF   What are your favorite films of all time?   AL  SO hard to choose! "Harold & Maude," "Being There," "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media," "Cemetery Man," "Fool for Love," and "Dr. Strangelove" are among my old favorites. Right now, I'd say I'm most passionate about what Takeshi Kitano and Wong Kar Wai/Christopher Doyle are doing.   AAF   What are your favorite SXSW films in the last few years?   AL   "In the Company of Men" (Neil LaBute), "The Target Shoots First" (Chris Wilcha), "Men with Guns" (John Sayles), "The Big One" (Michael Moore), "Dark Days" (Mark Singer), "The Pigeon Egg Strategy" (Max Makowski), "The Navel" (Isaac Mathes).     But my favorite programming have always been the shorts: "Asian Pride Porn" (Greg Pak!), "Observer/Observed" (Takahiko Iimura), "Wood Technology in the Design of Structures" (Eric Henry), "Five Feet High & Rising" (Peter Sollett), "The Manhatitlan Chronicles" (animation, Felipe Galindo).   AAF   What are your favorite Asian American films?   AL   It's hard for me to think of film (or literature, for that matter) in those terms. What is the criteria, exactly, for something being Asian vs Asian American vs American? So many gray areas. Is Keanu Reeves Asian American? I hope not. Is Christopher Doyle Asian? He thinks so. Anyway, I'll try to answer this one as best I can.     "Enter the Dragon" (I grew up as a huge fan of Bruce Lee movies, and appreciate them even more now that I've studied martial arts). I love almost everything by Ang Lee. I find "Flower Drum Song" so offensively bad that it's fascinating. I hate Disney schlock, but "Mulan" made me weep uncontrollably. "Xiu Xiu" was also a weeper. Greg Pak's "Asian Pride Porn" kicks ass (it especially hit home for me because I had just taken a theory class on marginality and performance). I also loved Jieho Lee's very well made short "A Nursery Tale" (I'm a big fan of Vladmir Nabokov, and it was cool seeing one of his stories set in Korea). I'm still waiting for a feature specifically about the Asian American experience that truly reaches me.     Return to top