Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters:
FINISHING THE GAME, our new independent film, has been an opportunity to revisit our indie roots and reunite with many in the BETTER LUCK TOMMOROW family. The challenges of making a no-budget film are harsh and demanding, but at the same time, it is filmmaking in its purest form. Clearly, passion on the part of the cast and crew made this film possible. Now we are hoping to share FINISHING THE GAME with you as it comes out in theaters and into your homes.
When BETTER LUCK TOMORROW was released, we showed Hollywood that we are a viable audience. In an industry governed by box office receipts, there is strength in numbers. The turnout for the film sent a clear message that we demand to see ourselves on screen as multi-dimensional characters. Five years later, we are asking for your support again. At this point, we need to demonstrate that BETTER LUCK TOMORROW was not a fluke; we are a vital consumer community that will no longer be ignored. However, out of respect for your time, energy and taste, we don't want you to come see the film simply because it¹s an "Asian American" project. Rather, we want you to connect to the work itself and let the film stand on its own. We welcome you to take a look at the FINISHING THE GAME trailer on our website:
http://www.youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com
Among other things, it features a behind-the-scenes look at our journey from BLT to FTG that was made by film student Anson Ho.
We are happy to announce that IFC Films, our supportive partner, will be distributing FINISHING THE GAME. However, this "platform release" is merely an opportunity and, in certain ways, an uphill battle. The lifespan of a truly independent film is determined on a week-by-week basis. Every weekend could be its last.
Through making studio films, I have learned that "word of mouth" is the most important aspect of any film's release. A big budget movie could buy up every billboard and flood TV with commercials in order to generate audiences. An indie film does not have the budget or the platform to do that. But, the great equalizer is the viewer. Good or bad, every film is ultimately subject to "word of mouth." It's simple: if you like the film, tell your friends. And if they like it, they should do the same. FINISHING THE GAME will open in New York on October 5th at the IFC Center; October 19th in San Francisco and Berkeley; and October 26th in Los Angeles, San Diego, Costa Mesa and Minneapolis.
We are also excited to announce that on October 5th, aside from its traditional theatrical release, the film will simultaneously be available ON DEMAND in 42 million homes in the United States through every cable and satellite TV distributor. This is something we are extremely excited about because it could potentially bring more of us together and build a distribution model for future Asian American films.
By supporting projects with representation and elements that you want to see, you are sending a clear message to the decision makers in Hollywood. If we can get enough people to do the same, then we will truly have a voice. So please share this with your friends and family. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Justin Lin
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Please check one of the following...
FRIEND: Everyone wants to call themselves white.
ME: Did I tell you about the person I know who works in HR?
FRIEND: No
ME: I know this girl who worked in HR at a big company. When she goes through applications, she regularly finds people with Asian sir names, who she eventually meets in person and confirms that they are of East or South East Asian descent, people who don't remotely look "mixed" at all, who when asked to check off ethnicity, even though it is OPTIONAL (meaning it says on the form OPTIONAL), check "White/Caucasian." They choose to check that.
FRIEND: Not surprised by that. There are Indian people who do that too, even darkest ones. They're just so deluded they don't even understand. Its not about what box you check. Its about the struggle. Its not about identity labels. Its about changing the system. Fighting for equality. Or, at least knowing that you are oppressed... or even if you're not, that others are.
ME: Yes. But people aren't taught that. (Asian immigrants always get lost in the mix.) Hmmm...If you are Christian and Indian you can sorta get away with it. UNTIL the interview.
FRIEND: (Then) it might be beneficial to check that you're white.
It both fascinates me and appalls me that this is the world we live in. It has never occurred to me to ever skip over or check something other than the box for Asian/ Pacific Islander in the ethnicity category of any form. I hate to think what this means for the US Census.
ME: Did I tell you about the person I know who works in HR?
FRIEND: No
ME: I know this girl who worked in HR at a big company. When she goes through applications, she regularly finds people with Asian sir names, who she eventually meets in person and confirms that they are of East or South East Asian descent, people who don't remotely look "mixed" at all, who when asked to check off ethnicity, even though it is OPTIONAL (meaning it says on the form OPTIONAL), check "White/Caucasian." They choose to check that.
FRIEND: Not surprised by that. There are Indian people who do that too, even darkest ones. They're just so deluded they don't even understand. Its not about what box you check. Its about the struggle. Its not about identity labels. Its about changing the system. Fighting for equality. Or, at least knowing that you are oppressed... or even if you're not, that others are.
ME: Yes. But people aren't taught that. (Asian immigrants always get lost in the mix.) Hmmm...If you are Christian and Indian you can sorta get away with it. UNTIL the interview.
FRIEND: (Then) it might be beneficial to check that you're white.
It both fascinates me and appalls me that this is the world we live in. It has never occurred to me to ever skip over or check something other than the box for Asian/ Pacific Islander in the ethnicity category of any form. I hate to think what this means for the US Census.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Simon on finding yourself...
My dear friend Simon decided to remedy a so so year by foraying to China with his cousin and a friend for 2 1/2 months. Here is an excerpt from their journey:
Visit Team Vachina (Simon,Cynthia, and Woody) at www.vachina.blogspot.com.
Visit Team Vachina (Simon,Cynthia, and Woody) at www.vachina.blogspot.com.
Friday, April 20, 2007
A Cry for Help
Back to Imus and Rosie.
Someone please tell me, please explain to me, why it is acceptable for Al Sharpton to mobilize the entire African American community to stand up and voice their concerns about how the media portrays and regards them but as soon as an Asian American organization takes a stand, they are flattened and accused of looking for "fame?"
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/04/17/publiceye/entry2693705.shtml
AAJA wasn't even calling upon all Asian Americans to come out and force advertisers to pull their ad money. They were simply asking their colleagues to please use good judgement and show some sensitivity to the type of feelings that the use of racial identifiers is known to rile up.
I credit AAJA's little memo for at least partially influencing the drop in the use of ethnicity in reporting after Monday. But the joy I felt was almost completely negated by the ignorance spewing from many of the online public responses following the article. These comments speak volumes to the type of deeply rooted racism we continue to face.
It's heart wrenching.
Someone please tell me, please explain to me, why it is acceptable for Al Sharpton to mobilize the entire African American community to stand up and voice their concerns about how the media portrays and regards them but as soon as an Asian American organization takes a stand, they are flattened and accused of looking for "fame?"
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/04/17/publiceye/entry2693705.shtml
AAJA wasn't even calling upon all Asian Americans to come out and force advertisers to pull their ad money. They were simply asking their colleagues to please use good judgement and show some sensitivity to the type of feelings that the use of racial identifiers is known to rile up.
I credit AAJA's little memo for at least partially influencing the drop in the use of ethnicity in reporting after Monday. But the joy I felt was almost completely negated by the ignorance spewing from many of the online public responses following the article. These comments speak volumes to the type of deeply rooted racism we continue to face.
It's heart wrenching.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Update to Modern Orientalism
After watching a number of reports on TV and reading a few articles online today that expressed the concerns of the AA community, I have to say I am proud of the American news media today for exhibiting a significant change in sensitivity with regards to race.
See, I'm not all Angry Little Asian Girl.
A few articles:
SF Gate
The Mercury News
One thing I'd like to note is a sentiment expressed by a Vietnamese woman in The Mercury News article (see link above). She said that she felt relieved to hear that the Asian student was identified as South Korean because she felt that the Vietnamese American community could not withstand any more bad stereotypes. I find this to be very indicative of why the Asian American community has a weak political presence overall. We see ourselves as ethnically divided communities and behave as such, but the reality is, the majority of the American public has a very difficult time seeing the difference between someone who is Chinese or Korean or Thai or Vietnamese.
When people are mindful enough to give me a few options before assuming, I run the whole gamut of "are you's." Growing up, it never occurred to me what it meant, but now I realize it means, though in my mind I am 100% American (born and raised in Houston, TX), in the eyes of the American public at large I might as well be homeless. Because, I certainly do not belong in Asia, if I don't belong here either, I don't know where I belong.
See, I'm not all Angry Little Asian Girl.
A few articles:
SF Gate
The Mercury News
One thing I'd like to note is a sentiment expressed by a Vietnamese woman in The Mercury News article (see link above). She said that she felt relieved to hear that the Asian student was identified as South Korean because she felt that the Vietnamese American community could not withstand any more bad stereotypes. I find this to be very indicative of why the Asian American community has a weak political presence overall. We see ourselves as ethnically divided communities and behave as such, but the reality is, the majority of the American public has a very difficult time seeing the difference between someone who is Chinese or Korean or Thai or Vietnamese.
When people are mindful enough to give me a few options before assuming, I run the whole gamut of "are you's." Growing up, it never occurred to me what it meant, but now I realize it means, though in my mind I am 100% American (born and raised in Houston, TX), in the eyes of the American public at large I might as well be homeless. Because, I certainly do not belong in Asia, if I don't belong here either, I don't know where I belong.
Modern Orientalism
(originally posted on April 18, 2007)
For the most part, I don't spend my time ranting about Asian American issues. People who know me well will come across it occasionally, but I don't go around preaching. However, after spending a good part of last night and today following the Virginia Tech shooting case I feel the need to step forward for a second and make a few comments.
In times like this I always hope that the news media will prove me wrong and do their best to be sensitive about the kind of damage the way they handle race can do. I'm a firm believer that the methods in which they report can make a huge difference.
When I first saw in reports late last night that the gun man was Asian, I got a sinking feeling. In the back of my mind I knew that this would some how devolve into a case that involved race.
I was outraged to see in one news article, that before even getting confirmation, they reported that one of the students who survived the shooting mentioned that he looked "Chinese." Historically, anyone Asian is generally assumed to be "Chinese." They should never have ran that comment. This fact was clarified today when they determined that 23 year old Seung Cho was, infact, not Chinese but, South Korean. And though he had resided in the US for the majority of his short life he was still a green card holder and therefore still "foreign." Every report today was prefaced by this fact, except for the one given by Suchin Pak on MTV news.
When journalists start off their reports by emphasizing that he was South Korean, they lead the public to focus on this trait which is really not very important at all. A more important fact to focus on is that he was a known "loner" and identified as mentally disturbed student who was on medication before the attack. These traits say far more about his state of mind and causality than the fact that he was Asian.
By repeatedly focusing on his ethnicity, the media is doing a great injustice to the Asian American community and putting our security at risk. A couple of the news articles I read even mentioned that Asian Americans on campus and in the surrounding community are bracing themselves in anticipation of a possible backlash against the AA community. As a precaution they have removed his family from their home.
I think a larger problem is that these sorts of things continue to happen because as Asian Americans, we don't speak out against these subtle acts of racism. Imus makes one off comment about the African American Ladies on the Rutgers basketball team and gets fired, but Rosie O'Donnell makes fun of Chinese Americans on the View and barely even gets a slap on the back of the hand. Small as they may seem, acts that demoralize or subjugate any ethnic group do build up in the collective conciousness. By ignoring them we are allowing them to continue and by allowing them to continue we are saying it's ok for the American public at large to percieve us as second class citizens, as perpetually foreign.
I think that says quite a bit about where we are in the fight for equality.
For the most part, I don't spend my time ranting about Asian American issues. People who know me well will come across it occasionally, but I don't go around preaching. However, after spending a good part of last night and today following the Virginia Tech shooting case I feel the need to step forward for a second and make a few comments.
In times like this I always hope that the news media will prove me wrong and do their best to be sensitive about the kind of damage the way they handle race can do. I'm a firm believer that the methods in which they report can make a huge difference.
When I first saw in reports late last night that the gun man was Asian, I got a sinking feeling. In the back of my mind I knew that this would some how devolve into a case that involved race.
I was outraged to see in one news article, that before even getting confirmation, they reported that one of the students who survived the shooting mentioned that he looked "Chinese." Historically, anyone Asian is generally assumed to be "Chinese." They should never have ran that comment. This fact was clarified today when they determined that 23 year old Seung Cho was, infact, not Chinese but, South Korean. And though he had resided in the US for the majority of his short life he was still a green card holder and therefore still "foreign." Every report today was prefaced by this fact, except for the one given by Suchin Pak on MTV news.
When journalists start off their reports by emphasizing that he was South Korean, they lead the public to focus on this trait which is really not very important at all. A more important fact to focus on is that he was a known "loner" and identified as mentally disturbed student who was on medication before the attack. These traits say far more about his state of mind and causality than the fact that he was Asian.
By repeatedly focusing on his ethnicity, the media is doing a great injustice to the Asian American community and putting our security at risk. A couple of the news articles I read even mentioned that Asian Americans on campus and in the surrounding community are bracing themselves in anticipation of a possible backlash against the AA community. As a precaution they have removed his family from their home.
I think a larger problem is that these sorts of things continue to happen because as Asian Americans, we don't speak out against these subtle acts of racism. Imus makes one off comment about the African American Ladies on the Rutgers basketball team and gets fired, but Rosie O'Donnell makes fun of Chinese Americans on the View and barely even gets a slap on the back of the hand. Small as they may seem, acts that demoralize or subjugate any ethnic group do build up in the collective conciousness. By ignoring them we are allowing them to continue and by allowing them to continue we are saying it's ok for the American public at large to percieve us as second class citizens, as perpetually foreign.
I think that says quite a bit about where we are in the fight for equality.
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