Press Release

22nd SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL in San Jose

MARCH 19-21, 2004

Camera 3 Cinemas, San Jose

NAATA AND CATS PRESENT THE FOURTH YEAR FOR THIS THREE DAY SILICON VALLEY FESTIVAL EVENT

With more than 20 films and videos from six countries, the 22st San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) offers a special San Jose edition with compelling reflections of Asian America and the Asian diaspora. The Festival unspools March 19-21 at the Camera 3 Cinemas in San Jose. For more information or tickets please telephone (415) 865-1588 or visit www.naatanet.org/festival on the internet. The San Jose screenings are co-produced by CATS (Contemporary Asian Theater Scene), a San Jose-based, non-profit organization committed to presenting Asian Pacific American arts in Silicon Valley.

March 19: The Silicon Valley branch of the Festival kicks off Friday with Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK's new feature LAVORS, a delightful romantic comedy centered around young Indian American IT workers.

March 20: The Festival continues on Saturday with Cheuk Kwan's documentary CHINESE RESTAURANTS: SONG OF THE EXILE, an exploration of these family-run businesses in some rather unexpected locales - Israel, South Africa, and Turkey; Jari Osborne's SLEEPING TIGERS: THE ASAHI BASEBALL STORY, a look at the hugely popular Japanese Canadian baseball team and their ultimate demise; and Jon Sen's made for Brit TV soap-opera, starring Parminder Nagra (BEND IT LIKE ECKHAM/SFIAAFF
2003), about South Asian immigrants in Britain, SECOND GENERATION.

2004 SFIAAFF SN JOSE RELEASE PG. 2

For a lively nightcap head over to The Agenda Cellar, 399 South First Street, for "Directions In Sound" the Festival's annual showcase of new Asian American musicians and video artists. Featured will be a Bay Area DJ showcase with live performances from Triple Threat DJ Apollo, as well as Mike Nice, Fuse One, Halo, and Tone Def.

Offerings on Sunday, March 21 at the Camera 3 Cinemas include Ramona S.

Diaz' (SPIRITS RISING/SFIAAFF 1996) IMELDA, a blend of archival footage, home movies, state propaganda, and interviews with Ms. Marcos herself; Riley Ip's JUST ONE LOOK (YAT LUK CHE) is a charming coming-of-age tale set in the heyday of 1970's Hong Kong cinema; and Victor Vu's (FIRECRACKER/SFIAAFF 2000) FIRST MORNING unfolds the struggles of a Vietnamese family attempting to come to grips with the war and their experiences with it.

CATS (Contemporary Asian Theater Scene) is a San Jose based, non-profit organization committed to presenting Asian Pacific American arts in Silicon Valley, by providing high quality, contemporary, thought-provoking, educational and innovative programming which communicates Asian Pacific American experiences to all communities.

For more information about CATS, please visit www.asiantheater.org or telephone (408) 298-2287.

The 22nd San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is supported in part by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Asian Art Museum, California Arts Council, Community Technology Foundation, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Grants for the Arts, Koret Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, NOON, San Francisco Film and Video Arts Commission, and the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.