For the first time, the DC APA Film Festival is offering a special venue for APA youth to show their short films during its Oct. 6-16 run. This community-based, youth-focused venue was designed to encourage and support the creative expressions of APA youth from the surrounding community. The Festival partnered with the Resilient Young Asian Network (R.Y.A.N.) from the Chinatown Service Center to organize the program that supports quality short films by APA youth.
APA Film will present the 6th Annual Asian Pacific American Film Festival at locations throughout the Washington, D.C. area, including the Smithsonian Institution, the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Springs and Landmark’s E Street Cinema in downtown Washington, D.C. The festival will showcase 14 feature-length narratives and documentaries, over 60 short films and eight special events, including musical performances, receptions and parties. All screenings are open to the public and many will have free admission. In addition, over 20 filmmakers and guests are scheduled to attend.
Named by the youth, R.Y.A.N. was born in 2003 under the auspices of Ryan Tse, the founding program director. Drawing from his own story of confronting cultural conflicts, poverty and racism in neighborhoods, and at school, heavy work demands and constant family responsibilities, Ryan wanted to create an unconventional program that empowered youth to express their dreams and struggles through whatever mediums that spoke to them. Film was the most appealing medium, so Ryan used this attraction to engage youth to star in productions that they could shout messages to the world about issues they are facing. Youths’ lives became scripts for their films.
With a small grant from the Commonweal Foundation Foundation, Ryan was able to strengthen educational elements of filmmaking. As a result, R.Y.A.N. youth have six films that will screen on Oct. 10, dealing with subject matter ranging from depression and suicide to mental impairment.
The Asian American Arts and Media (AAAM) first produced DC APA Film Festival in 1983, but the festival was discontinued in 1996. In the autumn of 2000, the nonprofit organization Asian Pacific American Film, Inc. revived this festival, which continues to have tremendous success. In 2004, it attracted 2,600 attendees during 10 days of programming and screened a total of 65 films. Despite these impressive statistics, DC APA youth stories were absent from the submissions. Similar to Ryan, Gene Huh, director of programming and educational outreach coordinator, wanted to explore ways of cultivating DC APA youth to submit films reflecting their stories. A partnership was born.
To encourage submissions and increase APA youth’s capacity to produce high quality films, the DC APA Film Festival Board and members of DC Chinatown Service Center’s Resilient Young Asian Network offered a Film Critic Workshop in June. The workshop exposed youth to the different aspects that critics evaluate when selecting films. All attendees’ films were automatically accepted to the film festival. More than 30 youth attended the workshop.
DETAILS: Chinatown Service Center, 900 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20011, 7 -9 p.m. EDT. Contact Ryan Tse at (202) 285-6607 or rtse@chinatownscdc.org, or Gene Huh at gene@apafilm.org. See complete schedule of events at www.apafilm.org.
Danny Hiroyuki Teraguchi works with the Association of American Colleges and Universities.