THE LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL APRIL 27 – MAY 11

By Andrea Rademan An exciting new festival feature is SPOTLIGHT ON TAIWAN, the home of such cinematic giants as Ang Lee, King Hu, Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-liang, and Hou Hsiao-hsien, who have helped shape this island nation into one of the most dynamic places in the Asia-Pacific Rim. See for yourself. Midi Z, like his predecessor Tsai Ming-liang, is an immigrant to Taiwan from Myanmar. In THE ROAD TO MANDALAY, he focuses on Burmese migrants who work illegally in Bangkok. The film world premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and earned Best Director at the Goldenhorse Film Awards in Taipei. SMALL TALK from Hui-Chen Huang, won the Teddy Award at the Berlinale. The director confronts her mother with questions about spousal abuse by her father. By digging deeply, the film explores the changing lives and conditions for women in Taiwan. Five short films from Taiwan’s emerging filmmakers include: • A DOLL’S HUG (dir. Rob Chihwen Lo) preceding GHOST MAGNET ROACH MOTEL • COIN BOY (dir. Chuan-Yang Li) appearing in WTF: Watch These Films • DOTS (dir. Chen-Wen Lo) appearing in The Sum of My Memory • I’M FINE (dir. Lucretia Knapp) appearing in Pink House, Pink Home • WHITE TUNNEL (dir. Chien Lan-Chi, Chang Chin-Wei) appearing in Wildest Imagination “This year’s SPOTLIGHT ON TAIWAN” is one of the main highlights of our festival,” said Anderson Le, Festival Artistic Consultant. “Our collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Republic of China (Taiwan) and Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles has proven to be a great relationship allowing our festival to include these world cinema gems.” This 33rd annual edition stretches from Hollywood to Little Tokyo to the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles to Koreatown to Westwood to West Hollywood and to Buena Park in Orange County. This year 184 films and shorts from 31 countries will be presented. For program information, a complete listing of sponsors and partners, and to purchase tickets, please visit festival.vconline.org. Tickets are on sale now. The 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is sponsored by: ▪ ●PLATINUM: Comcast NBCUniversal; HBO ▪ ● GOLD: Directors Guild of America; Nielsen; LAIKA; UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs ▪ ●SILVER: Little Tokyo Service Center; Pechanga; Sony Pictures ▪ ●BRONZE: Motion Pictures Editors Guild; SAG-AFTRA; SAGindie; Taiwan Academy; The Famous Group; Hawaiian Airlines; Korean Film Council; Union Bank; Writers Guild of America, West ▪ ●STAR: Cathay Bank; Metro ▪ ●GOVERNMENT: Dept. of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Arts Commission; California Arts Council; National Endowment for the Arts ▪ ●VENUE: ArtShare L.A; Chinese American Museum; CGV Cinemas; Downtown Independent; Directors Guild of America; Geffen Contemporary at MOCA; Japanese American Cultural & Community Center; Japanese American National Museum; The Great Company