Visual Communications (VC) has announced a new Special Presentation program is being added to the VC FILM FEST lineup: the Los Angeles Premiere of the Narrative Feature DÌDI (弟弟). Directed by Sean Wang, the narrative feature follows an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom. The film, which made its world premiere at Sundance, will be Wang’s fourth film at the fest.
“Sean is a powerhouse storyteller, and with a whole lot of heart in his films. It’s been a delight to watch his career blossom. We’re glad to be part of his journey, and thrilled to host the LA premiere of his first feature film!” said Kirby Peñafiel, VC FILM FEST Sr. Programmer.
He adds, “The festival continues to be a place to platform new artists and diverse perspectives. Each season surfaces a new group of emerging filmmakers, and each season we get to know a new group of artists to champion.”
At its premiere in competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival it received critical and audience acclaim, winning both the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast. Starring Izaac Wang, Joan Chen, Shirley Chen, and Chang Li Hua. Reserve your tickets to watch DÌDI (弟弟) during the VC Film Fest here.
LA LIBERATION: EWP X VC
Also added to the festival lineup is the special presentation of films that center two seminal storytelling markers here in Los Angeles. LA LIBERATION: EWP X VC features two episodes from Artbound, the KCET Original Emmy® award-winning arts and culture series.
- EAST WEST PLAYERS: A HOME ON STAGE, directed by Yu Gu, examines the contributions of California-based artists and art movements in today’s American culture.
- LA REBELLION: A CINEMATIC MOVEMENT, directed by Bryant Griffin and Kitty Hu, reflects on the era following the Watts Uprising, when UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television enacted affirmative action policies to increase the enrollment of students of color in the film program — a group that had historically been underrepresented in the student population.
The films will be followed by an artist discussion exploring the impacts of these hallmarks of Asian American storytelling in Los Angeles and the power of multicultural solidarity.
REEL LIFE at VC FILM FEST
Honoring the diverse perspectives and talents of VC’s artist community, VC FILM FEST announced the addition of REEL LIFE; a selection of artist installations and experiences to create interactive engagements. These works range in creative mediums, including: photography, video installations and podcasting.
- In collaboration with VC Archives, BEYOND BORDERED HISTORIES is an audio-visual multimedia exhibit directed by Zaynah Waseem. The exhibit honors and explores the intricate narratives that contribute to the personal and communal fabric of belonging to a diasporic community. Through the use of archival photographs, the exhibit touches upon themes of memory, remembrance, belonging, and intergenerational knowledge by exploring the diasporic histories of Chinese American, Filipino American, and South Asian Americans as they carve out spaces of home and cultural identity away from their respective motherlands. In conversation with the archival photographs are the moving images illuminating the passing down of culture, stories, and memories from one generation to the next.
- DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE is a Multi-Channel Video Art Installation that was shot, curated, and edited by Alfred Bordallo. Reimagining and presenting the ways in which CHamoru people have resisted and existed under American imperialism, Digital Camouflage bears witness to the obscured, yet overt, processes through which in the wake of WWII, the means through which Guam has been further militarized as a possession of the United States. Bearing witness to the countless ways in which CHamoru people interact with and experience imperialism.
- EMPATHY & DEMOCRACY: A LIVE PODCAST is the fourth installment of a four-part live podcast and pop-up art series from GRATITUDE BLOOMING. will follow the seasons of the year and include an exploration of our fears and hopes for democracy. Combining poetic imagination, nature and social impact, Gratitude Blooming is a collaboration among an artist, a poet, and a land steward, three Asian Americans who aim to create sacred spaces that inspire us to notice and name the emotions we hold deep inside and build a better relationship with them. The series seeks to understand how we can better navigate our lives and collective governance with greater intention, compassion and imagination. Empathy & Democracy is presented by the Democracy Center in collaboration with the Gratitude Blooming Podcast.
- The filmmaking team behind A Town Called Victoria presents a community art installation, WISH TREES FOR PEACE: A COMMUNITY ART INSTALLATION. This is an invitation to be part of this community action and join our collective wish for peace in these difficult times. Several olive “Wish Trees” are installed at select festival venues, with small messages tied to the branches. Festival-goers are united to take a moment to write and display your words of peace and solidarity towards building a lasting ceasefire in Gaza. At the “Wish Tree,” select a slip of paper, write a message of peace that you wish to put out into the world, and gently tie your message onto a branch. After the festival, the trees will be donated to local mosques. Presented by Taz Ahmed (Impact Strategist) and Li Lu (Director) of A Town Called Victoria, a three-part docuseries about the arson of the Victoria Islamic Center and the resilience of a community. Learn more about the series here: www.atowncalledvictoria.com
Tickets go on sale April 15, 2024 For more information, please visit festival.vcmedia.org.