Love Korean culture? Love film festivals? Love checking out something new and inspiring? If you said “yes” to any of those questions, then you’ll want to check out the inaugural Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival (AKSFF) tomorrow – Friday May 11 – at 6:30pm. It’s being held at Innis Hall and it’s FREE! So why not check out the first ever smartphone film festival in Toronto, and bring your friends too.

Want to know more about what to expect? I know I did, which is why I asked Mingu Kim, Director of the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival, a few questions so I would be better prepared to enjoy the festival. And since he gave such fabulous answers, I thought I would share them with you all. Keep reading to learn more about the AKSFF from Mingu Kim. All answers are Mingu Kim’s.

How did you come up with the idea for the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival?

We wanted to encourage and challenge local filmmakers and/or the general public by utilizing a fairly new device used in filmmaking. There are many film festivals of specific categories in Toronto, yet there is no film festival specializing in smartphone filmmaking. So my wife and I thought it’s worth trying it out since no one has done it yet in Toronto.

Why did you get involved with the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival?

I’ve had passion for filmmaking ever since I started my career in broadcasting in 2007. I participated in many film festivals as a filmmaker, media and member of a marketing committee. However, there was no film festival focusing on a Korean theme. As a producer of a Korean language programming on OMNI TV, it is my duty to preserve and develop the Korean cultural identity, language and customs. That’s why I got involved with the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival.

What is the purpose of the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival?

The purpose of the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival is to introduce Korean culture through filmmaking and encourage local artists. Through the festival, we are hoping to build personal and professional relationships among emerging and established artists in the GTA. It is exciting to build a strong community together.

How many submissions were there?

We’ve had 18 submissions in total. 15 films were selected for screening.

How are you judging the submissions?

We have 4 categories: Concept/Idea, Korean Element/Key Creative, Story, and Cinematography. 3 jury members have juried all submissions independently and picked top 3 of their own choices. Then we had a conference meeting to agree upon 3 winners, who will receive Arirang Korea Award ($1,000), Samsung Galaxy Tab (2nd Place), and Pico Dolly System (3rd Place).

Who’s judging the submissions?

There are 3 jury members whom I’ve met in the professional settings.

• Sun-Kyung (Sunny) Yi is the president of Aysha Productions Inc., and the founder of the Documentary Filmmaking Institute at Seneca College.
• Lance Carlson is an award winning cinematographer and filmmaker. He currently teaches at Centennial College and George Brown College and continues to write and produce independent film and interactive projects.
• Min Sook Lee is an award winning filmmaker with a diverse and prolific portfolio of multimedia work. She has produced and directed numerous critically acclaimed documentaries, including TIGER SPIRIT, HOGTOWN, EL CONTRATO and many more.

What are some of the themes or stories (from the submissions) that we can look forward to at the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival?

There are some films that reflect historical and cultural perspectives of Korea. One film is based on the issues of comfort women during the Japanese colonial period. Also a short documentary of grandparents well reflects culture that is no longer present in Korea. I am happy to see the variety of submissions from documentary to music video. They are all worth checking out.

Are you planning on the Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival being an annual event?

Of course. It’s not going to be just a one-time event. We are planning to host the event annually. To give you a heads up, we will extend it to a weekend festival (2 to 3 days) and have more programming and special events. We will open submission call early so the contestants have more time to work on their projects.

There has been an increase in Korean-themed or Korean culture related events in Toronto in the last year, why do you think that is?

There are multiple reasons. K-pop phenomenon is one factor. I am surprised to see many non-Koreans imitate K-pop dance and speak Korean in Toronto nowadays. This spread of Korean pop culture is called Hallyu, also known as Korean Wave. Also, 2013 marks the 50th year of diplomatic relationships between Korea and Canada. I know there are many organizations preparing to host the events in 2013 to cement relationships between two countries.

Any last thoughts?

It’s going to be a wonderful event. Please come and celebrate the 1st Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festval on May 11 at 6:30pm @ Innis Town Hall. (2 Sussex Ave.) Admission is free of charge so bring your friends along. You will not regret it!

Cindy Zimmer: @cindyinTO
Life’s an Adventure 2: @lifesadventure2
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Arirang Korea Smartphone Film Festival: @AKSFF

My mom is a terrible baker. I mean, I love her and she does do a lot of other things well, but baking was just not one of them. This little fact does not stop her from trying though. Oh, the injustices to baking we had to endure as kids. Mostly they were the Chinese buns (barbecued pork, coconut, red bean paste, etc.) that would not rise, and would turn rock hard when baked. And forget about eating them the day after; my dad would jest, “you could throw them to China and they wouldn’t break…” Then there were the egg tarts with the hard and dense pastry. That mattered very little because as a kid I would eat everything. Growing up in Halifax there was small Chinese population and if you wanted good, authentic Chinese fare, you pretty much had to make it yourself.  This is still something I practice today; I am on a quest to be able to make everything for myself and be able to do it well.

In my latest post on sweetsourbitterspicy, I struggle with making a perfectly flaky, buttery pastry crust; something that has alluded my mom to this day. It was also something that I have always regarded as difficult and forbidding. Naturally it was something I had to confront sooner or later. I went on to use this crust to make a quiche Lorraine. This is classified as a flaky/mealy crust. I was happy with the final product but there is always room for improvement. In the past month I have made many batches of pastry with mixed results. I have never spent this much money on butter in a month. Poaching lobster in butter was a close second. Spare no expense – this did not disuade me from trying again. In this post I am attempting a sweeter pastry crust while building on previous techniques and experiences.

It was my mom’s birthday recently and I have these memories of her making batches of egg tarts for us on our birthdays. Whether the pastry was hard or not, it wasn’t something that mattered a whole lot when I was a kid; I ate it all up regardless and I was happy. In this post, I want to return the sentiment to my mom and wish her a happy birthday with lots of love! Hopefully, my pastry (after many trials) will not be hard and dense. It was only after being exposed to good, flaky egg tarts that I realized how far off the mark my mom was.  Is ignorance bliss?  No, I am glad to know how great egg tarts can be and I want to be able to make them just as well!

蛋撻 (egg tarts)

I tried using a similar flaky/mealy crust I had used for my quiche for the egg tarts but was definitely not happy with them; I needed more butter and try something else for the pastry. In my mind, the perfect egg tart crust is delicate, crispy with layers that flake apart. The mealy crust was just not right. Then I remembered – the last time my mom made egg tarts and she made it using two separate doughs. One of them was composed of flour, water, and eggs. The second dough was shortening/lard mixed with flour. These she referred to as 水粉 (water dough) and 油粉 (fat dough) respectively. The fatty dough was folded within the water based dough like a pocket and then rolled out. She repeated the folding and rolling several times to create layers. It sounds a little bit like a puff pastry. Although hers did not turn out very well, it makes sense if you want to achieve the crispy layers that flake apart when you bite into it. Since the flaky/mealy crust was not to my liking, at least for this application, her recipe is worth investigating.

油粉 (butter dough)

• 100g unsalted butter; cold and cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 75g (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour

Chill the cubed butter in the freezer then sift the flour into a mixing bowl and chill that for about 15 minutes. I have learned that in order to succeed in pastry, you need to keep everything cold and keep the fat from melting. So I take every precaution possible to hedge my bets. After all the ingredients have been chilled, use a pastry cutter, or your finger tips to combine together the butter and flour until you have a course crumbly mixture. I like using my hands and fingers and getting them dirty to get firm grasp of the bowl’s contents.  Stop when the butter is as big as a pea. This shouldn’t take very long. Gather and press the pieces together. Place a piece of plastic wrap on a flat work surface and turn the butter and flour mixture onto it. Wrap the butter dough with the plastic wrap.  Continue to press the pieces together to form a round disk that is approximately 1 inch thick.  Chill the butter dough until it is hardened again (approximately 20-30 minutes).

水粉 (water dough)

• 75g  (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
• 30g (4 tbsp) confectioner’s sugar
• 20g (1) egg yolk
• 30ml (2 tbsp) water; chilled
• pinch of salt

Sift together the flour, confectioner’s sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. I added sugar to the dough not only to give it some sweetness but also to caramelize it and produce a crispier layers within the pastry. Chill the flour mixture in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Mix the water and the egg yolk lightly and chill. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is moistened and a sticky dough is formed. Lightly flour a smooth work surface and turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Knead until you have a smooth dough that is moist to the touch but also does not stick to the work surface. Incorporate more flour or water to get the right consistency of the dough. The the egg yolk should have imparted a rich yellow colour to the dough. Roll out the dough into a square large enough to completely wrap around the butter dough. Remove the butter dough from the freezer and place in the center of the square piece of water dough. Bring each of the four corners of the water dough to the center to seal the butter dough inside of the water dough  Press together any open edges. You do not want the butter to ooze out while you are rolling, so seal it well.  Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to rest, chill, and harden again.

When the dough has been properly chilled, roll out the dough into a rectangle that is roughly 12″x18″. Start from the center and pushing outward. Flour the rolling pin and your work surface to keep the dough from sticking to each other. You want to work quick so that the butter does not soften or melt too much. If the butter softens too much, cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it onto a baking sheet and let it chill out in the freezer until the butter firms up again. You want the solid butter in the dough. As the small pieces of butter melt once they hit the hot oven, they create pockets within the dough. As the steam from the butter’s water content tries to escape, it lifts the dough and creates the flakiness and puffiness in the crust. Understanding the science behind a flaky crust is easy, execution on the other hand comes from needed experience. Once you have a rectangular piece of dough, fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter. Wrap this in plastic wrap and return it to the freezer to allow the butter to firm up again and rest. Repeat the rolling and folding of the dough two more times. The next two times fold the dough over into quarters and roll out as before. Do not forget to chill the dough and allow the butter to harden back up between each time it is rolled out and folded. I think this is where my mom’s egg tarts failed. She was too diligent with keeping everything cold. The result being that the layers of butter dough melted and amalgamated with the water dough.

This is a long process so allow yourself plenty of time to do it right. I have learned that you cannot take shortcuts with pastry and still hope to achieve good results. Once you have completed the folding and rolling process to build up the layers of puff pastry, roll it out into a rectangle of a uniform thickness of about 3 millimetres. Using a cookie cutter, (or the top of a glass, or any other rounded objects) press circles out of the rolled dough. Lightly oil the tart tins and press the dough into them.

I found the dough on the bottom and the sides to be fairly thin, while the dough around the top rim is thicker. Use your thumb to press the dough into the corners of the tin and create a thicker rim of dough at the top to the tin. Dock the bottoms of the dough by puncturing the dough with the tines of a fork a few times. This will allow excess steam to escape from the pastry dough as it bakes and so you don’t get a large air pocket in your pastry. It was not a big deal to dock the dough with the mealy pastry but I found that with the puff pastry, air pockets can expand and expel the custard mixture from the tart. It makes a bit of a mess. Repeat with the remaining tin molds and pieces of pastry. Keep the prepared shells in the fridge as you continue working the rest of the dough into the tin molds.

Once all of the tart tins are lined with pastry dough and set in the fridge, you can prepare the custard mixture.

egg custard

For the custard, put the sugar and water in a small sauce pan over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved into a simple syrup. Let the simple syrup cool down a bit before using it. Put the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk until slightly frothy. Add milk and vanilla and continue to whisk until thoroughly combined. Slowly add the simple syrup to the egg mixture in a gentle stream. Whisk while adding the syrup to temper the egg mixture. Be careful not to cook the egg with the simple syrup. Once all of the syrup has been added, strain the egg mixture through a fine sieve to remove any coagulated bits of egg or shells that may have gotten into the custard mixture. Strain into a measuring cup, or something similar with a lip for easy pouring. This will make filling the tart shells easier. My mom liked to use a tea pot for example. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place the prepared pastry tins onto a solid baking sheet that will not warp when heated, and carefully pour the egg mixture into each of the pastry shells. Do not overfill the shells. Leave at least a centimeter of space at the top. Bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes, or until the custard is mostly set. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn or overcook. I took mine out when the centers were the slightest bit runny then let them cool. The custard should wobble a bit when you shake the tray. Of course the custard will continue to cook for a bit outside of the oven, but it will set perfectly without overcooking the custard.

I have made a lot of egg tarts in the past few weeks, with varying degrees of success, for this entry - ranging from total failures, passable, to victorious. I am very happy with the taste and feel of this recipe. The pastry developed the individual layers I was looking for, which was very buttery and delightfully crispy. Just look at those layers falling apart! The custard recipe also turned out pretty well. It is eggy and not too sweet, which is exactly how I like it. It was also very soft and smooth. Most of the egg tarts I find in Toronto’s Chinatown are overly sweet and a bit dense for my taste. I have a suspicion that they use at least a little bit of custard powder and water in their tarts to save money. How else can they sell them for fifty cents? While at first I was a bit dismissive of my mom’s method of making egg tarts last Christmas, I have come to realize that she deserves some credit here. While she did not make the best egg tart, she got me started on my explorations displayed in this recipe.  She was the missing link in making good egg tart dough. This missing link was that the fat/butter needs to stay cold and not to let it melt. With all that my mom has taught me over the years, I would like to share what I learned with her. She will be very glad to discover the secret after all these years. On my next visit home, I will personally make these for her and point out where she may have erred. I know that she is always eager to learn new things like this and, with the added insight, she can begin her own explorations.

While I started off by saying my mom is a terrible baker, it is not entirely true anymore. It was probably true twenty-some years ago, but now she makes amazing fluffy cakes. Now my dad eats them without hesitation and without jokes of throwing them all the way to China. With the help of her friends and her own persistence of making it over and over again, she has modified her recipe her friend gave her and made it even better.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, now go have yourself a culinary adventure!

Po Suen: sweetsourbitterspicy
Banana Times: @bananatimes

It’s that time of year! Time for Kollaboration Toronto auditions. What’s Kollaboration Toronto? It’s an annual talent show that began in Los Angeles in 2000 and now has different shows in over twelve cities across North America with Toronto being the sole Canadian city.

But it’s not just a talent show! Kollaboration Toronto provides an outlet for local artists of Asian descent to showcase their talent. It is a great opportunity for artists to break into the entertainment industry in Canada, the United States, Asia and beyond. Their simple and strong mission statement, “Empowerment Through Entertainment” resounds in many. It gives Asian-Canadians the opportunity to break through stereotypes and showcase their talent, whatever it may be.

Are you an Asian-Canadian with talent? Do you have a beautiful voice? Do you wow your friends with your smooth dancing moves? Do you have a hidden talent that’s just waiting to break out?

Head on over to Kollaboration Toronto’s website and fill in the online audition application. But don’t delay, you only have until Sunday April 29th to fill out the application. There will be two audition dates to choose from – Saturday May 5th and Saturday May 19th.

Stand out, Toronto!

Just the facts:

• What: Kollaboration Toronto Auditions
• When: Saturday May 5th or Saturday May 19^th, 8:00am-5:00pm
• Where: Hart House, University of Toronto
• Deadline to register: Sunday April 29th
• How to register: Online at http://www.kollaborationto.org/audition.php

Writer-director Tom Lin delivers an impressive and ambitious sophomore feature with STARRY STARRY NIGHT, a film adaptation of Jimmy Liao’s popular children’s book starring Josie Xu as the young lead, who many know from Stephen Chow’s CJ7. This Taiwanese fantasy-drama is about Mei, a young girl living in a financially stable family only to witness her parents’ marriage slowly deteriorate. As her parents begin to stray further from each other, Mei finds solace in time spent with her quirky grandfather who constantly reinforces her ever-expanding imagination with his hand-made wooden animals. Mei’s life takes a sorrowful turn when her grandpa falls ill, leaving her without any source of comfort with her parents’ looming divorce. However, she befriends a new student at school, Jay (Eric Lin), who also has trouble in his personal life. Knowing the issues in their respective lives, they take a colorful and whimsical journey into the mountains to find Mei’s grandpa’s rural cottage.

Director Lin achieved something rarely seen in recent Asian cinema with STARRY STARRY NIGHT, using visual effects as an effective narrative and visual device to push forward a captivating story, rather than superficially sprinkling CGI on top of a film to increase marketability. Almost like a cross between a Studio Ghibli film and Woody Allen’s recent Oscar-winning Midnight In Paris, Tom Lin uses a family drama as the backbone to his story as he ambitiously and successfully explores the boundless world of adolescence imagination. Lin tells the tale from the perspective of a young teenage girl and how she sees her everyday life. From adventurous and playful daydreams of your crush’s shadow appearing as a dinosaur, to having a troop of your grandfather’s wooden animals come to life to escort you home.

What STARRY STARRY NIGHT vividly portrayed with great empathy was that sensation you felt as a child where the world was your playground. Everything you saw and touch could easily morph into anything you desired. Even though it originated from your mind, every animated creature and character you saw was real through your eyes because it was you who made them. Growing up there were many things you did not understand, and when life became sad and dark, the one safe thing you could rely on was the limitless energy of your own imagination.

STARRY STARRY NIGHT made its North American premiere at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on March 16th 2012 and was presented by the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.

STARRY STARRY NIGHT will began its exclusive North American run only in Toronto on March 23rd at AMC Yonge & Dundas and AMC Kennedy Commons.

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos was screened at the Reel Asian International Film Festival, which was likely the last time we get to see the Elric brothers in action. As a parting gift, we present to you what we thought were the Top 10 Moments of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Granted that there are many great moments throughout the Fullmetal saga, it was hard to pick only ten. More importantly, this list MOST DEFINITELY CONTAINS SPOILERS.

10. Hohenheim and Father’s origins.

After episodes (and chapters) of wondering why Father has the same face as Honhenheim, we get to see the origins of these two mysterious characters. It turns out that these two timeless figures were once friends, only to have an entire civilization wiped out, due to the greed of a “little one in the flask”. Hohenheim was forced to continue living with the souls of Xerxes citizens trapped inside of him, only to await the birth of his two sons to end it once and for all. The creation of Amestris, the Philosopher’s Stone, and countless wars were spearheaded by a little creature with a collosal God complex.

9. Alphonse sacrifices himself to revive Edward’s lost arm.

Close to the end of the Fullmetal Alchemist story, we are finally awarded with something we’ve been waiting for throughout the entire series – Edward getting his arm back! In desperation, after Ed is immobilized by a rebar impaling his left arm, Alphonse utilizes Mai’s long-distance Alkahestry to tramsmute his soul in exchamge for his brother’s long lost right arm. Renouncing loudly his younger brother’s idiotic decision, Ed valiantly fights back against Father with his reacquired right arm to end an epic battle with style.

8. Mustang incinerates Lust.

Just a fiery and intense battle between Colonel Roy Mustang and the Homunculus Lust. At first, Mustang getes stabbed in the gut by Lust, only to burn his wounds together and return the pain hundred-fold to the slutty monster. After a continuous sequence of explosions, Mustang was able to wear out the lives of Lust’s Philosopher’s Stone and claim victory to be the first to successfully kill a Homunculus.

7. Mustang takes revenge on Envy. Envy commits suicide.

Revenge is best served with FIRE! Mustang’s long awaited meeting with Envy was expected to be a fire-filled bloodbath celebrating the revenge taken for the late Maes Hughes, his best friend. Except, a few unexpected elements were added, including Mustang’s painful resistance from killing the conniving Homunculus, and also Envy’s eventual decision to take his own life. Not only did we see the moral side to this battle, where Mustang almost fell into darkness by killing for revenge, but also the sad and cruel truth of surrounding Envy. He has known for so long that humans will turn on each other when push comes to shove. But once the Fullmetal crew showed him the truly beautiful quality about humanity, it is revealed how envious Envy felt towards them.

6. Selim revealed as Pride.

This was possibly the biggest reveal of the series. Unlike the 2003 anime, where they misnamed a few Homunculi, revealing that the innocent-faced Selim Bradley as the First Homunculus was a jaw-dropping moment and a very high point in the series. Surprisingly, it was Lieutenant Hawkeye who first noticed the eerie air surrounding the Fuhrer’s son. This was also the first time we get to see Pride’s power and reach, where an ever-expanding abyssal creature with multiple mouths and eyes can spawn from Selim’s small stature.

5. Father opens the Gates of Truth of Heaven and Earth to obtain “God”

Fullmetal Alchemist at its epic finest in this scene. Utilizing the 5 human sacrifices (Ed, Al, Hohenheim, Izumi, Mustang) and the nationwide trasmutation circle surrounding Amestris, Father was able to open the Gates of Truth belonging to the Earth, which responded with the Gates of the Heavens, causing them to open as well. The planetary and celestial gates resonated with each other and Father was able to pull the “entity beyond the Gate”, whom he called God, into himself, along with thousands of souls of Amestrians. In short, he swallowed God whole.

4. Shou Tucker tramutes his daughter and dog into a chimera.

Early in the series and we’re shown what chilling dark waters Fullmetal Alchemist can take us. The Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker, seemed friendly at first, but really is a psychopath whose skewed perception of success ruined his family and his life. Unable to provide convincing work leading up to his annual State Alchemist assessment, he resorts to transmuting his young daughter and his dog into a chimera who can speak. Toying with life at its finest, and most screwed up.

3. Edward finds Alphonse’s decaying body

Edward escapes the depths of Gluttony’s stomach by transmuting himself, ending up in front of the Gates of Truth once again. He then turns around and discovers another set of Gates opposite his own, and sitting in front of them was none other than Al’s malnourished body. Unable to bring it back without Al’s soul, he utters these powerful words, “Someday, I’ll definitely come back and get you. Just wait. Just WAIT!”

2. The ingredients to the Philosopher’s Stone.

Early on, we find out the necessary ingredients of creating the Philosopher’s Stone – living human beings. This legendary alchemic amplifier that was supposed to be the Elric Brothers’ key to getting their bodies back, was now not an option due to its barbaric contents. This was the point in the series where we find out Fullmetal Alchemist is much deeper than you see on the surface, and it only got deeper.

1. Hughes’ untimely demise.

This scene was probably the moment where many fell in love, and dropped their jaws, with Fullmetal Alchemist. It was an sad scene, but a pivotal one, that distinguished FMA from any anime series or manga of its time. Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes was the first to discover the nationwide conspiracy (that came to fruition towards the end of the series, check 5.), which sadly lead to his death. After a bloody fight with the homunculus Lust, he enters a phone booth attempting to notify Mustang of the conspiracy, only to be stopped by Envy, who took the appearance of his wife and shot him in cold blood.

Looking back, Arakawa-sensei’s decision to kill off a major character without any chance of resurrection, was extremely gutsy and unheard of at the time. This paved the way for success on all platforms for the franchise, marking Fullmetal Alchemist as an epic tale that was uniquely entertaining.

Spoilers end.

For more Fullmetal Alchemist goodness, check out our review on the entire franchise back when it came to an end over a year ago – Fullmetal Alchemist: A Closed Gate – A Review.

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up next, SAIGON ELECTRIC.

A realistically desolate story about a North Korean refugee, Jeong Seung-chul, who struggles to survive in Seoul, South Korea, The Journals of Musan is a drab portrait of a man desperately trying to find a better life in the endlessly cruel world of capitalism. Unable to find any respectable employment due to his North Korean identity card, Seung-chul is forced to post sleazy sex fliers across the city.

Unlike his roommate also from the North, Kyung-chul, who embraces the contrasting lifestyle of the big city through cheating and stealing, Seung-chul finds a little relief in a local church where he develops feelings for the pretty Sook-young. Even when he begins to work in the same karaoke bar as Sook-young, Seung-chul is constantly harassed by rival poster-boys, superiors, and his roommate, only to find comfort by adopting a stray white dog. With struggles coming in all directions, Seung-chul realizes the moral difficulties with adapting to the modern world.

Written, directed, and starred by Park Jung-bum, The Journals of Musan is a film about a topic that will never be in low demand. The tension between North and South Korea is ongoing and may be considered repetitive at times, but it will never be irrelevant. Adopting a very effective cinéma vérité visual style with hand-held DV images, which at times seems unexpectedly too truthful, catapults the hard-hitting realism of Seung-chul’s hardships into an almost painful perspective. Directed and acted superbly by Park Jung-bum, even among the constant traffic of Seoul, Park was able to create a palpable and bleak slice of a North Korean defector’s life, rather than a traditional story that goes from beginning to end.

Get your tickets to THE JOURNALS OF MUSAN (Sat Nov 12th 12pm) at Reel Asian here!

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up next, SAIGON ELECTRIC.

Set in Saigon, the story begins with Mai, a traditional ribbon dancer who moves to the big city from the countryside with the goal of being accepted to the national dance academy. Unable to overcome her nerves, she fails her audition but befriends a street-smart hip-hop dancer, Kim, and the rest of her crew – Saigon Fresh.

The Fresh crew aims to compete internationally in South Korea but first they must defeat the reigning national champions at the Samsung Challenge, North Killaz from Hanoi, in order to represent Vietnam. Leading up to the challenge, Kim gets involved with a wealthy boy named Hai, and begins to distance herself from her friends. To make things worse, the youth centre they practice in is on the verge of being made into a hotel. With all these problems piling up, the outcome of the Samsung Challenge becomes more and more important.

In his sophomore feature, Stephane Gauger paints a vivid picture of youth dance culture in the bustling streets of Saigon. Although the narrative of the film may seem familiar, the characters in Saigon Electric highlight the class difference still existent in Vietnam, and in many other parts of Asia. Where Hanoi’s North Killaz “dance because they have nothing better to do”, Saigon Fresh dance because they have to. All three major characters of Mai, Kim and Do-Boy come from broken families, and they all seek refuge in dance and their youth centre. Gauger displays the growing phenomenon of hip-hop in Asia through a Vietnamese lens, showing how not only hip-hop, but also any art, should not be considered as a road to delinquency but a sanctuary for expression.

Get your tickets to SAIGON ELECTRIC at Reel Asian at the links below:
Toronto screening (Fri Nov 11th 8:45pm) or the Richmond Hill screening (Sat Nov 19th 1:30pm)

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). Up now, SURROGATE VALENTINE.

Goh Nakamura plays Goh Nakamura in this very sweet film, where he resides in a place no guy ever wants to be in, but likely has been before – The Friend Zone. Surrogate Valentine follows Goh through his mundane life as a singer-songwriter in San Francisco, until it is talkatively interrupted by television actor, Danny Turner (Chadd Stoops). Danny shadows Goh as they tour the West Coast to methodically study the laid-back and quiet persona of the musician, for an upcoming movie role. Reluctantly placed in this odd road-trip pairing, Goh finds an unexpected friendship and new inspiration to get back the one that got away, Rachel (Lynn Chen).

In Goh Nakamura’s acting debut, he didn’t have to travel far to be present and entertaining on screen. Without much need to step into the skin of another character, it is clear that Nakamura’s innate real-life personality is quirky and wordlessly funny, so much so that he naturally carries the film. Driving the story just as well is Chadd Stoops, who portrays the overcompensating and annoyingly narcissistic Hollywood caricature in Danny Turner. The juxtaposition of the chilled out Goh and the cartoonish Danny was a delight to watch, showing that chemistry can be created even with distinct contrasts in character.

What Director Dave Boyle has done in this film was a clever repackaging of the overused “the girl that got away” plot. Instead of having it as the driving force of the narrative, which has been beaten to death by Hollywood rom-coms, Boyle seamlessly slips it in and out of the foreground to shift the focus onto his two leading men when needed. But when it comes down to it, Goh’s true motivation is blatantly Rachel. With the tasteful support of black and white visuals, and the white-on-rice compatibility of Goh’s own soundtrack, this well done indie comedy teaches us two very important lessons: If you’re a guy and you find the right girl, go for it. And if you’re a girl, be aware of the friend zone, it’s not fun to be in.

Get your tickets to SURROGATE VALENTINE at Reel Asian right here!

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Time: @bananatimes
Reel Asian @reelasian
Goh: @gohnakamura

As a member of the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival’s marketing committee, I’ve been given the awesome opportunity of reviewing films from this year’s lineup leading up to the festival. It is also an honor to be a part of Reel Asian’s very special 15th year (November 9 – 19). First up, BLEAK NIGHT.

This South Korean film tells the tale of three best friends in an all-boys high school. The relationship between Ki-tae, Dong-yoon and Hee-june (aka Becky) is playful, based on insults, and at times violent. On the surface it is nothing out of the ordinary, but underneath lies a tension that causes a sudden rift between the trio. Not knowing how this conflict presented itself, these friends began to misunderstand each other and soon became divided, which sadly lead to tragedy. The victim’s father is then left to find the cause of this misfortune.

Director Yong Sung-hyun tackles the sensitive topic of suicide for his directorial debut, and he does so very carefully and ambiguously and resulted in a very honest piece of storytelling. Told non-linearly, rightfully complimented with hand-held documentarian camera work, as the viewer we tend to watch the narrative unfold through the perspective of the father. Like him, we slowly put the pieces of the story together through flashbacks, in attempt to find out why misfortune befell these three best friends.

At the young age of 29, Director Yong shows incredible promise in his future in filmmaking. BLEAK NIGHT displays the entailing complexity in taking one’s life and the subjectivity of teenage angst, such as in reality, there is never a clear answer to why a young mind would resort to suicide. Even as the film cuts to black, we cannot pinpoint the direct cause to the story’s sad events. Spearheaded by incredible performances by Lee Je-hoon, Park Jeong-min, and Jo Seong-ha (Ki-tae, Becky, Dong yoon respectively), the film was injected with a blatant adolescent voice rarely seen in recent cinema. Even on less bleak nights, friendships are fragile, and words are more damaging than they seem.

Get your tickets to BLEAK NIGHT at Reel Asian in the links below:
Toronto screening (Sat Nov 12th 2:45pm) or the Richmond Hill screening (Sat Nov 19th 4pm)

Philbert: @philbertlui
Banana Times: @bananatimes
Reel Asian: @reelasian 

Kollaboration Toronto is entering its 6th year and I am proud to be a big part of it. This is a video I made to highlight the lineup of this year’s show:’

If you didn’t notice, you may remember Ally & Kevin from several Heroic Melon productions such as expert.ordinary and the second season of the Awkward Compilation. Please support this global movement of “Empowerment Through Entertainment”! Save the date! March 12th 2011 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

The finalists are: AJ Libramonte, Ally & Kevin, I Rock With The One, Patrick Simeon and Piano With A Beat

Featuring special guests: Boombox Saints, Esly, krNfx, J Reyez and Clara C as the headliner.

Tickets are available here!

www.kollaborationTO.org

-phibz.