Funds for San Diego Filmmakers: Apply Today!

Article care of Executive Director, Lee Ann Kim:

There’s a certain price we pay to live in San Diego, but for the most part, the trade off is worth it. Less traffic than other big cities, glorious sunshine, walks on the beach, and Convoy Street!

But for artists (particularly filmmakers), the price is much steeper. With few resources and support available, San Diego tends to fall victim of losing its artists to LA, SF, and NY. Sadly, this reality is reflective on the quantity and quality of filmmaking in our region. In the last 12 years of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, less than 1% of films we’ve exhibited are from local filmmakers.

Asian American Stereotypes and Films

In Wesley Yang’s May 8^th New York Magazine article “Paper Tigers”, he begins by asking “What happens to all the Asian American overachievers when the test taking ends?” Yang’s article discusses how Asian Americans are still saddled with stereotypes, but the difficulty of breaking down these stereotypes is how they are rooted in beliefs about educational success that is supposed to lead to overall success—the nerd, the good student, the model minority. His anger over these stereotypes comes out Yang’s frustration about Asian Americans’ career and/or life choices: when you are stuck with a stereotype of apparent success, what do you do?