I've been meaning to post this disturbing story for some time.
NORTH POTOMAC, MD -- Less than two weeks into her army training, 22-year-old May Yuen apparently hung herself in the bathroom of her barracks and died. Her family says that they feel that the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s apparent suicide are suspicious and want a full investigation.The U.S. Army is investigating the apparent suicide and will be giving the family a report after the investigation is completed, Maryland Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Bruce F. Tuxill, told the World Journal on March 14.
Yuen was born in New York to parents who were immigrants from Hong Kong. The family moved to the Washington D.C. area when Yuen was a young child. Yuen studied nursing at a community college.
Yuen’s father, Wei-Fong Yuen, said that he had initially opposed his daughter’s decision to enlist in the Army in 2006. But she insisted because she said it would help her pay for tuition and complete her degree. She also wanted to gain practical experience in her field, he said. On Feb. 15, she was assigned to training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
On Feb. 22, Yuen’s family said that she called to say that she had experienced difficulty breathing during a training exercise and reported her health concerns to a commanding officer. According to the family, the officer told Yuen that soldiers live in the army and die in the army.
Yuen suffered from asthma as a child but did not experience any asthma symptoms as an adult, according to Yuen’s aunt. She did not carry any asthma medication with her to Fort Leonard Wood, her aunt says.
On Feb. 27, a representative from the military went to the Yuen family home to notify them of their daughter’s death. Yuen’s father said that the representative said that Yuen was found in the bathroom around 9 p.m. on Feb. 26, apparently having hung herself with a belt. She was given emergency care but was pronounced dead shortly after 10 p.m. The family has not yet received any documentation or a report from the Army regarding their daughter’s case.
This just re-inforces other news stories we have heard over the last few years about the high number of suicides among Asian American females in varying age groups. This article says: "Asian American women between 15 and 24 had the highest number of suicides among all U.S. women in that age group in 2003, with about 3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2005. And Asian American females had the second highest rate of suicide in every other age group."
Yet, the thought of an Asian American woman in the military setting with ZERO support really makes me cringe. Ever since reading Sara Corbett's amazing piece in the NY Times magazine about women in the military I'm even more perplexed about how to process the whole thing. Really disturbing stuff.
As a woman the military does seem like a powerful place to work and move ahead -- especially when you need money for school, etc. My mother served as a Lt. Colonel is the U.S. Air Force -- as a doctor -- and had a very positive experience as a woman of color, but her job was very civilian. Does any one know other Asian American women in the military?
Posted by neela at 12:00 PM | Comments (3)
I've been meaning to post this disturbing story for some time.
NORTH POTOMAC, MD -- Less than two weeks into her army training, 22-year-old May Yuen apparently hung herself in the bathroom of her barracks and died. Her family says that they feel that the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s apparent suicide are suspicious and want a full investigation.The U.S. Army is investigating the apparent suicide and will be giving the family a report after the investigation is completed, Maryland Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Bruce F. Tuxill, told the World Journal on March 14.
Yuen was born in New York to parents who were immigrants from Hong Kong. The family moved to the Washington D.C. area when Yuen was a young child. Yuen studied nursing at a community college.
Yuen’s father, Wei-Fong Yuen, said that he had initially opposed his daughter’s decision to enlist in the Army in 2006. But she insisted because she said it would help her pay for tuition and complete her degree. She also wanted to gain practical experience in her field, he said. On Feb. 15, she was assigned to training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
On Feb. 22, Yuen’s family said that she called to say that she had experienced difficulty breathing during a training exercise and reported her health concerns to a commanding officer. According to the family, the officer told Yuen that soldiers live in the army and die in the army.
Yuen suffered from asthma as a child but did not experience any asthma symptoms as an adult, according to Yuen’s aunt. She did not carry any asthma medication with her to Fort Leonard Wood, her aunt says.
On Feb. 27, a representative from the military went to the Yuen family home to notify them of their daughter’s death. Yuen’s father said that the representative said that Yuen was found in the bathroom around 9 p.m. on Feb. 26, apparently having hung herself with a belt. She was given emergency care but was pronounced dead shortly after 10 p.m. The family has not yet received any documentation or a report from the Army regarding their daughter’s case.
This just re-inforces other news stories we have heard over the last few years about the high number of suicides among Asian American females in varying age groups. This article says: "Asian American women between 15 and 24 had the highest number of suicides among all U.S. women in that age group in 2003, with about 3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2005. And Asian American females had the second highest rate of suicide in every other age group."
Yet, the thought of an Asian American woman in the military setting with ZERO support really makes me cringe. Ever since reading Sara Corbett's amazing piece in the NY Times magazine about women in the military I'm even more perplexed about how to process the whole thing. Really disturbing stuff.
As a woman the military does seem like a powerful place to work and move ahead -- especially when you need money for school, etc. My mother served as a Lt. Colonel is the U.S. Air Force -- as a doctor -- and had a very positive experience as a woman of color, but her job was very civilian. Does any one know other Asian American women in the military?
Posted by neela at 12:00 PM | Comments (3)
I've been meaning to post this disturbing story for some time.
NORTH POTOMAC, MD -- Less than two weeks into her army training, 22-year-old May Yuen apparently hung herself in the bathroom of her barracks and died. Her family says that they feel that the circumstances surrounding their daughters apparent suicide are suspicious and want a full investigation.The U.S. Army is investigating the apparent suicide and will be giving the family a report after the investigation is completed, Maryland Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Bruce F. Tuxill, told the World Journal on March 14.
Yuen was born in New York to parents who were immigrants from Hong Kong. The family moved to the Washington D.C. area when Yuen was a young child. Yuen studied nursing at a community college.
Yuens father, Wei-Fong Yuen, said that he had initially opposed his daughters decision to enlist in the Army in 2006. But she insisted because she said it would help her pay for tuition and complete her degree. She also wanted to gain practical experience in her field, he said. On Feb. 15, she was assigned to training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
On Feb. 22, Yuens family said that she called to say that she had experienced difficulty breathing during a training exercise and reported her health concerns to a commanding officer. According to the family, the officer told Yuen that soldiers live in the army and die in the army.
Yuen suffered from asthma as a child but did not experience any asthma symptoms as an adult, according to Yuens aunt. She did not carry any asthma medication with her to Fort Leonard Wood, her aunt says.
On Feb. 27, a representative from the military went to the Yuen family home to notify them of their daughters death. Yuens father said that the representative said that Yuen was found in the bathroom around 9 p.m. on Feb. 26, apparently having hung herself with a belt. She was given emergency care but was pronounced dead shortly after 10 p.m. The family has not yet received any documentation or a report from the Army regarding their daughters case.
This just re-inforces other news stories we have heard over the last few years about the high number of suicides among Asian American females in varying age groups. This article says: "Asian American women between 15 and 24 had the highest number of suicides among all U.S. women in that age group in 2003, with about 3.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2005. And Asian American females had the second highest rate of suicide in every other age group."
Yet, the thought of an Asian American woman in the military setting with ZERO support really makes me cringe. Ever since reading Sara Corbett's amazing piece in the NY Times magazine about women in the military I'm even more perplexed about how to process the whole thing. Really disturbing stuff.
As a woman the military does seem like a powerful place to work and move ahead -- especially when you need money for school, etc. My mother served as a Lt. Colonel is the U.S. Air Force -- as a doctor -- and had a very positive experience as a woman of color, but her job was very civilian. Does any one know other Asian American women in the military?
Posted by neela at 12:00 PM | Comments (3)
Would you take a class from this guy? Kal Penn in Epic Movie.
Actor Kal Penn, Kumar of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, is going to teach two classes at the University of Pennsylvania next year.
Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Modi, will teach Images of Asian Americans in the Media and Contemporary American Teen Films in the Asian American Studies and Cinema Studies departments at Penn.
I just saw (Kal) Penn in The Namesake, where he gave a wonderful serious turn as the main character, Gogol. You could see a little bit of Kumar in the performance and there was one pot-smoking scene, but Penn is definitely showing some dramatic acting chops.
Penn could also be seen recently in the awful, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Epic Movie and he did a few episodes of 24 this season.
Posted by harry at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)
Would you take a class from this guy? Kal Penn in Epic Movie.
Actor Kal Penn, Kumar of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, is going to teach two classes at the University of Pennsylvania next year.
Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Modi, will teach Images of Asian Americans in the Media and Contemporary American Teen Films in the Asian American Studies and Cinema Studies departments at Penn.
I just saw (Kal) Penn in The Namesake, where he gave a wonderful serious turn as the main character, Gogol. You could see a little bit of Kumar in the performance and there was one pot-smoking scene, but Penn is definitely showing some dramatic acting chops.
Penn could also be seen recently in the awful, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Epic Movie and he did a few episodes of 24 this season.
Posted by harry at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)
Would you take a class from this guy? Kal Penn in Epic Movie.
Actor Kal Penn, Kumar of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, is going to teach two classes at the University of Pennsylvania next year.
Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Modi, will teach Images of Asian Americans in the Media and Contemporary American Teen Films in the Asian American Studies and Cinema Studies departments at Penn.
I just saw (Kal) Penn in The Namesake, where he gave a wonderful serious turn as the main character, Gogol. You could see a little bit of Kumar in the performance and there was one pot-smoking scene, but Penn is definitely showing some dramatic acting chops.
Penn could also be seen recently in the awful, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Epic Movie and he did a few episodes of 24 this season.
Posted by harry at 12:28 PM | Comments (4)
I have to give Center for Asian American Media and everybody involved in the 25th SFIAAFF kudos – I think it was an amazing week.
Each film, program and event I attended was thought-provoking, inspiring and downright fun. (Here’s to Han Vodka for the bottomless pineapple-infused vodka martini’s they unraveled my night with at the Closing Party.)
Yet, from the launch party, as I sat too close to a speaker at 111 Minna and excitedly perused the catalog, I have been troubled by something: the lack of (good) South Asian programming.
Of course, as a South Asian American who locates herself as much in Asian America as I do inside my own ethnically-specific community, this feeling of being marginalized is not a new one. I know that it is a challenge to balance the communities in a pan-ethnic concept like Asian America. Chinese and Japanese Americans have a longer history here, a very different history, which allows them to have infiltrated media in a much different way. Take Authur Dong’s feature-length documentary Hollywood Chinese, for instance. It would be impossible to make such a film about South Asian Americans because we have just begun to make an impact in this realm.
But still the festival seemed lacking to me. The South Asian features were limited to the Bollywood remake of Umrao Jaan staring the ubiquitous Aishwarya Rai, Paul Mayeda Berges’ The Mistress of Spices (also starring Rai) and A Dream in Doubt, a documentary about the brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi – the first hate-crime murder victim after 9.11.
Okay, I know that a major Bollywood movie is always screened at the Castro in order for the over-the-top, melodramatic, Technicolor experience to be enjoyed in full Art Deco glory but I just don’t know if it is the best use of the festival’s time and space. I think this remake of the 1981 Umrao Jaan starring the unbeatable Rekha, which is about the woes of a lovely courtesan who falls in love with a nobleman -- kindof like Pretty Woman if Richard Gere’s father had told him he would disown him if he took Julia Roberts’ home –- is terrible. It loses all the heartbreak, elegance and substance of the original and leaves only the period costumes and Rai’s two tearful expressions – tearful joy and tearful anguish. Plus, it was a huge Bollywood hit that has already run at Bay Area Bollywood theaters like the Naz 8 and is widely available at video stores. Why not go for a slightly more obscure yet interesting Bollywood-esque movie like Dor? Featuring Amrao Jaan seemed like slightly lazy programming to me.
And Mistress of Spices. Sigh. I have a personal relationship to this film because my aunt is the author of the novel it was based on and I went to the set in Oakland where the filmmakers were shooting all the Bay Area location shots, where I got to meet Rai and Dylan McDermott (random). I loved this novel when it came out. I thought it was a really interesting mix of magical realism and immigrant stories. And I know director Paul Mayeda Berges used to run the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. And it is a South Asian American feature. I actually saw in on Singapore Airlines on my way back from a trip to India in January. Anyway, I’m not going to say too much: but I think this film was unsuccessful. I think it is very difficult to bring magic to the screen in a way that doesn’t make one roll their eyes, and it just didn’t work for me.
I’m sure Tami Yeager’s A Dream in Doubt was a powerful documentary. But I wasn’t that interested in seeing it, perhaps because I had recently seen Sharat Raju and Valarie Kuar’s Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath, which is also about the Singh Sodhi family, and also about the plight of Sikh Americans after 9.11.
So there it is, the largest International Asian American film festival of it’s kind and no South Asian feature that I *really* wanted to watch. I was bummed. I started thinking a lot about the state of South Asian film and the problem of not having a number of dedicated South Asian programmers at a festival like SFIAAFF.
We all know that there is a huge film industry in India. Bollywood churns out over 1000 films a year, but most of them suck ass. They are known to copy Western films, feature terrible acting and be filled with song-and-dance. (Check out a really interesting discussion over at Sepia Mutiny around Bollywood films and the Oscars from back in January.) But a lot of mainstream Hollywood movies suck ass, too. Just like in American film, if you step a little bit outside the mainstream, you’ll find some of the most incredible movies being made today.
Following in the footsteps of auteur Satyajit Ray, movies coming out of West Bengal – or Kolkata – are truly incredible. These are quieter movies about urban life and radical politics. I’ve heard there are similar small but mind-blowing movies coming out of Kerala, another of India’s communist states. Why are these films not being screened at SFIAAF? Bengali filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta often has films in the San Francisco International Film Festival, why not in the Asian?
Granted, I know nothing about the process for acquiring films but I think that these films would be more thought-provoking and interesting than mainstream South Asian films and showing them would provide more of a service because you can’t get them at the local Indian video store as easily. I urge the programmers of SFIAAFF to try and get a little deeper into South Asian film in order to bring us a richer program.
As for South Asian American film, I’m not sure what’s going on. After the initial wave of South Asian American filmmakers who made a series of identity-crisis films (American Desi, American Chai, ABCD), I am still waiting for the next strong wave. Last year’s Punching at the Sun was a powerful and moving film that captured a different part of our community and I loved it. I was expecting to come back a year later and go to the next level, but was left empty. The empty feeling was especially painful when the festival was full of other (if not great) interesting Asian American films from directors like Justin Lin to Eric Byler and even lesser-known directors -- like Korean American So Yong Kim, who made In Between Days, which was one of the best teen angst films I have ever seen in my life.
But I know there are South Asian filmmakers out there because where they were making their mark at this festival was in the shorts programs. The Third I Shorts program – which always seems to be one of the first things sold out, which shows the South Asian community’s interest – was great. I was really impressed by Vineet Dewan’s Clear Cut, Simple, which deals with the War in Iraq and was exactly the kind of diversity in story that I have been searching for in South Asian film. And to prove my point about Bengali film, my other favorite short was The Naming Ceremony by Konkona Sen, who is the daughter of Aparna Sen Sharma – one of the most celebrated filmmakers coming out of India today. This film, about a family of pickpockets, was really interesting. I know that Ivan Jaigirdar of Third I does a lot of great programming for SFIAAFF and for the Third I festival, but I think it can’t just be one person who is doing all the work.
But even outside of the Third I shorts, there were filmmakers making interesting work like San Francisco filmmaker M.R. Dhar’s Muzak, which opens with an Indian mom scolding her son for failing out of Georgetown and running up hundreds of dollars for phone sex on her credit card, while he only wants to be a techno DJ. This quirky film is exactly what I’ve been searching for: stories about real South Asian Americans dealing with life, failure, family and more.
Anyway, I am hoping that in the following years both the SFIAAFF’s programmers and South Asian American filmmakers get their acts together. Because I’m one hungry audience member who wants more of my people on the big screen.
Anyway, the Third I Shorts Program is playing again Sunday March 25th in San Jose. Go check it out and tell me what you thought about the South Asian representation in the festival.
Posted by neela at 1:54 PM | Comments (8)
I have to give Center for Asian American Media and everybody involved in the 25th SFIAAFF kudos – I think it was an amazing week.
Each film, program and event I attended was thought-provoking, inspiring and downright fun. (Here’s to Han Vodka for the bottomless pineapple-infused vodka martini’s they unraveled my night with at the Closing Party.)
Yet, from the launch party, as I sat too close to a speaker at 111 Minna and excitedly perused the catalog, I have been troubled by something: the lack of (good) South Asian programming.
Of course, as a South Asian American who locates herself as much in Asian America as I do inside my own ethnically-specific community, this feeling of being marginalized is not a new one. I know that it is a challenge to balance the communities in a pan-ethnic concept like Asian America. Chinese and Japanese Americans have a longer history here, a very different history, which allows them to have infiltrated media in a much different way. Take Authur Dong’s feature-length documentary Hollywood Chinese, for instance. It would be impossible to make such a film about South Asian Americans because we have just begun to make an impact in this realm.
But still the festival seemed lacking to me. The South Asian features were limited to the Bollywood remake of Umrao Jaan staring the ubiquitous Aishwarya Rai, Paul Mayeda Berges’ The Mistress of Spices (also starring Rai) and A Dream in Doubt, a documentary about the brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi – the first hate-crime murder victim after 9.11.
Okay, I know that a major Bollywood movie is always screened at the Castro in order for the over-the-top, melodramatic, Technicolor experience to be enjoyed in full Art Deco glory but I just don’t know if it is the best use of the festival’s time and space. I think this remake of the 1981 Umrao Jaan starring the unbeatable Rekha, which is about the woes of a lovely courtesan who falls in love with a nobleman -- kindof like Pretty Woman if Richard Gere’s father had told him he would disown him if he took Julia Roberts’ home –- is terrible. It loses all the heartbreak, elegance and substance of the original and leaves only the period costumes and Rai’s two tearful expressions – tearful joy and tearful anguish. Plus, it was a huge Bollywood hit that has already run at Bay Area Bollywood theaters like the Naz 8 and is widely available at video stores. Why not go for a slightly more obscure yet interesting Bollywood-esque movie like Dor? Featuring Amrao Jaan seemed like slightly lazy programming to me.
And Mistress of Spices. Sigh. I have a personal relationship to this film because my aunt is the author of the novel it was based on and I went to the set in Oakland where the filmmakers were shooting all the Bay Area location shots, where I got to meet Rai and Dylan McDermott (random). I loved this novel when it came out. I thought it was a really interesting mix of magical realism and immigrant stories. And I know director Paul Mayeda Berges used to run the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. And it is a South Asian American feature. I actually saw in on Singapore Airlines on my way back from a trip to India in January. Anyway, I’m not going to say too much: but I think this film was unsuccessful. I think it is very difficult to bring magic to the screen in a way that doesn’t make one roll their eyes, and it just didn’t work for me.
I’m sure Tami Yeager’s A Dream in Doubt was a powerful documentary. But I wasn’t that interested in seeing it, perhaps because I had recently seen Sharat Raju and Valarie Kuar’s Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath, which is also about the Singh Sodhi family, and also about the plight of Sikh Americans after 9.11.
So there it is, the largest International Asian American film festival of it’s kind and no South Asian feature that I *really* wanted to watch. I was bummed. I started thinking a lot about the state of South Asian film and the problem of not having a number of dedicated South Asian programmers at a festival like SFIAAFF.
We all know that there is a huge film industry in India. Bollywood churns out over 1000 films a year, but most of them suck ass. They are known to copy Western films, feature terrible acting and be filled with song-and-dance. (Check out a really interesting discussion over at Sepia Mutiny around Bollywood films and the Oscars from back in January.) But a lot of mainstream Hollywood movies suck ass, too. Just like in American film, if you step a little bit outside the mainstream, you’ll find some of the most incredible movies being made today.
Following in the footsteps of auteur Satyajit Ray, movies coming out of West Bengal – or Kolkata – are truly incredible. These are quieter movies about urban life and radical politics. I’ve heard there are similar small but mind-blowing movies coming out of Kerala, another of India’s communist states. Why are these films not being screened at SFIAAF? Bengali filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta often has films in the San Francisco International Film Festival, why not in the Asian?
Granted, I know nothing about the process for acquiring films but I think that these films would be more thought-provoking and interesting than mainstream South Asian films and showing them would provide more of a service because you can’t get them at the local Indian video store as easily. I urge the programmers of SFIAAFF to try and get a little deeper into South Asian film in order to bring us a richer program.
As for South Asian American film, I’m not sure what’s going on. After the initial wave of South Asian American filmmakers who made a series of identity-crisis films (American Desi, American Chai, ABCD), I am still waiting for the next strong wave. Last year’s Punching at the Sun was a powerful and moving film that captured a different part of our community and I loved it. I was expecting to come back a year later and go to the next level, but was left empty. The empty feeling was especially painful when the festival was full of other (if not great) interesting Asian American films from directors like Justin Lin to Eric Byler and even lesser-known directors -- like Korean American So Yong Kim, who made In Between Days, which was one of the best teen angst films I have ever seen in my life.
But I know there are South Asian filmmakers out there because where they were making their mark at this festival was in the shorts programs. The Third I Shorts program – which always seems to be one of the first things sold out, which shows the South Asian community’s interest – was great. I was really impressed by Vineet Dewan’s Clear Cut, Simple, which deals with the War in Iraq and was exactly the kind of diversity in story that I have been searching for in South Asian film. And to prove my point about Bengali film, my other favorite short was The Naming Ceremony by Konkona Sen, who is the daughter of Aparna Sen Sharma – one of the most celebrated filmmakers coming out of India today. This film, about a family of pickpockets, was really interesting. I know that Ivan Jaigirdar of Third I does a lot of great programming for SFIAAFF and for the Third I festival, but I think it can’t just be one person who is doing all the work.
But even outside of the Third I shorts, there were filmmakers making interesting work like San Francisco filmmaker M.R. Dhar’s Muzak, which opens with an Indian mom scolding her son for failing out of Georgetown and running up hundreds of dollars for phone sex on her credit card, while he only wants to be a techno DJ. This quirky film is exactly what I’ve been searching for: stories about real South Asian Americans dealing with life, failure, family and more.
Anyway, I am hoping that in the following years both the SFIAAFF’s programmers and South Asian American filmmakers get their acts together. Because I’m one hungry audience member who wants more of my people on the big screen.
Anyway, the Third I Shorts Program is playing again Sunday March 25th in San Jose. Go check it out and tell me what you thought about the South Asian representation in the festival.
Posted by neela at 1:54 PM | Comments (8)
I have to give Center for Asian American Media and everybody involved in the 25th SFIAAFF kudos I think it was an amazing week.
Each film, program and event I attended was thought-provoking, inspiring and downright fun. (Heres to Han Vodka for the bottomless pineapple-infused vodka martinis they unraveled my night with at the Closing Party.)
Yet, from the launch party, as I sat too close to a speaker at 111 Minna and excitedly perused the catalog, I have been troubled by something: the lack of (good) South Asian programming.
Of course, as a South Asian American who locates herself as much in Asian America as I do inside my own ethnically-specific community, this feeling of being marginalized is not a new one. I know that it is a challenge to balance the communities in a pan-ethnic concept like Asian America. Chinese and Japanese Americans have a longer history here, a very different history, which allows them to have infiltrated media in a much different way. Take Authur Dongs feature-length documentary Hollywood Chinese, for instance. It would be impossible to make such a film about South Asian Americans because we have just begun to make an impact in this realm.
But still the festival seemed lacking to me. The South Asian features were limited to the Bollywood remake of Umrao Jaan staring the ubiquitous Aishwarya Rai, Paul Mayeda Berges The Mistress of Spices (also starring Rai) and A Dream in Doubt, a documentary about the brother of Balbir Singh Sodhi the first hate-crime murder victim after 9.11.
Okay, I know that a major Bollywood movie is always screened at the Castro in order for the over-the-top, melodramatic, Technicolor experience to be enjoyed in full Art Deco glory but I just dont know if it is the best use of the festivals time and space. I think this remake of the 1981 Umrao Jaan starring the unbeatable Rekha, which is about the woes of a lovely courtesan who falls in love with a nobleman -- kindof like Pretty Woman if Richard Geres father had told him he would disown him if he took Julia Roberts home - is terrible. It loses all the heartbreak, elegance and substance of the original and leaves only the period costumes and Rais two tearful expressions tearful joy and tearful anguish. Plus, it was a huge Bollywood hit that has already run at Bay Area Bollywood theaters like the Naz 8 and is widely available at video stores. Why not go for a slightly more obscure yet interesting Bollywood-esque movie like Dor? Featuring Amrao Jaan seemed like slightly lazy programming to me.
And Mistress of Spices. Sigh. I have a personal relationship to this film because my aunt is the author of the novel it was based on and I went to the set in Oakland where the filmmakers were shooting all the Bay Area location shots, where I got to meet Rai and Dylan McDermott (random). I loved this novel when it came out. I thought it was a really interesting mix of magical realism and immigrant stories. And I know director Paul Mayeda Berges used to run the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival. And it is a South Asian American feature. I actually saw in on Singapore Airlines on my way back from a trip to India in January. Anyway, Im not going to say too much: but I think this film was unsuccessful. I think it is very difficult to bring magic to the screen in a way that doesnt make one roll their eyes, and it just didnt work for me.
Im sure Tami Yeagers A Dream in Doubt was a powerful documentary. But I wasnt that interested in seeing it, perhaps because I had recently seen Sharat Raju and Valarie Kuars Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath, which is also about the Singh Sodhi family, and also about the plight of Sikh Americans after 9.11.
So there it is, the largest International Asian American film festival of its kind and no South Asian feature that I *really* wanted to watch. I was bummed. I started thinking a lot about the state of South Asian film and the problem of not having a number of dedicated South Asian programmers at a festival like SFIAAFF.
We all know that there is a huge film industry in India. Bollywood churns out over 1000 films a year, but most of them suck ass. They are known to copy Western films, feature terrible acting and be filled with song-and-dance. (Check out a really interesting discussion over at Sepia Mutiny around Bollywood films and the Oscars from back in January.) But a lot of mainstream Hollywood movies suck ass, too. Just like in American film, if you step a little bit outside the mainstream, youll find some of the most incredible movies being made today.
Following in the footsteps of auteur Satyajit Ray, movies coming out of West Bengal or Kolkata are truly incredible. These are quieter movies about urban life and radical politics. Ive heard there are similar small but mind-blowing movies coming out of Kerala, another of Indias communist states. Why are these films not being screened at SFIAAF? Bengali filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta often has films in the San Francisco International Film Festival, why not in the Asian?
Granted, I know nothing about the process for acquiring films but I think that these films would be more thought-provoking and interesting than mainstream South Asian films and showing them would provide more of a service because you cant get them at the local Indian video store as easily. I urge the programmers of SFIAAFF to try and get a little deeper into South Asian film in order to bring us a richer program.
As for South Asian American film, Im not sure whats going on. After the initial wave of South Asian American filmmakers who made a series of identity-crisis films (American Desi, American Chai, ABCD), I am still waiting for the next strong wave. Last years Punching at the Sun was a powerful and moving film that captured a different part of our community and I loved it. I was expecting to come back a year later and go to the next level, but was left empty. The empty feeling was especially painful when the festival was full of other (if not great) interesting Asian American films from directors like Justin Lin to Eric Byler and even lesser-known directors -- like Korean American So Yong Kim, who made In Between Days, which was one of the best teen angst films I have ever seen in my life.
But I know there are South Asian filmmakers out there because where they were making their mark at this festival was in the shorts programs. The Third I Shorts program which always seems to be one of the first things sold out, which shows the South Asian communitys interest was great. I was really impressed by Vineet Dewans Clear Cut, Simple, which deals with the War in Iraq and was exactly the kind of diversity in story that I have been searching for in South Asian film. And to prove my point about Bengali film, my other favorite short was The Naming Ceremony by Konkona Sen, who is the daughter of Aparna Sen Sharma one of the most celebrated filmmakers coming out of India today. This film, about a family of pickpockets, was really interesting. I know that Ivan Jaigirdar of Third I does a lot of great programming for SFIAAFF and for the Third I festival, but I think it cant just be one person who is doing all the work.
But even outside of the Third I shorts, there were filmmakers making interesting work like San Francisco filmmaker M.R. Dhars Muzak, which opens with an Indian mom scolding her son for failing out of Georgetown and running up hundreds of dollars for phone sex on her credit card, while he only wants to be a techno DJ. This quirky film is exactly what Ive been searching for: stories about real South Asian Americans dealing with life, failure, family and more.
Anyway, I am hoping that in the following years both the SFIAAFFs programmers and South Asian American filmmakers get their acts together. Because Im one hungry audience member who wants more of my people on the big screen.
Anyway, the Third I Shorts Program is playing again Sunday March 25th in San Jose. Go check it out and tell me what you thought about the South Asian representation in the festival.
Posted by neela at 1:54 PM | Comments (8)
So I have been thinking about what to write for this blog entry for a couple of days. As a Hyphen blogger/editor and usual attendee of the film festival, I decided to watch some screeners of films from this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and blog about them.
Footage from Oh, Saigon, dir. Doan Hoang.
Partly to review some films for our blog readers and also for myself, since this year's festival coincides with the birth of my baby. Knowing that I couldn't/wouldn't attend any of the actual events and films, I selfishly hoarded a bunch of media screeners. Yeah!
Among those films are Ghosts, Shanghai Kiss, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani (which I had time to blog about while I was still pregnant) and also Owl and the Sparrow.
(Yeah, I know, pretty ambitious considering now I barely have time to take a pee break between breastfeeding. Whatever you're thinking right now is fine. All I know is this says a couple of things about me and the film festival, or rather just about me: the film fest is important to me for a whole slew of reasons which I can't expound on right now - and that maybe I'm not too grounded in reality, but whatever).
I know blog entries are supposed to be a person's commentary and opinion and such, and I know also that film critics/reviews are generally pretty intelligent or at least well written, but bear with me 'cause I really don't feel like I have anything intelligent to say about the films.
Not to say that the films I screened aren't worth watching; quite the contrary! Well, with the exception of one of the films. Ghosts, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani and Owl are all quite good.
Without going into much detail, I'll leave it up to the film festival's own writers/reviewers and their descriptions. Actually, I find that most of their descriptions of the films are pretty accurate, since that's how I decided what films I wanted to screen anyway.
Shanghai Kiss (playing Friday in San Jose) - well, the acting is pretty good but the script is just a little unbelievable. Praise for making an Asian American feature-length narrative, but it does just fall short of my expectations. I have a feeling both shows are sold out 'cause the supposed premise is a love connection between two Asian/Americans - and it stars Kelly Hu.
Owl and the Sparrow is also a little hard to believe but the story is just so beautiful and the little girl actor so endearing, that it doesn't really matter. The characters: an awkward zookeeper, an awkward flight attendant, and a sharp little orphan girl - can't beat that!
Ghosts (playing today in SF) is not about Asian Americans but rather undocumented Chinese immigrants in England, but the experience is pretty "universal." It's not a documentary but it is based on a true story and is just an amazing film if you care at all about people. It sort of reminds me of Fast Food Nation, another good film that few people saw, that people thought was a documentary - both focus on the plight of undocumented workers.
Oh, Saigon (playing today in SF and Sunday in San Jose) is, like Cats (playing Saturday in San Jose), a lot about discovery through the process of filmmaking. It's pretty cool since the director, Doan Hoang, documents her family. It's hidden family secrets, crazy family dynamics and all that juicy stuff tied into politics and more. Good, real life lesson on conflict resolution, something I think anyone can relate to, but this is specifically about a Vietnamese family living in the midwest and their return to visit Vietnam and the rest of the family that didn't leave.
...
Visit the film festival's website for more information on when the films are playing, where and how to get tickets.
Posted by momo at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)
So I have been thinking about what to write for this blog entry for a couple of days. As a Hyphen blogger/editor and usual attendee of the film festival, I decided to watch some screeners of films from this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and blog about them.
Footage from Oh, Saigon, dir. Doan Hoang.
Partly to review some films for our blog readers and also for myself, since this year's festival coincides with the birth of my baby. Knowing that I couldn't/wouldn't attend any of the actual events and films, I selfishly hoarded a bunch of media screeners. Yeah!
Among those films are Ghosts, Shanghai Kiss, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani (which I had time to blog about while I was still pregnant) and also Owl and the Sparrow.
(Yeah, I know, pretty ambitious considering now I barely have time to take a pee break between breastfeeding. Whatever you're thinking right now is fine. All I know is this says a couple of things about me and the film festival, or rather just about me: the film fest is important to me for a whole slew of reasons which I can't expound on right now - and that maybe I'm not too grounded in reality, but whatever).
I know blog entries are supposed to be a person's commentary and opinion and such, and I know also that film critics/reviews are generally pretty intelligent or at least well written, but bear with me 'cause I really don't feel like I have anything intelligent to say about the films.
Not to say that the films I screened aren't worth watching; quite the contrary! Well, with the exception of one of the films. Ghosts, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani and Owl are all quite good.
Without going into much detail, I'll leave it up to the film festival's own writers/reviewers and their descriptions. Actually, I find that most of their descriptions of the films are pretty accurate, since that's how I decided what films I wanted to screen anyway.
Shanghai Kiss (playing Friday in San Jose) - well, the acting is pretty good but the script is just a little unbelievable. Praise for making an Asian American feature-length narrative, but it does just fall short of my expectations. I have a feeling both shows are sold out 'cause the supposed premise is a love connection between two Asian/Americans - and it stars Kelly Hu.
Owl and the Sparrow is also a little hard to believe but the story is just so beautiful and the little girl actor so endearing, that it doesn't really matter. The characters: an awkward zookeeper, an awkward flight attendant, and a sharp little orphan girl - can't beat that!
Ghosts (playing today in SF) is not about Asian Americans but rather undocumented Chinese immigrants in England, but the experience is pretty "universal." It's not a documentary but it is based on a true story and is just an amazing film if you care at all about people. It sort of reminds me of Fast Food Nation, another good film that few people saw, that people thought was a documentary - both focus on the plight of undocumented workers.
Oh, Saigon (playing today in SF and Sunday in San Jose) is, like Cats (playing Saturday in San Jose), a lot about discovery through the process of filmmaking. It's pretty cool since the director, Doan Hoang, documents her family. It's hidden family secrets, crazy family dynamics and all that juicy stuff tied into politics and more. Good, real life lesson on conflict resolution, something I think anyone can relate to, but this is specifically about a Vietnamese family living in the midwest and their return to visit Vietnam and the rest of the family that didn't leave.
...
Visit the film festival's website for more information on when the films are playing, where and how to get tickets.
Posted by momo at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)
So I have been thinking about what to write for this blog entry for a couple of days. As a Hyphen blogger/editor and usual attendee of the film festival, I decided to watch some screeners of films from this year's San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and blog about them.
Footage from Oh, Saigon, dir. Doan Hoang.
Partly to review some films for our blog readers and also for myself, since this year's festival coincides with the birth of my baby. Knowing that I couldn't/wouldn't attend any of the actual events and films, I selfishly hoarded a bunch of media screeners. Yeah!
Among those films are Ghosts, Shanghai Kiss, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani (which I had time to blog about while I was still pregnant) and also Owl and the Sparrow.
(Yeah, I know, pretty ambitious considering now I barely have time to take a pee break between breastfeeding. Whatever you're thinking right now is fine. All I know is this says a couple of things about me and the film festival, or rather just about me: the film fest is important to me for a whole slew of reasons which I can't expound on right now - and that maybe I'm not too grounded in reality, but whatever).
I know blog entries are supposed to be a person's commentary and opinion and such, and I know also that film critics/reviews are generally pretty intelligent or at least well written, but bear with me 'cause I really don't feel like I have anything intelligent to say about the films.
Not to say that the films I screened aren't worth watching; quite the contrary! Well, with the exception of one of the films. Ghosts, Oh, Saigon, Cats of Mirikitani and Owl are all quite good.
Without going into much detail, I'll leave it up to the film festival's own writers/reviewers and their descriptions. Actually, I find that most of their descriptions of the films are pretty accurate, since that's how I decided what films I wanted to screen anyway.
Shanghai Kiss (playing Friday in San Jose) - well, the acting is pretty good but the script is just a little unbelievable. Praise for making an Asian American feature-length narrative, but it does just fall short of my expectations. I have a feeling both shows are sold out 'cause the supposed premise is a love connection between two Asian/Americans - and it stars Kelly Hu.
Owl and the Sparrow is also a little hard to believe but the story is just so beautiful and the little girl actor so endearing, that it doesn't really matter. The characters: an awkward zookeeper, an awkward flight attendant, and a sharp little orphan girl - can't beat that!
Ghosts (playing today in SF) is not about Asian Americans but rather undocumented Chinese immigrants in England, but the experience is pretty "universal." It's not a documentary but it is based on a true story and is just an amazing film if you care at all about people. It sort of reminds me of Fast Food Nation, another good film that few people saw, that people thought was a documentary - both focus on the plight of undocumented workers.
Oh, Saigon (playing today in SF and Sunday in San Jose) is, like Cats (playing Saturday in San Jose), a lot about discovery through the process of filmmaking. It's pretty cool since the director, Doan Hoang, documents her family. It's hidden family secrets, crazy family dynamics and all that juicy stuff tied into politics and more. Good, real life lesson on conflict resolution, something I think anyone can relate to, but this is specifically about a Vietnamese family living in the midwest and their return to visit Vietnam and the rest of the family that didn't leave.
...
Visit the film festival's website for more information on when the films are playing, where and how to get tickets.
Posted by momo at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)
This year's SFIAAFF features two creepshows set in the Philippines: Ang Pamana and Blackout. A fellow Hyphen staffer who had lived in the Philippines assured me one day via chat that, second to romances, horror films are plenty. "A LOT," he typed out.
"based on filipino superstitions," i had entered, regarding Ang Pamana.
"yeah it's crazy... a lot of people actually believe those superstitions
but coz of witchcraft and black magic sometimes it's hard not to believe
after living 3 months in the philippines
i just don't question it anymore
haha"
I later told a Filipino co-worker that I had seen Ang Pamana, which was directed by Romeo Candido. "Pamana?" he says. "What you get when someone dies?"
"Yeah, 'The Inheritance.' This brother [Johnny] and sister [Anna] living in Canada go to the Philippines when their grandma [Mama Lola] dies," I explain.
"And what, they go to the hacienda?" I guess 'going to the hacienda' is another common thing. Like horror movies.
So what do you get when you combine a return of some second-generation kids to the ancestral hacienda with a well-developed tradition of superstitions? A freaky-ass story, that's what!
A slow start had me antsy, but later on I found myself totally absorbed by the demented world it sets up. After the movie ended I experienced one of those moments when you're scared to look in the bathroom mirror because there might be a supernatural being hanging out behind you.
Directed by Ato Bautista, the Filipino film Blackout is a beast of a different nature. A cautionary tale about an alcoholic father, Gil (Robin Padilla), whose wife has left him and their small son Nino (John Michael Reyes) behind, the film's title emblematizes his persistent lapses in time and memory. Taking place almost exclusively within the confines of an apartment complex, Blackout brilliantly executes a sickly claustrophobia in the meanest of existences.
Nino, who is prescient beyond his years, keeps asking his father to stop drinking. Of course, Gil always promises that he will. One night, Gil revives from one of his blackouts to discover that he's run over his neighbor's little daughter. To cover up her death, he sticks her body in the septic tank of an empty apartment in the complex that he owns. He's unable to leave the matter behind, though, when Nino begins talking to her.
I wish that I hadn't accidentally read a spoiler, so I won't do you that disservice. Instead, I'll tell you that this film is devastating: the horror of Blackout has less to do with monsters so much as pathetic parents and the missteps of which they are capable.
SFIAAFF film detail for Blackout
Ang Pamana website
SFIAAFF film detail for Ang Pamana
+ Ang Pamana plays tonight at 9:45pm, AMC Van Ness, San Francisco
Posted by rebecca at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
This year's SFIAAFF features two creepshows set in the Philippines: Ang Pamana and Blackout. A fellow Hyphen staffer who had lived in the Philippines assured me one day via chat that, second to romances, horror films are plenty. "A LOT," he typed out.
"based on filipino superstitions," i had entered, regarding Ang Pamana.
"yeah it's crazy... a lot of people actually believe those superstitions
but coz of witchcraft and black magic sometimes it's hard not to believe
after living 3 months in the philippines
i just don't question it anymore
haha"
I later told a Filipino co-worker that I had seen Ang Pamana, which was directed by Romeo Candido. "Pamana?" he says. "What you get when someone dies?"
"Yeah, 'The Inheritance.' This brother [Johnny] and sister [Anna] living in Canada go to the Philippines when their grandma [Mama Lola] dies," I explain.
"And what, they go to the hacienda?" I guess 'going to the hacienda' is another common thing. Like horror movies.
So what do you get when you combine a return of some second-generation kids to the ancestral hacienda with a well-developed tradition of superstitions? A freaky-ass story, that's what!
A slow start had me antsy, but later on I found myself totally absorbed by the demented world it sets up. After the movie ended I experienced one of those moments when you're scared to look in the bathroom mirror because there might be a supernatural being hanging out behind you.
Directed by Ato Bautista, the Filipino film Blackout is a beast of a different nature. A cautionary tale about an alcoholic father, Gil (Robin Padilla), whose wife has left him and their small son Nino (John Michael Reyes) behind, the film's title emblematizes his persistent lapses in time and memory. Taking place almost exclusively within the confines of an apartment complex, Blackout brilliantly executes a sickly claustrophobia in the meanest of existences.
Nino, who is prescient beyond his years, keeps asking his father to stop drinking. Of course, Gil always promises that he will. One night, Gil revives from one of his blackouts to discover that he's run over his neighbor's little daughter. To cover up her death, he sticks her body in the septic tank of an empty apartment in the complex that he owns. He's unable to leave the matter behind, though, when Nino begins talking to her.
I wish that I hadn't accidentally read a spoiler, so I won't do you that disservice. Instead, I'll tell you that this film is devastating: the horror of Blackout has less to do with monsters so much as pathetic parents and the missteps of which they are capable.
SFIAAFF film detail for Blackout
Ang Pamana website
SFIAAFF film detail for Ang Pamana
+ Ang Pamana plays tonight at 9:45pm, AMC Van Ness, San Francisco
Posted by rebecca at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
This year's SFIAAFF features two creepshows set in the Philippines: Ang Pamana and Blackout. A fellow Hyphen staffer who had lived in the Philippines assured me one day via chat that, second to romances, horror films are plenty. "A LOT," he typed out.
"based on filipino superstitions," i had entered, regarding Ang Pamana.
"yeah it's crazy... a lot of people actually believe those superstitions
but coz of witchcraft and black magic sometimes it's hard not to believe
after living 3 months in the philippines
i just don't question it anymore
haha"
I later told a Filipino co-worker that I had seen Ang Pamana, which was directed by Romeo Candido. "Pamana?" he says. "What you get when someone dies?"
"Yeah, 'The Inheritance.' This brother [Johnny] and sister [Anna] living in Canada go to the Philippines when their grandma [Mama Lola] dies," I explain.
"And what, they go to the hacienda?" I guess 'going to the hacienda' is another common thing. Like horror movies.
So what do you get when you combine a return of some second-generation kids to the ancestral hacienda with a well-developed tradition of superstitions? A freaky-ass story, that's what!
A slow start had me antsy, but later on I found myself totally absorbed by the demented world it sets up. After the movie ended I experienced one of those moments when you're scared to look in the bathroom mirror because there might be a supernatural being hanging out behind you.
Directed by Ato Bautista, the Filipino film Blackout is a beast of a different nature. A cautionary tale about an alcoholic father, Gil (Robin Padilla), whose wife has left him and their small son Nino (John Michael Reyes) behind, the film's title emblematizes his persistent lapses in time and memory. Taking place almost exclusively within the confines of an apartment complex, Blackout brilliantly executes a sickly claustrophobia in the meanest of existences.
Nino, who is prescient beyond his years, keeps asking his father to stop drinking. Of course, Gil always promises that he will. One night, Gil revives from one of his blackouts to discover that he's run over his neighbor's little daughter. To cover up her death, he sticks her body in the septic tank of an empty apartment in the complex that he owns. He's unable to leave the matter behind, though, when Nino begins talking to her.
I wish that I hadn't accidentally read a spoiler, so I won't do you that disservice. Instead, I'll tell you that this film is devastating: the horror of Blackout has less to do with monsters so much as pathetic parents and the missteps of which they are capable.
SFIAAFF film detail for Blackout
Ang Pamana website
SFIAAFF film detail for Ang Pamana
+ Ang Pamana plays tonight at 9:45pm, AMC Van Ness, San Francisco
Posted by rebecca at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
So, I’m not sure if anyone watched the reality show – or docu-soap – I’m From Rolling Stone on MTV, most people didn’t.
I saw every episode because one of my closest friends was on it and it was a reality show about being a journalist.
I guess MTV figured out quick that people would much rather watch The Real World kids get drunk and screw than seeing the daily inner workings of a major music magazine, because the show got moved to Sunday at 11 p.m. and sometimes wasn’t even on at all. Truth be told, as most of you who work in journalism know, the job usually involves a lot of sitting around in front of your computers and talking on the phone. I think having a reality show about Hyphen would be more interesting because we're starting up and not as corporate. What do you think? Should I pitch it to these guys? It will probably have to involve some sort of competition.
Anyway, the final episode was last night and Krishtine De Leon, a Filipina American from the Bay Area, won the job as a contributing editor.
Krish, as she is known, has been much maligned and sometimes talks back. She definitely became that cast member that you love to hate. But I have to say, knowing that a Filipina American woman who specializes in hip hop reporting is working at Rolling Stone, which my friend said was pretty much all white people, is pretty cool. (I mean, Russell should have won but he was a little too Hunter Thompson for them.)
Not only is Krish a serious journalist, but sometimes when I’m bored at work I listen to some of the songs from her band: The Rhapsodistas. “Married to the Hustle” is almost as catchy as Tila Tequila’s Fuck Ya Man, but not quite.
Posted by neela at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)
So, I’m not sure if anyone watched the reality show – or docu-soap – I’m From Rolling Stone on MTV, most people didn’t.
I saw every episode because one of my closest friends was on it and it was a reality show about being a journalist.
I guess MTV figured out quick that people would much rather watch The Real World kids get drunk and screw than seeing the daily inner workings of a major music magazine, because the show got moved to Sunday at 11 p.m. and sometimes wasn’t even on at all. Truth be told, as most of you who work in journalism know, the job usually involves a lot of sitting around in front of your computers and talking on the phone. I think having a reality show about Hyphen would be more interesting because we're starting up and not as corporate. What do you think? Should I pitch it to these guys? It will probably have to involve some sort of competition.
Anyway, the final episode was last night and Krishtine De Leon, a Filipina American from the Bay Area, won the job as a contributing editor.
Krish, as she is known, has been much maligned and sometimes talks back. She definitely became that cast member that you love to hate. But I have to say, knowing that a Filipina American woman who specializes in hip hop reporting is working at Rolling Stone, which my friend said was pretty much all white people, is pretty cool. (I mean, Russell should have won but he was a little too Hunter Thompson for them.)
Not only is Krish a serious journalist, but sometimes when I’m bored at work I listen to some of the songs from her band: The Rhapsodistas. “Married to the Hustle” is almost as catchy as Tila Tequila’s Fuck Ya Man, but not quite.
Posted by neela at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)
So, Im not sure if anyone watched the reality show or docu-soap Im From Rolling Stone on MTV, most people didnt.
I saw every episode because one of my closest friends was on it and it was a reality show about being a journalist.
I guess MTV figured out quick that people would much rather watch The Real World kids get drunk and screw than seeing the daily inner workings of a major music magazine, because the show got moved to Sunday at 11 p.m. and sometimes wasnt even on at all. Truth be told, as most of you who work in journalism know, the job usually involves a lot of sitting around in front of your computers and talking on the phone. I think having a reality show about Hyphen would be more interesting because we're starting up and not as corporate. What do you think? Should I pitch it to these guys? It will probably have to involve some sort of competition.
Anyway, the final episode was last night and Krishtine De Leon, a Filipina American from the Bay Area, won the job as a contributing editor.
Krish, as she is known, has been much maligned and sometimes talks back. She definitely became that cast member that you love to hate. But I have to say, knowing that a Filipina American woman who specializes in hip hop reporting is working at Rolling Stone, which my friend said was pretty much all white people, is pretty cool. (I mean, Russell should have won but he was a little too Hunter Thompson for them.)
Not only is Krish a serious journalist, but sometimes when Im bored at work I listen to some of the songs from her band: The Rhapsodistas. Married to the Hustle is almost as catchy as Tila Tequilas Fuck Ya Man, but not quite.
Posted by neela at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)
Anoushka Shankar talks to Mr. Hyphen (photos courtesy of Pamela Springsteen and Capitol Records)
Anoushka Shankar, daughter of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, was barely 12 years old when she decided to dedicate her life to sitar. Shankar, now 25, grew up in London, India and San Diego. The eclectic and international collection of cities she calls home reflects vibrantly in her open approach to playing sitar, both classically and in contemporary formats. She says living in the United States, where lineage isn’t the ultimate parameter for success, gave her more permission to define her own path. That permission is an extension of her father’s own pioneering approach to bringing north Indian classical music to new audiences in the west. He was among the first classically trained musicians to be embraced by Western audiences, thanks primarily to his connection with George Harrison of The Beatles. Performing milestone concerts at Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival, Ravi Shankar presented classical north Indian music in the landscape of a rapidly changing American pop culture. His extensive knowledge, virtuosity and his ability to eloquently educate Western audiences combined with an openness to experiment were critical to bringing new audiences to classical north Indian music. I had a chance to talk with Anoushka while she was touring through the western United States performing classical sitar and also promoting her new album Rise (available on Angel Records here).
I have always been inspired by the music of you and your family, thanks again for speaking with me and Hyphen Magazine. Where did you grow up? What are your earliest musical memories?
I grew up initially in London, and so the music I remember growing up to at the beginning of my life was a mix of different styles of Indian music that I was hearing through my mother, which of course included my father, but she was involved in the arts scene which also included many different artists from the north and south of India that I used to see performing, that I grew up getting to know…there was also a lot of western classical music in our home, and as I grew up to maybe 5 or 6 years old, and I started becoming aware that I was living in London in the eighties…so there was a lot of pop music going on. Those are the major musical things, I would say, that I remember going on: very mainstream pop of the time, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, western classical and Indian classical music!
Tell me about your initial study with your father, what was it like in the beginning?
I didn’t start studying with him until I was about 8 years old. My parents only got married when I was 7. So it was only after that I started getting a lot more time with him. Before I would only see him maybe a day or a few days a year as he traveled through London. That is really when everything changed dramatically for me and I also became more directly exposed to his music, of course.
Anoushka studying with her father, Ravi Shankar
Was it a personal decision for you to study this music?
It was kind of a half decision that we all made, with me being as young as I was…my parents were keen for me to give it a shot, and I was open to it as well, but no one really wanted to say that it was something as serious as a possible career, or anything like that, and my parents were quite wise with that, that they approached it as a very fun thing that I could try, and made it very clear that I could always stop if I didn’t have the natural inclination for it, so I would say that the first couple of years were very easy. The lessons themselves may have had a certain level of seriousness or implication about them, because of the traditional and ancient style…but the approach was very easygoing, so I wasn’t necessarily too scared of what it all meant.
What kind of classical western music did you study when you were younger?
Piano.
I know that you moved to San Diego at a young age. What was that experience like, moving to the USA from England?
It happened when I was eleven. It was pretty dramatic. I grew up partly in India before that as well and I continued to retain a connection there. But, shifting at that age was very dramatic, because it is such a formative age. It had less of a connection to culture and more to do with just being young in a different place. The outgoing nature, for the most part, of young children here affected me greatly…I was pretty shy before I moved here. Moving here [to the USA] and being in junior high school really opened me a lot to finding my own voice. It was an amazing experience.
When did it become clear that you were going to pursue studying the music on a professional level?
By the time I was twelve, since I started performing at age 13, so the transition had definitely been made…but I was guarded about it. I definitely expressed that I loved it, and that I thought I wanted it to be a career, but I felt it was too frightening to commit at that age, and say “yes” this is what I want to be doing…so I was giving it more of my time, my attention and my energy, but I still don’t think I embraced it wholeheartedly for a few years after then.
Did you ever feel overwhelmed by the intensity of the approach to learning classical north Indian music? At such a young age, how did the knowledge of your father’s place in north Indian classical music and his own intensive study of sitar affect your decision to go more deeply into your study of the music?
It was partly the lineage you touched upon earlier, and also being at that level even at an early age. You are very well aware of what that means when you tell people that you are taking on that profession…the battle you have to go through for that, whether it is having to prove yourself constantly or that you deserve the opportunities you have had, or any of those things...but outside of that, even on a more intrinsic level, the commitment this music requires, the level of knowledge one requires. This music, it requires so much, because of its immensity, because of its anciency, if that is a word…there is just so much dedication that it requires, and that in itself is frightening, and I still go through tussles with that, because I love it as passionately as I do, but when you are tied to something so immense, so big, with so many rules, so many regulations, sometimes, it can be overwhelming. Definitely as a twelve year old, you are thinking, do I really want to set myself up to this?
Were there major differences from the way that your father was taught and how you were taught?
Absolutely, and in a lot of ways his was a very different world from what i was experiencing being taught this music. I may have had a level of seriousness and application, that my father wouldn’t have demanded less than, to learn music like this...but it is not the same situation of him having to leave everything and go to a village like Maihar and practice everyday 16 - 18 hours everyday for seven years...that old world hardly exists anymore. It is there in some senses, but as much as possible, he tried to retain the essence of that in a much more present day world.
Tell me about your connection to your father. How has he affected your music? How has he inspired you in your approach to music?
He inspires me immensely on a very moment to moment, constant basis. It can be his old records, and all of that, which have so much inspiration in all for musicians all over the world; It is also just binge with him, getting to play with him…just the way he is able to create. Just so instantly, he has an incredible improvasitory skill, and almost instant compositional layout. Even when he is improvising, it sounds like a complete piece....he has so much imbibed ability to arrange and create a story out of what he is weaving. Just watching him play is the biggest inspiration for me.
Are you finding that new audiences that are flocking to classical Indian music?
In terms of classical music, I’m not sure, but for the most part it is very encouraging to see this many people having an interest in learning and being a part of this music. For the most part, for the people who are really building careers, fortunately or unfortunately, that I know of are predominantly children of people who are famous and established. I assume that as we get a few years older, many other people will end up making more of a name for themselves as well. I look forward to seeing what that has in store as well.
How does it feel to be approached by audience lovers and fans, that want to connect you, from a lineage standpoint, to your father?
I find it rather baffling, even though I get it to a certain degree....I mean I don’t know if it is having a history of royalty in our culture, but people really love lineage. I