2014 Boston Asian American Film Festival Opens at Brattle Theatre

By Changhong Zhang, bostonese.com

Boston, Oct. 24, 2014, – The weather was rough yesterday morning in the Boston area as a Nor’easter passing through. But the storm didn’t keep film stars away from Harvard Square. The 6th Annual Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) was officially opened at Brattle Theatre last night.

Directors and actors pose for a picture at the reception at NOIR Bar (photos by David Li).

Claudia Yang, head of communications and public relations of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York, gave a warm speech to welcome about 300 guests in the audience, who came with great passion against the cold rain of late Fall in Boston. Susan Chinsen, director of BAAFF, welcomed directors Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo who joined the film festival from Hong Kong.

Preceded by Who I Really Am…, a short film about the dream and hope of an immigrant family from Cambodia to the United States, Boston premiere Revenge of the Green Dragons, as the opening night film, offered a striking yet touching experience to the audience.

Co-directed by Andrew Lau and Andrew Loo, the 94-min gangster drama unfolded around the survival, dream, love and hatred between two poverty-stricken brothers Sonny and Steven who immigrated to New York City in the 1980s. The Chinese immigrant story is about a Chinatown gang “Green Dragon”, a mafia engaged in drug dealing and gun violence. But it`s more than blood and crime. Themed to share American experiences from an Asian perspective, as Director Lau put it, Green Dragon displays how immigrants in a certain phase of history think about family, hopes, home country and America. It is based on a true story originally published in The New Yorker magazine back in 1992, and was filmed in Queens, New York City.

After the show, two directors and cast members joined in a Q&A discussion with audience, sharing their thoughts about the movie as well as their experience of cooperating with an American producer.

“We have people from everywhere, not only from China, they had a dream. We give space to the audience to think about the immigrants and immigration issue, it`s not only a gangster movie.” said Lau.

Responding to a question about the potential argument and conflict in co-directing, Loo revealed:“we`re very different, that`s not a bad thing, when you`re on set, you have multiple directions, so Andrew Lau, from technical background and I, from producing side, we make it more efficient.” And the actors and actress also expressed their feeling of “not confusing at all.”

With lasting applaud, the opening night of BAAFF came to the end. “This cinema is classic, nothing like those modern, fancy ones in New York, the taste here, lets you go back to 1980s,” Lau spoke about Brattle Theatre with a smile.

Melodie Chang of Delta Air Lines took an early morning flight from LaGuardia Airport to attend the opening night. “We were notified that Logan Airport was closed on board of the plane,” said Ms. Chang. She was glad that she made to Boston in time for the opening night, and was thrilled to be part of the festivities.