Free Film Festival in New York this Weekend

Our colleagues at the Asian-American Asian Research Institute here in New York are holding their annual one day Film Festival. While the greater publicized Tribeca Film Festival grows in influence, this is a festival worth supporting. Read below to find out how to attend. This one gets the I-A-N endorsement.

The Asian American / Asian Research Institute, of the City University of New York, will present its 3^rd Annual ‘Asian American Film / Media Festival,’ on Friday, May 19, 2006, from 6PM to 8PM, in the Martin E. Segal Theatre of the CUNY Graduate Center. The college is located at 365 Fifth Avenue (Corner of 34^th Street), Manhattan.

In order to promote the artistic visual talents, and to stimulate communication among CUNY students who are separated by the different campuses spread across the five boroughs, the CUNY Asian American Film / Media Festival was created to provide a central location to display their creative works, and to network among colleagues involved in the same field of study.

On the evening of the festival, winners will be awarded in the following three categories: Documentary; Fiction; and Experimental Film. Winning films will be screened after the award ceremony, and then followed by a Questions and Answers session with the winners. Winning films will be available online to view after the festival.

Admission is free, but due to limited seating, online registration is required. For more information, please visit our website @ www.aaari.info.

There you have it. Some of the films I viewed that were screened in the last two years were emotional, revealing and gave insight into the issues touching the Asian-American community in the New York area. This is a highly recommended festival, and is another gathering that is largely ignored by the mainstream media. As such, it has our support. Check it out.

See you back here, same time, same station!

-Eric K. Williams, Executive Director
International Access Networks / I-A-N