Singafest Asian Film Festival

The Asian Film Festival will run for four days in Westwood, LA, and feature special appearances by Maggie Cheung and Sonny Chiba.

The first Singafest Asian Film Festival which will be presented from Sept. 29th - Oct. 2nd, 2011 at Bigfoot's Majestic Crest, a beautiful Art Deco-inspired movie palace in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The focus will be new Asian and Asian-American films from a number of countries -- the U.S., China, Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and more -- and will include features, shorts, documentaries, 3D cinema and animation, plus in-person guests and seminar panels with visiting filmmakers and Hollywood industry professionals. The goal is to introduce films and emerging filmmakers to an L.A. audience that wouldn't normally have a chance to experience them.

The festival aims to promote different Asian cultures, each with their own unique worldview and different methods of storytelling. Singafest will be a cinematic melting pot, merging Eastern and Western cultures to showcase the best of both worlds to the Asian community and beyond. It will be a celebration of Asian culture as a whole, presenting the best films from across Asia to engage audiences to new ideas and perspectives.

The 4-day event will be judged by a panel of internationally-renowned professionals. This inaugural showcase welcomes the participation of filmmakers across Asia and the U.S. to premiere their films in in the film industry's capital. Singafest will serve as an international platform to celebrate Asian culture, showcasing the works of established and up-and-coming Asian and Asian-American filmmakers.

Singafest is open to film submissions from all over the world on Asian or Asian-American themes. (The only requirement is that features or shorts not have played at previous Los Angeles festivals or been screened here theatrically prior to Singafest.) The films will be pre-selected before presenting to a judging panel of renowned industry professionals: Ted Kim, the head of production of CJ Entertainment: Teddy Zee, film executive and studio producer; the award-winning writer-director of Kenbiroli Films, Kenneth Bi; and Rosa Li, the head of production and development for Celestial Pictures. Singafest is to be held at the Bigfoot Majestic Crest Theatre in Westwood, a 3D capable theatre that currently presents the very best of Hollywood first-run movies as well as sneak previews, premieres and specialty programming. The theatre is rated by Los Angeles Magazine in their January 2011 issue as one of the best screens in town.

Ticket prices vary. Please see website for details.

Click here for more information on the films. 

Asia Pacific Arts and its sister publication US-China Today will be presenting two film screenings at Singafest: Monga, one of Taiwan’s top-grossing films, and Buddha Mountain, the winner of two awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Doze Liu's Monga tells the story of a lone teenager who gets accepted into a gang, and the film follows the trials he has to face as a member of his new "family." Li Yu's Buddha Mountain follows three young slackers whose lives are changed when they encounter a former Peking opera singer.

APA Giveaway: Win 2 Free Tickets to Screening of "Buddha Mountain" at Singafest on September 30 at 7:30PM!

USCT Giveaway: Win 2 Free Tickets to Screening of "Monga" at Singafest on October 2 at 4:30PM!