Lightly tanned, relaxed, and proud are a touch of the many words that scrabble around my mind on how the Florida State University screening went. Thus my adventure to Tallahassee, Florida was well-planned and heavily assisted by the Director of FSU's Asian-American Student Union - Miss Monique (Nikki) Velasquez. She inquired of the film way before the first cut was even produced, to which I'm thankful for. This by which "That Asian Thing" was already in mind for their Asian-American Awareness activities even before other events were set. So there was already an eye out for this film...
Before I hit the main points to how the screening went, I wanted to thank all the students, faculty, friends, & family that came out to watch the film. There was a definite essence of southern hospitality that made me feel relaxed and comfortable for the Q&A session. So I apologize to any if I may have come off as unprofessional, but when I vibe closely to the people in the room I tend to carry myself in a relaxing attitude. I'd also like to thank all the organizations that took part in putting this together and trying to get as many kids to come out as possible. And of course, I must thank the FSU community, especially Mr. Juan Guardia (Director of Multicultural Affairs), for taking an interest in my film and the message it conveys.
...And now the main points:
-I had the privilege of having a young Asian-American musician perform before the screening commenced. His name is A.J. Rafael (please check out his tunes - http://ajrafael.com/ and www.myspace.com/ajrafael). Kid's got some raw talent and creative energy! We hung out that day prior to the screening time and I was able to give him some thoughts on music ideas he had bounced around in his head. I think he has natural talent and has a lot of potential. He's still in college and with more education to his gift, he can probably go miles out. Good luck A.J.! Catch his performances when you can and send him some love via myspace!
-After watching the film for the 'enth time, I think I was able to catch my sense of repetitiveness. There are points that seem to overlap in terms of stereotypes, model minority, and marketing. The difficulty in this is that I believe all three issue go hand in hand and to seperate them may consist in shorter interview portions to already shortened interview portions. If you're up to par with your Asian-American 101, you may ask - 'But Jonald - isn't model minority a stereotype? couldn't you just combine the two?' AH - good question, young jedi. Well - I've made it into seperate issues within the film because the term "Model Minority" is directly associated with only Asian-Americans. Also, there are confusions to why it's a good thing and why it's a bad thing. Then I addressed the term 'stereotype' as a general concept, yet narrowed it down to relate to Asian-Americans. The marketing portion goes with the stereotypes because that's how we're marketed. See - everything relates!
-I do believe that this Director's Cut can be refined. It tends to run a bit on the long side and I can see why a few kids jumped ship while the screening was going on. Although a bit disheartening on that, it was good for me to see/hear which parts received the most reactions. I think my own involvement within the film gave a humorous underlining that made the dry parts easy to get through. I couldn't tell what people thought of in terms of the Flipside/SOTO storyline, but I do always bank on the Steve Munoz performance I have in there. It always gets a good response.
-The Q&A portion is always good times. It gives me a better sense of connection to the people that just watched what I poured unto film for the past 1 1/2 years. I always feel that this film stirs up good conversation, especially on how to "act Asian" or how to "act American." The only thing that I could say to which I felt was the most simple, yet truthful answer, was 'be yourself.' And like mentioned in the film - only you can represent you; you're face & identity as an Asian-Amerian is your representation of your people. So with that, just try to be the best you can be.
Again, I'd like to thank all that came out! Without your feedback, questions, and wonderful words of support after the film, my message would be mute. Hope we can dance again...
I posted more pics on the AsianThing Kodak Gallery - please check it out and don't hesitate to say what's up:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6y8idn3.11fvhte7&x=0&y=vfi043
Take care y'all! And keep coming back to see what's the haps!
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