VAFF back with strong line-up

The Vancouver Asian Film Festival will be showing from Thursday, November 3 to 6 at the Cineplex Odeon, International Village in Chinatown.
For more information on festival showings go to www.vaff.org.
Here are some of this year’s presentations:

Almost perfect
(Director and cast in attendance)
Narrative (106 min)
Thursday November 3
When you need a ride from the airport, you call Vanessa (Kelly Hu). When your boyfriend leaves, you call Vanessa. When you need someone to take over the family business, you call Vanessa — and she’ll never, ever say no. At 34, she’s still her family’s go-to girl, with a threadbare excuse of a life of her own. Suddenly, she runs into an old friend, the almost perfect guy who just might be perfect for her. But, as sparks fly, her family starts to go up in flames.
Her high-maintenance fashion designer sister is on the brink; her surf bum brother has gone AWOL; and her over-analyzing, over-intellectual mother has barred her father from their home, sending him into his own mid-life crisis. They all need Vanessa, all the time, to fix all the problems. Trapped, Vanessa must find her way back to love. In the process, she discovers that the only person she really has to save is herself.
- Attending: Edison Chen, a Hong Kong actor and singer who has also appeared in films in North America and Japan. His film credits include Infernal Affairs I, II, and III, Initial D, The Grudge, Dog Bite Dog, and The Dark Knight.

Finding a hybrid husband
(Director in Attendance)
Short Documentary (4 min)
Screening: Saturday November 5, 11AM
Twenty-one and unmarried. An Asianified Canadian born Chinese. Where will Jennifer find her perfect (hybrid) husband? Will Tony, potential fiancé #27, be the one? Finding a Hybrid Husband is a tongue-in-cheek interview that explores place, family, and identity of one Chinese Canadian in Vancouver.

Who is Richmond?
(Directors in Attendance)
Short documentary (7 min)
Screening: Saturday November 5, 11AM
This film deals with the evolution of Richmond, from a predominately Caucasian farming community to its status today as one of the largest and most visible Chinese-Canadian communities in BC. Richmond residents from various backgrounds and ages comment on how things have changed, past and present issues, and Richmond’s future.

Lilliam Dyck: not just Chinese
Short documentary (13 min)
Screening: Saturday November 5, 11AM
Canadian senator Lillian Dyck talks to Chinese Canadian Stories about her family, her upbringing, and being of mixed Chinese and Native Canadian descent.

Fullmetal alchemist: the sacred star of milos
Japanese Animation (110 min)
Screening: Saturday November 5, 11AM
A fugitive alchemist with mysterious abilities leads the Elric brothers to a distant valley of slums inhabited by the Milos, a proud people struggling against bureaucratic exploitation. Ed and Al quickly find themselves in the middle of a rising rebellion, as the exiled Milos lash out against their oppressors. At the heart of the conflict is Julia, a young alchemist befriended by Alphonse. She’ll stop at nothing to restore the Milos to their former glory – even if that means harnessing the awful power of the mythical Philosopher’s Stone.

Surrogate valentine
(Writer/actor in attendance)
Narrative (75 min)
Screening: Sunday November 6, 7:30PM
In Dave Boyle’s sweetly beautiful romantic comedy, Surrogate Valentine, San Francisco musician & rising star Goh Nakamura’s (playing himself) life of solitude is disrupted when he is hired to teach TV actor Danny Turner (Chadd Stoops) how to play guitar for an upcoming film. Hellbent on accurately portraying Goh’s mellow vibe for his role, Danny meticulously studies his every move. Together, the two embark on a hilarious West Coast adventure involving live gigs, groupies, shotgun wielding record exes and an unexpected friendship. Along the way, Goh discovers that Danny may be the missing puzzle piece in his life-long chase for Rachel (Lynn Chen), the one that got away.

From C to C: Chinese Canadian stories of migration
(Director In Attendance)
Short documentary (46 min)
Screening: Saturday November 5, 11AM
Filmed on location in BC and throughout China’s Guangdong province, From C to C is a moving, and cinematic, tapestry of Chinese Canadian stories of migration. These stories outline the injustices faced by Chinese migrants during the last century, and the little known affects of migration on the families and communities of migrants in China and Canada. The film contrasts these histories with the views and experiences of contemporary Chinese Canadian youth, leading us to reflect on the meaning of exclusion for those who experienced it, and for those who did not.