SAN DIEGO — The countdown is on for the San Diego Asian Film Festival 2000 (SDAFF) at the University of San Diego, high atop the hills overlooking Mission Valley. It’s only six weeks away, and excitement is building up.
The film-entry deadline has passed, and members of the SDAFF board proudly report that more than 100 films from around the world were received for consideration. A jury of about 25 people, including many AAJA San Diego members, screened the films and chose nearly 50 for the film festival.
The festival will be kicked off with the screening of "The Debut," directed by Gene Cajayon. It is a film about the Filipino-American experience through the eyes of a young man struggling to balance his dreams to be an artist and his father expectations of him attending medical school.
"The Debut" premiered in Los Angeles recently and was a sell-out event. It features the Basco brothers — the Fil-Am version of the Baldwin brothers — who will join the director and other cast members here in San Diego for the festival.
Throughout the three-day event, nearly 70 films, documentaries and shorts will be screened. That will include the American premiere of the Hong Kong action film "Full Alert," by Ringo Lam, and the Sundance Film Festival winner "Girl Fight," by Karyn Kusama.
Tickets are on sale through seatadvisor.com, or log onto the festival’s Web site at www.sdaff.org.
In the meantime, AAJA San Diego is working on a deal with aMedia, the online subsidiary of aMagazine in New York, to become festival partners. This relationship would allow organizers to promote the event to thousands of people, while providing SDAFF free technical assistance for its Web site.
Comedian Margaret Cho will speak at the USD Shiley Theatre on Sunday, Aug. 13, and answer questions from the audience about her upcoming film, "I’m the One that I Want," which opens at the Ken Cinema on July 28.
A panel will feature one of the highest-ranking Asian Americans in Hollywood: Chris Lee of Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema.
Six top-film awards will be handed out during the Gala Awards Banquet, to be held Saturday, Aug. 12. The dinner, sponsored by aMedia, will feature keynote speaker Jeff Yang, CEO and founder of aMagazine, the nation’s most prominent magazine for Asian Americans.
Former Miss Universe Brooke Lee will host the Gala Awards Night. Lee has been an active member of the Asian Pacific Islander community and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
There will be so much to do in these next few weeks — we want all of you as AAJA members and supporters to get involved. We need volunteers to work the following events:

— Pre-festival reception on Aug. 10 at the Taiwanese Community Center
— Opening reception on Aug. 11 at the University of San Diego
‚ VIP party on Aug. 11 at E-Street Alley in downtown San Diego
— Silent auction and gala awards dinner on Aug. 12 at USD
—Working the doors and collecting tickets at all the film venues throughout the three-day weekend
To volunteer, email your name, contact information, and time available to: sdaffvolunteer@hotmail.com.

Upcoming films with an Asian connection

The upcoming San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF), to be held Aug. 11-13 at the University of San Diego, will showcase Asian films from students as well as independent and established filmmakers. But AAJA members should also be aware of the growing contribution of Asian talent to the film industry and the increasing number of Asian films being shown in art houses, museums and mainstream venues. Here’s a calendar of upcoming films with an Asian connection:
CURRENTLY PLAYING
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 (playing citywide) is directed by Hong Kong°Øs premier action director, John Woo. Woo, who moved to Hollywood in the early 1990s, is best known for his intoxicating Hong Kong collaborations with star Chow Yun Fat "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled."
JULY-AUGUST
THE MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHICARTS, in conjunction with SDAFF, will feature two months of Asian Cinema. The series is tentatively scheduled to highlight Japan’s master of elegant understatement Yasujiro Ozu (Japan) and a trio of Hong Kong’s over-the-top and in-your-face heroic bloodshed maestros John Woo, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam.
JULY 28-AUG. 3
I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT (Ken Cinema) is the film of comedian Margaret Cho’s acclaimed one-woman show. Cho is also scheduled to hold a Q&A session at SDAFF on Aug. 13.