By Lee Ann Kim
SDAFF President

San Diego-AAJA- San Diego’s most high-profile fund-raiser is now on the map across the country: The 2nd annual San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is on its way to a successful run, thanks to the support of film-industry executives, local businesses and volunteers.

Our efforts come during an unprecedented wave of Asian films to screen in U.S. theatres, including Ang Lee’s "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Wong Kar Wai’s "In the Mood for Love," Edward Yang’s "Yiyi (A One and a Two)", and Im Kwong Taek’s "Chunhyang."

While SDAFF fully supports the aforementioned international films, the grim reality is that Asian-American filmmakers almost never gain distribution in U.S. theatres. That is why it is a mission of AAFA-San Diego to give a voice to the Asian-American experience through our festival.

Already, SDAFF has received tentative confirmation from Sundance filmmakers Tim and Tony Bul, who directed "The Green Dragon," a film shot at Camp Pendleton last year, starring Patrick Swayze, Forrest Whittaker and Hiep Thi Le (from "Heaven and Earth"). Also, we expect to screen "The Flip Side" by Rod Pulido, the first and only Filipino feature film to be screened at Sundance.

Recently at the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival, SDAFF members recruited the critically acclaimed films, "Dog Food" by Ray Cuerdo and "The Cut Runs Deep," a million-dollar-budget film by John H. Lee.

During the San Francisco festival, SDAFF members also attended a "meeting of the minds" with Asian-American film festival directors from across the country to share ideas, resources and support.

Currently, we are actively seeking sponsorships to pay for festival expenses, including the $l0,000 theatre rental fee, $4,000 in shipping fees, $5,000 for digital projection rentals and $5,000 for workshop room rentals. We are also setting up a festival internship program for area students and hope to produce a daily newsletter during the days of the festival.

We ask everyone to spread the word, volunteer and support our upcoming events. We look forward to producing a world-class event while raising local AAJA scholarship funds.

The San Diego Asian Film Festival is scheduled Sept. 28-30 at the Mann 7 Theatres in Mission Valley. For information, log onto www.sdaff.org or call (858) 6l6-8525.

Lee Ann Kim, anchor-reporter at DGTV Channel l0, is a national board representative for AAJA-San Diego.