CAAMFest moves online
Lynn Chen film premieres at digital festival offering music, parties — and cookies
Eventually, we will have live, inperson film festivals again. But for now, in this COVID19 world, it’s online or bust, and Lynn Chen is OK with it.
In fact, the actress, a longtime favorite of CAAMFest, is thrilled that her debut as writerproducerdirector of “I Will Make You Mine” is the opening night film of CAAMFest Online: Heritage at Home, kicking off the festival off at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 13.
“It’s my first time behind the camera in any capacity, so it’s really special to be opening this festival,” said Chen, who is sheltering in place in Los Angeles with her husband, Abe FormanGreenwald, who edited “I Will Make You Mine.”
The film will be followed by a Q&A and an opening night house party that features live performances by two of the film’s stars, Bay Area musicians Goh Nakamura and YeaMing Chen.
“CAAM has always been a home to me,” she added. “I can’t think of a better place for us, and I’m so honored they gave us this spot. It means so much to me as a firsttime filmmaker.”
Yes, CAAMFest — formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival — is indeed moving the nation’s largest and oldest Asian American film festival into the digital realm after the inperson version was canceled due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. CAAMFest Online: Heritage at Home, which runs through May 22, boasts more than 20 digital events, including online film screenings, interactive panels, watch parties and more “house” parties through Zoom featuring live performances. Admission for all events is free at caamfest.com/2020, though attendees will still need a digital ticket to gain access to the events.
Chen, in a sense, is among the first wave of filmmakers affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Although she was able to complete “I Will Make You Mine” before the pandemic hit, shelterinplace orders derailed what would have been the world premiere of the film at South by Southwest in March, and of course what surely would have been a rapturous CAAMFest screening at the Castro Theatre.
And yet while the pandemic is wreaking havoc with budgets of arts organizations like the Center for Asian American Media, which produces the festival, Chen says filmmakers and other artists are uniquely qualified to adapt to the new normal.
“The truth is, we as filmmakers and as people who work freelance for a living as artists, we never know what’s going on,” Chen said. “There’s never been a sense of security, and never more so than right now. So we’re used to not having jobs. We’re used to our jobs being hustling for the next job.
“I’m optimistic. I actually think restrictions help artists . ... Companies are seeing what we can do digitally, so this is sort of like the wild, wild West. In a lot of ways, I feel like the internet reset itself a little bit. There’s a lot of exciting things, potentially, that could hap
pen with independent film.”
Chen’s roots in CAAMFest go back to 2005, when she came to support her first film as an actress, Alice Wu’s “Saving Face.” “I Will Make You Mine” completes a blackandwhite trilogy starring Nakamura and Chen and, in the last two, YeaMing Chen and Ayako Fujitani. “Surrogate Valentine” (2011) and “Daylight Savings” (2012), both directed by Dave Boyle, also played at CAAMFest.
Chen said she was curious how the characters lives’ developed, and when Boyle wasn’t interested in making a third film, she decided to write and direct it herself. Nakamura and YeaMing Chen play fictionalized versions of themselves as struggling San Francisco indie musicians, while Chen plays Rachel, a former schoolmate of Nakamura’s who drifts in and out of their lives. Part three takes place in Los Angeles.
“The first two films had cliffhanger endings, and selfishly I wanted something to do,” Chen said. “So I coaxed the characters out of their little boxes, dusted them off and just put them in different situations.
“It became very clear to me right away that Goh’s story had finished with the second movie, and if we were to catch up with these characters, you would have to catch up with them through the eyes of the women. We know how Goh saw the world; I was very curious what these women were going to do. So I decided to drown Goh in a sea of estrogen!”
Festival highlights
Closing night film: ‘Fruit Fly’ 10th anniversary, May 22 The closing night film was actually a centerpiece presentation in 2009, 11 years ago, but who’s counting? It’s a great time to revisit “Fruit Fly,” H.P. Mendoza’s wonderfully colorful, toetapping musical with an LGBTQ theme that shows off a pregigeconomy San Francisco — and Bay Area female lead L.A. Renigen — as the vibrant city we all hope it can become again, postpandemic.
“If you’re a San Franciscan, I think ‘Fruit Fly’ definitely feels like it’s 10 years old, because the city in the film looks so different from the one we live in now,” said Mendoza, who is sheltering in place in his Mission District apartment, where he’ll take part in the film’s singalong screening via Zoom.
“Aside from having lyrics onscreen, there’s also going to be a little bit of trivia that pops up onscreen, so I’m excited to see what conversation pops up during the Q&A after the film,” he added.
Rest up your lungs if you plan to sing along. It packs 19 musical numbers in its 94 minutes, mixing styles from American surf rock to digital hard core — and good oldfashioned melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in an MGM musical.
Spotlight: Musician Ruby Ibarra, May 19 The Filipina American rapper, music producer and spokenword artist from San Lorenzo plans to talk about her music career in what promises to be a lively conversation. She’s even scheduled for a streamed hiphop performance.
Ibarra, who raps in Tagalog, Waray and English, gained mainstream notice with the 2017 release of her debut fulllength album, “Circa 1991,” which led to an appearance in a national TV commercial for Mastercard with Grammynominated R&B singer SZA.
“I wanted to show people who the person was behind the microphone this time, tell them about who I was and where I came from,”
Ibarra told The Chronicle in 2018, referring to the album.
Spotlight: Filmmaker Alice Wu, May 20 Five months into 2020, Wu is the clubhouse leader for feelgood story of the year. The awardwinning filmmaker of the indie hit and Asian American classic “Saving Face” took 15 years to come up with film No. 2, and she has hit it out of the park with the Netflix film “The Half of It,” which premiered May 1 on the streaming service and has already touched people all over the world.
The film, a romantic comedydrama with a young adult vibe, is about a high school girl who agrees to help a football player get the girl of his dreams — whom she then falls for. It won best feature last month at this year’s online version of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
Wu, who was born in San Jose and lives in San Francisco, is scheduled to chat with CAAMFest Festival Director Masashi Niwano about “The Half of It” and her life, before CAAMFest hosts a special watch party in conjunction with Netflix.