PRESS RELEASE
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PINAY AUTHOR TO SIGN BOOK AT LA ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. - Filipino American author Celine Parreñas Shimizu will be the featured lecturer at 1pm on Sat., May 12 at the
LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. She will sign her latest book, Straightjacket Sexualities:
Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies
(Stanford University Press, 2012) after the
lecture. The booksigning table will be manned by Philippine Expressions Bookshop and the venue
is the Directors Guild of America - 7920 W Sunset Blvd., LA 90048. Tel (310) 289-2000. The LA Asian American Film Festival is organized by Visual Communications and major sponsors. Parrenas Shimizu is Associate Professor of Asian American, Film and Women's Studies at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a filmmaker whose movies include The Fact of Asian Women (2002), which won four national
festival awards; Super Flip (1997) and Her Uprooting Plants Her (1995). Her other book is The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/
Also showing at the same venue on the same date at 5:00pm is Give Up Tomorrow, a 95-minute documentary film which was co-produced by
Marty Syjuco. Marty's brother, Miguel Syjuco wrote the much-acclaimed novel on the Philippines, Ilustrado. This documentary film is a piercing
case study of political and judicial corruption involving some of the most politically prominent and powerful families in Cebu, Philippines. Despite
credible evidence pointing to Paco’s innocence, and numerous inconsistencies during the trial and subsequent appeals, he was nevertheless
convicted of the crime and sentenced to death by lethal
injection. Viewers will sympathize with Paco’s family, who desperately try every legal
avenue for appeal to overturn Paco’s conviction amid the constant melodrama and media circus surrounding his case. Amnesty International, the government of Spain, Fair Trials International and the United Nations have all advocated for Paco’s innocence and release. He continues to be
jailed to this day. Director Michael Collins and
Philippine-born producer Marty Syjuco have crafted a riveting tale on a young man’s struggle to
maintain his innocence.
Give Up Tomorrow has
received worldwide critical acclaim, as winner of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival’s Audience Award and Special Jury Prize
for Best New Director. In addition, the film won the Audience award at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Human Rights Award at Docs Barcelona, and
The following is the schedule of works by Filipino Americans which will also be shown at the Festival: Where You Least Expect Us. This series
of short films include: Traces No. 2: Union (Monday, May 14, 7:00 PM , CGV Cinemas 1) Directed by Joel Quizon.
(Saturday, May 12, 12:00PM DGA 2) (Friday, May 18, 9:30PM Art Theatre, Long Beach. Directed by James Sereno. http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/paradise_broken_2012. I am Ghost (Sunday, May 13, 8:00PM CGV 3) (Wednesday, May 16, 9:30PM CGV 3) Directed by H.P.Mendoza. http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/i_am_a_ghost_2012 Hang Loose (Saturday, May 12, 3:00pm DGA 1) stars Dante