alsolikelife update: Screenings next week in NYC, Film/Video Arts Fundraiser, CACF/MNN community media program

[alsolikelife]

Another monthly update from alsolikelife productions. This will
hopefully be the last update sent via mass mail. I have created an
announcement-only google group to make my monthly updates easier to
handle. You'll find a follow-up email with an invitation to join the
group -- if you're interested in hearing about future developments,
please join the group!

I'm getting double exposure at the New York Asian American Film
Festival (tix still available for Opening Night Gala with Maggie
Cheung! www.asiancinevision.org). ON GUARD will be screening Friday
night at 9:15PM as part of "Shock Jock," a program of transgressive
shorts, and DASTAAR: DEFENDING SIKH IDENTITY will screen Thursday
night at 8:45PM in "By Any Means Necessary," a program of social
activist documentary shorts. Both are at the Asia Society, 725 Park
Ave at 70th St, NYC. Tickets can be bought at box office or at this
link: http://www.aaiff.org/content.asp?cid=10#L. I have three comp
tickets to offer to anyone interested in seeing either program. Just
email me and you'll be my guest at the screening. First come first
served.

DASTAAR will also screen next Tuesday, 2:15PM, at the Long Island
International Film Expo in Malverne.
(http://www.longislandfilm.com/schedule.cfm).

DASTAAR: Defending Sikh Identity" has hit the festival circuit with
great success. It won the award for Best Short Documentary at the
Dallas Asian American Short Film Festival! Here's what one audience
reviewer wrote:

"This brief documentary opens with a news report of an assault on two
Sikh men on a New York City street. They had been attacked because
they were wearing a turban (or Dastaar). Even though there are 20
million Sikhs worldwide, there is a huge knowledge gap between them
and people in the U.S. Did you know that Sikhs are not Arab or Muslim?
That 99% of people who wear turbans in the U.S. are Sikhs? That
although with other groups wearing a turban is cultural, Sikhs are the
only ones who wear it for a religious reason? We learn this and much
more in this densely packed film while following other cases of Sikhs
who are sanctioned at work for wearing the Dastaar. At the end, we see
that there is a surprising resolution to the criminal assault that we
heard about first. I am glad to know that Lee will have a chance to
expand this film into a longer format. It is already filled almost to
bursting with images and information and it hints at a longer and more
complex story than is told here. The ending I spoke of involves a man
who has clearly been changed by his experience with the Sikh
community. I very much want to see more of how this journey took
place. The subjects of this film seem to be as impressed with this
documentary as I was. The Sikh Coalition - a legal organization that
aids Sikhs who have been discriminated against - has made it
available
on their website. www.sikhcoalition.org. You can even get a glimpse of
the director in the closing credits. Highly recommended."


*********************

WARRIOR SAINTS, the full-length documentary about Sikh Americans, is a
featured project in the Film/Video Arts Meet the Filmmakers Benefit,
next Wednesday in the Lower East Side. It's a great opportunity to
learn about over a dozen participating productions, including mine,
and network with industry professionals. Admission is $40 advance /
$50 at the door -- and half the proceeds of your ticket go towards
supporting the artist of your choice (hint hint). Details:
LES Gallery/Cafe @ the CSV Cultural Center - 107 Suffolk St, btwn
Rivington & Delancey St, New York City
Complimentary beer, wine and buffet
Great music and atmosphere
Music by SUPARAJA!
Fantastic overstuffed goodie bag for the first 100 attendees.

Please support your favorite struggling filmmaker -- hope to see you
there!

**********************

Kevin has teamed up with the Coalition of Asian American Children and
Families (www.cacf.org) and Manhattan Neighborhood Network
(www.mnn.org), one of the largest public access broadcasters in the
country, to take part in the MNN Community Media Grant Project. The
goal is to produce six half-hour long programs that address social
issues that are of concern to the CACF and the Asian American
community at large. Topics include the identity struggles of gay
Asian American high school students, anti-Asian discrimination in
schools, child abuse and neglect among immigrant families, and the
stigma against mental health treatment among Asians. This is a
tremendous opportunity to explore uncharted subject matter and present
it to a wide audience.

Looking forward to sharing progress on this project and others in the
months to come (such as a possible trip to India for WARRIOR SAINTS).
Again, to hear about future updates, please join the alsolikelife
google group by accepting the invitation in the email to follow.
Thanks again for your support and drop me a line any time at
ke...@alsolikelife.com.

Kevin