Features
Return to El Salvador
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 68 minutes
Primetime Emmy winner Martin Sheen narrates this compelling story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities, and the intricate geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives. The documentary follows three couples whose lives were forever changed by the Civil War that engulfed El Salvador. This film is endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Directed by JAMIE MOFFETT
Primetime Emmy winner Martin Sheen narrates this compelling story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities, and the geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives. The documentary follows three couples whose lives were forever changed by the Civil War that engulfed El Salvador. This film is endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
For additional information, please visit www.returntoelsalvador.com.
Running Time: 68 minutes
Primetime Emmy winner Martin Sheen narrates this compelling story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities, and the intricate geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives. The documentary follows three couples whose lives were forever changed by the Civil War that engulfed El Salvador. This film is endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Directed by JAMIE MOFFETT
Primetime Emmy winner Martin Sheen narrates this compelling story of vibrant Salvadoran individuals and communities, and the geo-political systems that have so profoundly impacted their lives. The documentary follows three couples whose lives were forever changed by the Civil War that engulfed El Salvador. This film is endorsed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
For additional information, please visit www.returntoelsalvador.com.
Runaway
Genre: Drama, Crime
Running Time: 97 minutes
The chaotic city of Dhaka is the perfect hiding place for cowardly men seeking to disappear from their duties. Runaway tells the story of a rickshawalla named Babu who has made it his life mission to find runaway husbands/fathers and return them home. But Babu gets more than he bargained for when his big catch turns out to be a corrupt politician named Akbar. The race begins to return him to the past, before their pursuers catch up. It is a dark story that twists from present to past, city to village, good to evil.
“Stories and character have always interested me, ever since my first motion picture; a flip book drawn on the corners of my textbook. I picked up my first camera at age 11 and made my first movies using eager cousins and water gun props. Along with video, I fell in love with animation at an early age, giving life to construction paper monkeys and drunken snails. I became fascinated by storytelling when our high school class had to write skits and plays. My feature play about Cosimo De Medici won a local play competition in Philadelphia, which allowed me to enter into NYU’s Dramatic Writing program in their film school. Though I am a screenwriter by degree, I also took many classes in film and animation. After graduating into the first year of the recession, getting a job seemed bleak. I made the hard decision to temporarily leave my life in the US to pursue my feature in Bangladesh. Having visited almost every Summer, I was very familiar with my homeland, but making a film forced me to move outside of my usual circle of friends and relatives, and meet a whole new family: my crew. And like any family, through good times and stressful times, something special was born.” -- Director AMIT ASHRAF
For additional information, please visit www.runawaythefilm.com.
Running Time: 97 minutes
The chaotic city of Dhaka is the perfect hiding place for cowardly men seeking to disappear from their duties. Runaway tells the story of a rickshawalla named Babu who has made it his life mission to find runaway husbands/fathers and return them home. But Babu gets more than he bargained for when his big catch turns out to be a corrupt politician named Akbar. The race begins to return him to the past, before their pursuers catch up. It is a dark story that twists from present to past, city to village, good to evil.
“Stories and character have always interested me, ever since my first motion picture; a flip book drawn on the corners of my textbook. I picked up my first camera at age 11 and made my first movies using eager cousins and water gun props. Along with video, I fell in love with animation at an early age, giving life to construction paper monkeys and drunken snails. I became fascinated by storytelling when our high school class had to write skits and plays. My feature play about Cosimo De Medici won a local play competition in Philadelphia, which allowed me to enter into NYU’s Dramatic Writing program in their film school. Though I am a screenwriter by degree, I also took many classes in film and animation. After graduating into the first year of the recession, getting a job seemed bleak. I made the hard decision to temporarily leave my life in the US to pursue my feature in Bangladesh. Having visited almost every Summer, I was very familiar with my homeland, but making a film forced me to move outside of my usual circle of friends and relatives, and meet a whole new family: my crew. And like any family, through good times and stressful times, something special was born.” -- Director AMIT ASHRAF
For additional information, please visit www.runawaythefilm.com.
The Prep School Negro
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 71 minutes
*This film will not be shown at the Hollywood Fringe Festival*
André Robert Lee and his sister grew up in the ghettos of Philadelphia while their mother struggled to support them by putting strings in the waistbands of track pants and swimsuits in a local factory. When André was 14 years old, he received what his family believed to be a golden ticket - a full scholarship to attend one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country.
Elite education was André’s way up and out, but at what price? Yes, the exorbitant tuition was covered, but this new world cost him and his family much more than anyone could have anticipated.
In The Prep School Negro, André takes a journey back in time to revisit the events of his adolescence while also spending time with current-day prep school students of color and their classmates to see how much has really changed inside the ivory tower. What he discovers along the way is the poignant and unapologetic truth about who really pays the consequences for yesterday’s accelerated desegregation and today’s racial naiveté.
For additional information, please visit www.theprepschoolnegro.org.
Running Time: 71 minutes
*This film will not be shown at the Hollywood Fringe Festival*
André Robert Lee and his sister grew up in the ghettos of Philadelphia while their mother struggled to support them by putting strings in the waistbands of track pants and swimsuits in a local factory. When André was 14 years old, he received what his family believed to be a golden ticket - a full scholarship to attend one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country.
Elite education was André’s way up and out, but at what price? Yes, the exorbitant tuition was covered, but this new world cost him and his family much more than anyone could have anticipated.
In The Prep School Negro, André takes a journey back in time to revisit the events of his adolescence while also spending time with current-day prep school students of color and their classmates to see how much has really changed inside the ivory tower. What he discovers along the way is the poignant and unapologetic truth about who really pays the consequences for yesterday’s accelerated desegregation and today’s racial naiveté.
For additional information, please visit www.theprepschoolnegro.org.
Viette
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 90 minutes
*This film contains Mature Content. Viewer discretion is advised.*
VIETTE is a sensuous and poetically told coming of age drama concerning a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American teenager (American-born) living in a hostile environment with a mother and father she can barely communicate with, and a much older sister who is equally unsupportive of her dreams.
Viette finds affection and acceptance with a 20-year old named Matt, for whom she often skips class to be with. Desperate to carve her own path in spite of her parents’ expectations, she possesses a profound longing for love and exploration. But her forbidden interracial romance tests her father’s limits, and Viette finds herself at the edge of severe consequences if caught.
Over the course of several years, Viette’s world unravels and her secret life is exposed. Cast out of her family, she becomes a ‘lost girl’ forced to move forward in a new life with Matt. But the happily-ever-after she hoped for never comes as she discovers that Matt is living a double life of his own, engaging in online affairs, sexual addiction and other erratic behavior.
Based on true events, VIETTE stands as the writer/director’s raw portrayal of a young Asian American female protagonist facing alienation from both worlds she finds herself caught between.
Directed by MYE HOANG
Born and raised in Dallas, TX, Mye Hoang studied film and photography at Southern Methodist University. In 2001, she founded the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which has become the largest showcase of Asian film in the Southwest. In 2005, Mye moved to New York and co-directed/produced a comedic short film called “Press or Say 2” which has premiered in dozens of film festivals all over the world including the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and Tribeca Underground. It won the Best Comedy Short Film Award at Worldfest-Houston.
From 2006 through 2011, Mye served as the Artistic Director of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation where she headed film programming. She wrote, produced and directed her first feature film Viette which premiered in 2012 at the 30th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival where the film was a finalist for Best Narrative Feature and the Emerging Filmmaker Award. Viette competed in the 28th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival as a finalist for the Grand Jury Award.
*Viette won our Hollywood Fringe Audience Choice award for Features!
For additional information, please visit www.undertowpictures.com.
Running Time: 90 minutes
*This film contains Mature Content. Viewer discretion is advised.*
VIETTE is a sensuous and poetically told coming of age drama concerning a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American teenager (American-born) living in a hostile environment with a mother and father she can barely communicate with, and a much older sister who is equally unsupportive of her dreams.
Viette finds affection and acceptance with a 20-year old named Matt, for whom she often skips class to be with. Desperate to carve her own path in spite of her parents’ expectations, she possesses a profound longing for love and exploration. But her forbidden interracial romance tests her father’s limits, and Viette finds herself at the edge of severe consequences if caught.
Over the course of several years, Viette’s world unravels and her secret life is exposed. Cast out of her family, she becomes a ‘lost girl’ forced to move forward in a new life with Matt. But the happily-ever-after she hoped for never comes as she discovers that Matt is living a double life of his own, engaging in online affairs, sexual addiction and other erratic behavior.
Based on true events, VIETTE stands as the writer/director’s raw portrayal of a young Asian American female protagonist facing alienation from both worlds she finds herself caught between.
Directed by MYE HOANG
Born and raised in Dallas, TX, Mye Hoang studied film and photography at Southern Methodist University. In 2001, she founded the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which has become the largest showcase of Asian film in the Southwest. In 2005, Mye moved to New York and co-directed/produced a comedic short film called “Press or Say 2” which has premiered in dozens of film festivals all over the world including the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and Tribeca Underground. It won the Best Comedy Short Film Award at Worldfest-Houston.
From 2006 through 2011, Mye served as the Artistic Director of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation where she headed film programming. She wrote, produced and directed her first feature film Viette which premiered in 2012 at the 30th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival where the film was a finalist for Best Narrative Feature and the Emerging Filmmaker Award. Viette competed in the 28th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival as a finalist for the Grand Jury Award.
*Viette won our Hollywood Fringe Audience Choice award for Features!
For additional information, please visit www.undertowpictures.com.
