Group 1 Blog 3
Chinese Cinema in the Bay Area Research Project: Group 1 Blog 3
Stakeholders, Informants: Center for Asian American Film Festival (CAAMfest)
Grisis Yu, Jessica Nye, Katie Scarlett Day, Ryan Wexler
This week, we delved deeper into the UC Berkeley Library database to find primary and secondary content related to CAAMFest (Center for Asian American Film Festival). We reached out to Jianye He, the librarian at the East Asian Library for the Chinese collection, who kindly provided us with some articles and contents about CAAMFest. The information she provided for our group actually solved a potential problem we had last week, which was that we couldn't seem to find earlier historical contents for CAAMFest. But this week, He answered that question for us and provided a more relevant and effective way to do research on this film festival. CAAMFest was initially known as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival until 2013 (We will use CAAMFest below). Based on the information she provided, we were able to locate a more relevant and diverse range of contents from various libraries, such as the East Asian Library, the Ethnic Studies Library, Bancroft Library, and more. One important archive she directed us to includes the Maxine Hong Kingston Papers, dated 1952-1999. On page 15 of these papers towards the bottom there is a line stating “San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 1995” which can be found in Box 47, Folder 22. In the coming weeks it would be helpful to contact the Bancroft Library and request to take a look at this material.
Additionally, we found a journal article that wrote a review of the 16th CAAMFest (Knowing that the festival started in 1982, this means it discusses the festival from 1998). Also, there’s an article that contends that the festival reflected the recent trends in independent Asian America media production by introducing information on the 1997 CAAMFest. Furthermore, there’s another article that highlights the CAAMFest held in the cities of San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose in California from March 15 to 27, 2007. It notes that the festival has old and new films, narratives and documentaries, local and international work, shorts and feature films, as well as several panel discussions, a tribute to seminal filmmaker Spencer Nakasako, and a sing-along Flower Drum Song made up the mix of the festival, presented at eleven venues in three Bay Area cities.
The online library database included a large variety of sources including films screened at each festival and articles describing details of each year’s festival. Some of the CAAMfest films included in the database are All Eyes and Ears, nominated for Best Documentary in 2015, Mixed Match, winner for Best Documentary in 2016, and Ms. Purple, officially selected in 2019. Most articles about the festival come from the India Currents magazine, with a headline such as “CAAMFest Highlights Daring Works by Female Filmmakers”. Another article includes the theme from CAAMFest 2018, which was titled “A Little Wisdom”. The flyer also states the date, time, location, and price of the festival, which was Saturday May 12th, 2018 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM at the AMC Kabuki 8 1881 Post Street, costing $14 for general admission and $13 for students/seniors.
One of the sources contained many details of the CAAMfest from 2021. Last year, the event started on May 13th and lasted for eleven days. They featured over 100 films produced by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It took place in San Francisco in Ft. Mason. One of the first films shown was Debbie Lum’s Try harder!. The following night they featured Dante Basco’s film, Fabulous Filipino Brothers. They featured other movies such as Margrart Cho’s movie Koreatown Ghost Story. This movie was played on the fifth day of the film. The Center piece move was Evan Leong’s film, Snakehead. The last the day of the festival was May 23.and featured movie was Americanish by Iman Zawahry. Like previous festivals, they yearly play 100 or more files over the span of several days showcasing the community's films for large audiences to see.
Here is a picture posted on the CAAMfest website in 2015 to highlight how far the festival has come. The caption states: “1982: The first Asian American International Film Festival at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Pictured are (l to r) Emiko Omori, Arthur Dong, Ruby Yang, Lambert Yam and Jane Muramoto. (photo: Stan Tamai)”
Here are all our sources, including before and after we started searching for the “San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival” (In MLA format citation):
(October 17, 2020 Saturday). Hong Kong: SFETO celebrates Hong Kong cinema at CAAMFest Forward. Hong Kong Government News. https://advance-lexis-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:6134-DDH1-JB5M-W4N5-00000-00&context=1516831.
(May 11, 2018 Friday). CAAMFest 2018: A Little Wisdom. Premium Official News. https://advance-lexis-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5S9H-XH71-DXCW-D3HJ-00000-00&context=1516831
(March 21, 2015 Saturday). Comcast Features Free Asian American Content as Sponsor of CAAMFest 2015. Entertainment Close-up. https://advance-lexis-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/api/document?collection=news&id=urn:contentItem:5FJP-VKP1-F06S-P0Y5-00000-00&context=1516831.
Abrash, Barbara. Spotlight on Loni Ding: San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2001. 14 Mar. 2001, archive.org/details/cbpf_000031/cbpf_000031_a_access.mp3. Accessed 13 Mar. 2022.
Chiba Stearns, Jeff. Mixed Match. San Francisco, California, USA: Collective Eye Films, 2019. Film.
Chon, Justin et al. Ms. Purple. San Francisco, California, USA: Oscilloscope Laboratories, 2020. Film.
Hamamoto, Darrell Y. “Yello Visions: Review of the Sixteenth Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.” 1999, Amerasia Journal , January, pp.73-169.
Hope, Vanessa. All Eyes and Ears. San Francisco, California, USA: Outcast Films, 2018. Film.
Gopalan, Lalitha. 2009. “Work Aesthetic.” Film Quarterly 63 (1). pp.72–73.
Hong, Maxine. Maxine Hong Kingston Papers - Pdf.oac.cdlib.org. http://pdf.oac.cdlib.org/pdf/berkeley/bancroft/m85_20c_cubanc.pdf.
Prasad, L. (2015, 03). CAAMFest 2015. India Currents, 28, 77. Retrieved from https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/magazines/caamfest-2015/docview/1673946989/se-2?accountid=14496
Romanko, J.R. 2005. “Quick Escapes.” New York Times, March 4.
Randall. (2021, May 14). CAAMFest to feature more than 100 AAPI films. AsAmNews Retrieved from https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/newspapers/caamfest-feature-more-than-100-aapi-films/docview/2609378550/se-2?accountid=14496
Shah, M. (2014, 03). CaaMFeST 2014. India Currents, 27, 99. Retrieved from https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/magazines/caamfest-2014/docview/1635433049/se-2?accountid=14496
Shah, M. (2013, 03). CAAMFest highlights daring works by female filmmakers. India Currents, 26, 89. Retrieved from https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.berkeley.edu/magazines/caamfest-highlights-daring-works-female/docview/1322953772/se-2?accountid=14496
Singh, Harleen et al. Drawn Together. San Francisco, California, USA: New Day Films, 2019. Film.
Soe, Valerie. “Cinematic Snapshot.” Afterimage 35, no. 1. Jul 2007, pp.2–3.
Soe, Valerie. 1997. “Pictures in Transition.” Afterimage 25 (1). pp.3.
Wonderful. It seems like your group has accessed a good number of resources that give you a window into what kind of programming this film festival was doing across different years. Perhaps you can start crafting some questions based on what you have already found, and what you read in those sources that might want to find out more about. I think you might find it interesting to compare programming choices, film notes, and film screening locations from the mid 90s (since you found some sources on 1995 and 1997), to 2018, and maybe the mostly online festival in 2021. What kinds of major shifts are you noticing? If you plan on contacting CAAM personnel in the future, what kinds of informed questions can you ask them? Let me know if you'd like to draft some questions and ask me for feedback later.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, to check out the Maxine Hong Kingston papers, you will need to read this and make an appointment. I hope you can do this - the Bancroft is one of the premier research libraries in the state and the country. Bancroft Library Appointment info: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/help/research-help/bancroft-covid
For a future trip and blog material, I hope your group will consider finding out more about the Kabuki theater in Japantown. You mentioned it in this post, and according to CAAM history, it is actually a historically significant venue for the festival: AMC Kabuki 8 1881 Post Street. Perhaps your group can go there for a short field trip and visit!