by Oliver Wang

In Ron Morales’ new feature, SANTA MESA (2008), Hector, a 12-year old from New Jersey, is tragically orphaned and sent to live with his grandmother in a shantytown on the outskirts of Manila. She speaks little English; he speaks no Tagalog. Not surprisingly, for Hector, his first days in the Philippines are marked by displacement, bewilderment and uncertainty.

by Oliver Wang

For the last fifteen years, fans of filmmaker Wayne Wang have wondered when he would “return” to Asian American film. The most influential Asian American filmmaker of the 1980s, with movies such CHAN IS MISSING (1982) and DIM SUM (1985), Wang successfully adapted Amy Tan’s JOY LUCK CLUB in 1993. After that, he took a serendipitous route through Hollywood, directing everything from his celebrated, indie film SMOKE (1995), to the edgy digital video flick, THE CENTER OF THE WORLD (2001), to the Jennifer Lopez-lead romantic comedy, MAID IN MANHATTAN (2002).

THE SPEED OF LIFE, which premiered in 2007 at the Venice Film Festival, is the culmination of director, Ed Radtke’s experiences teaching film and video to inner city teens and leading media workshops to underserved groups in New York City. The film tells the story of Sam, a thirteen year old boy who escapes the streets of New York City by stealing video cameras from tourists. As he explores the stolen footage, his imagination unfurls and lifts him from the harsh reality of his working class neighborhood in Brooklyn.