Homemade music video -- Best festival trailer ever?

Even though the LVHIFF 2005 festival trailer has received universal accolades, so much that Roger Ebert will screen the trailer at his Overlooked film festival next year, I would have to eventually fend off the naysayers and vote for the Northwest Asian American Film Festival's trailer as the best ever! Taken from an amateur webcam video made by 2 Beijing college students lip-synching to the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys song "I Want It That Way", wearing Houston Rockets jerseys (in honor of Yao Ming, most likely). Aside from this webcam video, there are also other great homemade music videos over at EW's popwatch blog.

Even if the NWAAFF trailer most likely violates every copyright and intellectual property law, it's a really small community-based film festival in Seattle, so I think they can get away with it, just because it is so hilarious! Better yet, they didn't have to even pay anything for a budget or props. Now, that's what I call in-kind services!

Bushido gets respect!



Well, it took a scientologist to make the samurai cool again. Today, the Honolulu Advertiser carried a USA Today article on the recent popularity of samurai movies in America. There's a brief mention of films like THE HIDDEN BLADE, which was shown at this year's festival, as well as Sam Jackson's Afrosamurai project. For all you Christmas shoppers, get your cinephile friends and family the kick-ass and definitive REBEL SAMURAI: Sixties Swordplay Classics DVD box set, available now through Criterion. Remastered 35mm prints were struck from this particular series and there have been small runs at various museums and cinematheques across the country. I think Konrad at the Doris Duke should book this series soon!

R.I.P. Shannon

I guess Maggie Grace didn't buy a house after all. I thought it was a solid episode, and the twist at the end was so bone-chilling. Sayid's immediate anguish then the complete 180 to Super Soldier with a vengeance and "I can snap your neck in 6 seconds" was pure acting brilliance from Naveen Andrews.

I'm a big fan of Entertainment Weekly, especially their weekly online LOST recap. Much insight from the EW peanut gallery.

We'll miss you Shannon, even though you were pretty annoying. Who knew you had an evil stepmother? It explains everything! Let's just hope Ms. Grace doesn't make THE FOG 2.

CAVITE, Golden Maile Winner, picked up for U.S. distribution


Tim Ryan's column in the Honolulu Star Bulletin reports that LVHIFF 05 Golden Maile Best Feature Winner CAVITE was just picked up by Unitel Films, an indie film distributor owned by Dallas Mavericks maven and billionaire Mark Cuban, who also has an exclusive HD deal with Steven Soderbergh, a movie theater chain, and very recent media spat with NBA commentators Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, among other things. What a media gadfly!

Let's wish Neill Gamazon and Ian Dela Llana (the directors of CAVITE) a successful run this coming spring!