TGIF FEATURE: "Paradise Broken" is now available for downloading

RUFIO, ... I mean actor Dante Basco, checked in to announce the availability of a movie that he made in 2011. 

James Serno, director

Paradise Broken is a dramatic departure for Basco, best known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in the motion picture Hook, which starred the late Robin Williams. In this movie, he plays a pretty unsavory character, which takes a lot of acting from the personable Basco. 

He plays the role of Ray, a small-time drug dealer, and his girlfriend Misha, a prostitute. They live in a one bedroom apartment that is a half-a-mile from the tourist haven Waikiki Beach, but worlds away from the white sandy beaches that make Honolulu famous. With a shared dream for a better life, the two hustle to scrape by night after night. Then a disagreement leads to a blow-up that separates them, leaving each to face dangerous hurdles as they try to make it back to one another.

For his role in Paradise, Basco received the best actor award in the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

The movie shows the darker side of paradise. The film was written by Chris McKinney, whose work focuses on the other side of Hawaii. "We wanted a story that felt real and authentic and exposed Waikiki and the underbelly of the streets," said director James Sereno.

Unfortunately, Paradise didn't get wide distribution, but for those who missed it when it was released to the theaters, it just went digital and is available for downloading. Here's your chance to see it if you click here. or here, or on Amazon. Sorry, its not free.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANTE!
Have a great weekend!

FULL DISCLOSURE: Dante Basco, his brothers and sister went to the same school that my daughters attended.

TGIF FEATURE: A film fest for us, about us

IF YOU LOVE movies, here's treat for you if you live in the NYC metropolitan area. The 38th Asian American International Film Festival is offering a week of movies from Asia and the United States. It starts tonight until August 1. Here's a complete schedule.

The organizers have had to downsize their ambitions. Stephen Dypiangco, co-founder of the National Film Society, maintains that festivals like AAIFF are crucial in connecting audiences with filmmakers, and sustaining the artistic stories from within the community.

"They give viewers the rare chance to see stories from our community, which are often ignored in the mainstream, on a big screen" said Dypiangco, who is also behind the new film Awesome Asian Bad Guys now available on iTunes and Amazon. "These communal spaces can lead to beautiful and profound conversations, ideas, and collaborations that can take on a life of their own."

To rebuild and preserve authenticity, the fanfare surrounding the festival has been toned down for 2015. 

 You don't need the glitz and glamor. It's all about the movies and the stories they tell, the lands they take you to and the characters you meet on your journey.

And most of the offerings are free. FREE!

Have a great weekend!

Making its New York debut as AAIFF 2015’s Centerpiece presentation, SEOUL SEARCHING is a fun coming-of-age feature, chronicling the shenanigans and personal journeys of a group of international Korean teens sent to a government-sponsored summer camp for a crash course in Korean culture. Directed by award-winning Korean American filmmaker Benson Lee, and starring Justin Chon  and Jessica Van, this John Hughes-inspired dramedy delivers a pitch-perfect tale of teenage angst, modernized with a stellar Asian and Asian American cast.