TGIF FEATURE: Documentary 'Right Footed' closes CAAMFest 2016

Jessica Cox earned her pilots license despite being born without arms.

"RIGHT FOOTED" is the documentary chosen to close CAAMFest 2016, which began March 10.

The subject of the film is Jessica Cox, has famously eliminated the words “I can’t” from her vocabulary. Although born without arms as the result of a birth defect, she has never allowed that to be a limiting factor.

RELATED: CAAMFest 2016 is a huge celebration of film and video

While she suffered from self-esteem issues early on and physical challenges throughout her life, Jessica managed to overcome and achieve — earning a college degree and a Taekwondo black belt, learning to drive a car with her feet, type with her toes, and in 2008 fly an airplane.

That feat landed the Filipina/American in the Guinness Book of World Records and led to an audience with the Pope, meetings with heads of state, and a great deal of media attention.

The documentary is both a portrait of Jessica’s unexpected journey as she becomes a disability activist and a very personal story — spanning more than two-and-a-half years of her life during which time she gets married and begins a new life with her husband Patrick while also taking care of her mother Inez who is stricken with cancer. The film also reveals much about Jessica’s religious faith and the reasons that she does not see herself as a victim of her condition.

It is directed by Emmy-award winning Nick Sparks and produced by Bay Area resident Mona Lisa Yuchengco, founder and publisher of Filipinas Magazine. Yuchengco is also founder and chair of Philippine International Aid.

"Right Footed" will be shown March 20, Sunday, at the New Parkway Theater, 474 24th Street, Oakland. Showtimes, 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

After 11 nights, dozens of films and videos shown at a half dozen venues in San Francisco and Oakland, CAAMFest's closing night party will follow the last screening at 9 p.m. at SomaR Bar, 1727 Telegraph Ave, Oakland,

'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' earns second season; Vincent Rodriguez at CAAMFest

Vincent Rodriguez III, the romantic lead in 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' was interviewed by AsAm News prior to his appearance at CAAMFest 2016 in San Francisco.

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

Fresh off the announcement that his much heralded show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend will return to the CW for a second season, Vincent Rodriguez III will appear Sunday in San Francisco at  CAAMfest 2016.

Rodriguez will join Crazy co-star Vella Lovell who plays Heather to discuss gender roles and typecasting in Hollywood. It’s something Rodriguez and Lovell do each week on their romantic music comedy. Rodriguez plays Josh Chan, the teenage crush of Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom), a lawyer who gives up a job at a top law firm and moves to West Covina, CA to chase her summer camp dream years later.

RELATED: CAAMFest 2016 a celebration of Asian & Asian/American film and video

The role of Josh had to be changed when the show selected Rodriguez to play him.

“The breakdown description was originally Josh Chang,” Rodriguez told AsAmNews about his character.  “They were specifically looking for an actor of Asian decent. As soon as I was cast, Josh became Filipino, like me, and his last name was changed to Chan instead since Chan is a surname in the Philippines.”

The San Francisco native was raised in nearby Daly City, the unofficial capital city of Filipino/Americans. The casting directors at Telsey & Co. auditioned him on tape and would later invite him to audition on tape a second time, but this time for the director Marc Webb. It was a long process that also involved head writer Aline Brosh McKenna and co-creator, head writer, song writer and star of the show, Bloom. The significance of his role to the Asian American community was not lost on Rodriguez.

“I realized it as soon as I heard the show would be on network television (CW) with over 3 million possible viewers,” he said.  “I knew there were a few Asian men on TV but not in romantic lead roles. John Cho in Selfie was the last I had heard. But I still had no idea how popular the show would be or how positive an impact my character could have on TV history.”

Episode 13 featured a long kiss between Rebecca and Josh.

RELATED: Historic Kiss occurs in Crazey Ex-Girlfriend

“I wasn’t surprised. The arc of our characters over numerous seasons was explained to me early on by Aline and Rachel. I knew what would happen at the season finale and what would happen over the course of a few seasons. This was discussed along with a lengthy discussion about who Josh is and his relation to Rebecca. The writers do an amazing job weaving each week’s episode into a story that makes sense for all our characters. They know us (our characters) better than we do. I feel that everything Josh has done, makes sense in Josh’s head.”

Singing plays a huge part in CEG, as Rodriguez calls the show. As with most musicals, the songs push the plot and further the development of the characters. Rodriguez sang and rapped Thug Mansion by T-Pac and accompanied himself on the guitar during his audition.

“I’ve been singing since I was a kid, but my professional training didn’t start until I got accepted to the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts (PCPA) in Santa Maria, CA in 2001. Since graduating, I worked as a professional actor in musical theatre based out of New York and have done a number of first national tours & original cast recordings including Irving Berlin’s White Christmas the Musical and most recently Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

RELATED: Why you should be watching 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'

Music has been central to his career since graduating from PCPA in 2003. He is also a magician, martial artist and gymnast.

“Musical theatre was my primary profession for 12 years so I’ve toured all over the country (and internationally) including Canada & Tokyo, Japan and have also taught acting, singing & dance workshops all in the US but primarily in the Bay Area where I’m from.”

TGIF FEATURE: CAAMFest 2016 is a huge celebration of Asian and Asian/American films and videos

Fast & Furious' Sung Kang talks about his career.

FOR those who love film and video, this weekend you can be in your glory. CAAMFest presents a 10-day smorgasbord of documentaries, home movies, personalities, shorts and feature films from the US and from Asia,

Formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), CAAMFest is an 11‐day celebration of film, music, food and digital media from the world’s most innovative Asian and Asia/American artists. 

The team behind the animated Sanjay's Super Team

Presented by the Center for Asian American Media, this year's festival of the video arts will be spread out from San Francisco's Chinatown, to a brewpub to the Castro Theater to the Oakland California Museum.

The offerings are almost too much to take in. Click here for the full schedule of showings and events from March 10 to March 20.

Umrika is a mythical country for this Indian village.

One of the highlights will the rare showing and sing-along for the 10th anniversary of the feature-length with a cast of Asian/American unknowns in the unique but lovable Colma, The Musical, which has become a cult classic. The Bay Area production will be shown this Sunday, 3 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse. A lot of the original cast ad director Richard Wong and writer H.P Mendoza will be present.

RELATED: Rare showing Colma, the Musical

Atomic Dust from Tehran is one of the featured films.

For those looking for celebrities, take a look at the panel offerings on March 12 and 13 being held deep in the Mission at the Gray Area Foundation of Arts.

​On March 12, Golden Globe‐nominated Netflix series Master of None has had critics and viewers binge‐watching every episode and thirsting for more. Series co‐creator Alan Yang and cast member Kelvin Yu will be stopping by CAAMFest for a panel on the award‐winning show. Yang and Yu will divulge juicy details on the show’s inspiration and production as well as their own experiences in an industry full of both opportunity and obstacle.

The next day, ​CAAMFest will explore the bane of existence for many Asian American actors: typecasting. For Asian/American women and men looking for work, roles can be severely limited and stereotyped, especially when it comes to appearing as a character intended (or specifically not intended) for romance. Featuring actress V​ella Lovell and B​ay Area native Filipino/American actor Vincent Rodriguez III from the hit series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Rodriguez and Lovell join other actors and filmmakers (TBA) to discuss the gradually changing landscape for gender roles and what they hope the future holds.

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For more news about Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Rare showing of cult classic "Colma, The Musical" featured in film festival sing-along

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

CAAMFest commemorates the 10th anniversary of one of the most distinctive and memorable movies in Asian/American film history this Sunday in San Francisco.

A special performance of Colma, the Musical will be presented at 3 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse.

The film featured 13 original songs and many of the cast and crew will appear at the screening for a special live sing-a-long.

“I honestly was a little surprised about being asked to do a 10th anniversary screening,” said director Richard Wong to AsAmNews. “CAAMFest is of course a very special festival for both HP (HP Mendoza who wrote the script) and me, so if we were going to do something to commemorate the film, we’d definitely want it to be with them. We world premiered there so in a sense this has a nice circular feel to it. It brings back a lot of very good memories about the making of it and mostly the spirit of making it.”

Wong has reedited the film for the screening with the live performances in mind. It will include 17 minutes of footage audiences have never seen before as well as extended songs. There’s also two new songs Mendoza will be playing live. La Renigen (who plays Maribel) and Jake Moreno (who plays Billy) will also be making special appearances and performing songs.

Wong says the movie’s popularity 10 years later has to do with its singular nature. How many movies are centered around a town made up of cemeteries where dead people outnumber those alive 1000 to 1? The 13 original songs all written by Mendoza are about growing up in Colma and then ultimately leaving it.

“The movie is about every kids who are dealing with problems that kids deal with. The fact that they are Asian/American makes it about Asian/American experience, but I think treating the characters as just people mattered at a time when Asian/American films were largely about the cultural divide between generations and the classic Asian/American experience film, and I’m not knocking those films, I love a lot of those films. But this was something different.”

Colma won three special jury prizes before its theatrical debut in 2007.

Despite the films success, Wong has largely focused on his photography and not his directing since then. He now has an impressive 31 cinematography credits to his name, including many as director of photography.

“Any film’s success is followed by a very small window of time to capitalize on, and I think being young, I probably didn’t capitalize as much as I could have. Nonetheless, my career path has always been DPing (Director of Photography), and that’s been the trajectory of my career from the start.”

His latest project is Unleashed which was also shot around the San Francisco Bay Area. The comedy is directed by Finn Taylor who Wong says “puts much heart into the film and it shows.”

Wong has no regrets about his career path, but does imply he’d like to see more Asian American movies make it into the theaters.

“I can’t say I’ve found that my being Asian American has hindered me in any way. I will say that the Asian American scripts that I’ve wanted to get made have had a hard time finding producers who would attach, possibly because Asian American themed films don’t make money, and ultimately it’s a business.

“If Asian/Americans do not go out and support Asian/American content, then there will be no apparent demand for the content and thus be deemed unprofitable.”

He encourages everyone in the Bay Area to come out this Sunday to see the special screening of Colma, The Musical.

“We’ve put a lot of work into this screening and I think it’ll show in how much fun it’ll be.”

For the complete schedule of the CAAMFest 2016, click here.

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For more news about Asian/Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.