Spanning from Thursday to Sunday, film enthusiasts flocked to Boston to view a unique and engaging program of cinematic opportunities-the fifth annual Boston Asian American Film Festival. Screenings were staggered between the Brattle Theater and the Paramount Center in Boston's theater district, and featured numerous appearances from the films' directors, actors and producers. Even the famous Ang Lee, whose film Wedding Banquet opened the festival on Thursday, was in attendance.

The BAAFF is a very interactive and culturally valuable event because, unlike some of the larger festivals, it features independent films that were created by and starred in by Asian-Americans, rather than mainstream projects. The Asian community is largely underrepresented in the independent film genre, which, although its generic classification makes the implicit claim of abstaining from mainstream or normative film conventions, exhibits an embarrassingly low profile of racial and ethnic diversity. When Asian actors are given parts in indie films, they are often typecast according to racial stereotypes-the kid who does karate, the over-sexualized geisha-like seductress or the older familial figure of wisdom.

When Asian directors and producers make films that portray their cultural heritage the way that they experience it-as normal, everyday life-they must fight for a market or venue through which to show their projects. The BAAFF provides a platform for the younger generation of filmmakers and actors whose work is creating a newer, more cohesive space for their community in the larger film community. With a lineup of nine feature-length films showing over the four-day-long festival, as well as three screenings of different collections of short films, viewers experienced a variety of genres and styles under the indie umbrella.

On Saturday night, I attended the festival's New England premiere screening of the 2013 film Someone I Used to Know, an independent coming-of-age film. The film's director, Nadine Truong, and its producer, Brian Yang, were in attendance at the screening, and stayed afterward for a question-and-answer session with the audience, led by the festival's staff.

Someone I Used to Know begins with a shocking and disturbing image: its protagonist, Charlie, a 30-something teacher who is experiencing a period of personal and professional desperation as he is left by his girlfriend and quit his job, tries to kill himself. One of the first visual impressions made by the film is a series of close-up shots of Charlie's wrist, sliced by a razor blade by unflinching fingers, with emotional numbness and precision. Dressed in a full suit, he sinks slowly into the bathtub of a stark white bathroom. Suddenly a high-pitched meow from his cat, Hemingway, stirs him from his complacency, and he quickly leaps from the tub, hurrying to bandage his wrist as he clutches a novel by Hemingway.

Charlie takes a much-needed road trip to connect with his high school friends, Luke, who is now a famous actor, and DJ, whose character is drunk for most of the film. Through spending a night with the people who used to know him best-drinking, accidentally being joined by a group of two gorgeous young women and their male friend, and all together tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms-Charlie comes to his senses. He remembers the things that make him value his own life. Overall, the film was compelling, engaging, visually dynamic and thematically significant, and all produced on a very low budget.

After the film ended and the lights came on, Truong and Yang spoke at length about what the film, Truong's first feature-length project and Yang's first producing endeavor, means to them. "It's about collaboration. A film is definitely a team effort," Truong began."We get to make art, and it's a privilege." Yang continued, "Even though we shot this thing a couple years ago, we're still working on it. A film never really leaves you."

The pair was not discouraged by the challenges facing Asian American indie filmmakers today, but rather relished the opportunity to educate their audiences. Truong said: "We're still very under-represented. We're still figuring out a lot of stereotypes. But it is getting better... It's festivals like these that help that process along." Someone I Used to Know, she said, "is so Asian-American specific, but if you look at the content of the film, it's just about people."
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