Slant 11 at the River Oaks Theatre! Photo by Camilo Gonzalez

It was a happy homecoming for filmmaker Soham Mehta and curator Melissa Hung at the 11th annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images last week. Though Soham now lives in New York, and Melissa in San Francisco, both grew up in Houston and consider it their home. They were thrilled to be screening at the historic River Oaks Theatre.

Inside the historic River Oaks Theatre. Photo by Camilo Gonzalez

Slant Film Festival is presented by the Aurora Picture Show and Aurora’s curator Mary Magsamen welcomed the crowd before introducing Slant’s curator, Melissa, to the stage.

Curator Melissa Hung introduces the screening. Photo by Camilo Gonzalez

The screening was particularly meaningful for Soham, because it was the Houston premiere of Fatakra, his Student Academy Award-winning film. Soham grew up in Katy, moved to Austin for college, then came back to Houston to work. He founded local theater company Shunya, before going back to Austin for film school. Many of Soham’s friends, family, and supporters came out to see the film. Fatakra was Soham’s third film to screen at Slant.

Soham Mehta's "Fatakra." Photo by Camilo Gonzalez

Afterwards, there was a lively Q&A with Melissa and Soham. Inquiring minds wanted to know:

• If it was coincidence or on purpose that the program began and ended with two films (Jaime Lo, small and shy and Fatakra) about families separated by a parent moving to another country for  work. (Coincidence that the films dealt with similar narratives, Melissa said, though the bookending was on purpose.)
• How many takes it took to get the shot of the train in Fatakra (Just one, Soham said. He didn’t know when the train was coming by, so if a train were to come by, everyone was to drop everything for the train scene. Luckily, it worked out!)
• Where to tell friends to see these films. (If in other cities, then on the film festival circuit, Soham said.  If in Houston, at the Aurora Video Library, which is free and open to the public, Mary said. And also online, Melissa forgot to say. Three of the films: Jaime Lo, small and shy; PIA; and Digital Antiquities are online. Though it’s a richer experience to see them in a theater, of course!)

If you had questions for some of the other filmmakers not in attendance, check out these brief interviews we conducted with the directors:

• JP Chan, Digital Antiquities
• Lillian Chan, Jaime Lo, small and shy
• Tanuj Chopra, PIA
• Yasmine Gomez, Asian American Jesus

Q&A Time! Soham Mehta, Melissa Hung, and Aurora Picture Show's Mary Magsamen. Photo by Camilo Gonzalez

And now, for the thank yous! Thank you to everyone who came out to support these films and filmmakers. We were so happy to see such a great turnout. Special thanks to Azuma, which treated us to a tasty dinner before the show.

Thanks to all the local press who promoted Slant:

• Robert Stevenson interviewed Soham for “The Front Row” on Houston’s NPR station, KUHF: Here’s the link to the interview.
• Sunil Thakkar of Masala Radio interviewed Soham last Wednesday. Here’s the podcast of the entire show.
• The Loop Scoop choose Slant as an event pick for the week, and also interviewed Soham about his film and favorite Houston Tex-Mex spot.
• The Houston Press featured Slant as a top of event of the week.
• And Ultimate Montrose, Generasian Radio, and CultureMap also gave shout-outs to Slant.

Also, much love to the national Asian American press who promoted Slant:

• Hyphen interviewed Melissa
• Angry Asian Man and Channel APA both promoted the screening

Finally, check out Soham’s post about growing up in Houston and his blog post about the screening. To see more photos from the evening (including some behind the scenes shots of the River Oaks Theatre), check out this set on Flickr.

Hope to see you at another Aurora event soon!

Filmmaker Soham Mehta and curator Melissa Hung outside the River Oaks Theatre for Slant 11. Photo by Hazuki Chino

Today is the day! The 11th Annual Slant: Bold Asian American Images Festival screens tonight at the River Oaks Theatre. Filmmaker Soham Mehta and curator Melissa Hung will be in attendance.

Thursday, August 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray, Houston (Map)
$10, Free for Aurora Picture Show members
Click here to buy tickets

This annual Aurora program showcases an eclectic mix of the best new short films made by Asian American artists. From a mockumentary that follows a self-important spoken word artist to a sci-fi tale featuring a malfunctioning android, the five short films selected for Slant tell diverse stories. Curated by Melissa Hung, founding editor of Hyphen, Slant will screen for one night only. Don’t miss it!

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Films
Jaime Lo, small and shy by Lillian Chan
PIA by Tanuj Chopra
Digital Antiquities by J.P. Chan
Asian American Jesus by Yasmine Gomez
Fatakra by Soham Mehta

For more information please call the Aurora Picture Show at 713-868-2101 or visit www.aurorapictureshow.org.

We can safely say we’ve never screened anything quite like Asian American Jesus before at Slant. A mockumentary directed by Yasmine Gomez, it stars writer-performer Samantha Chanse as six different characters including a self-important spoken word artist, Truth Is Real (top row, right), who is the subject of college freshman Suzette Law’s (bottom row, left) final project for her ethnic studies class, ‘Performing the Diaspora: Asian Americans and the Arts.’

We caught up with Yasmine to ask her about the making of Asian American Jesus.

How did you get together with performer Samantha Chanse  to create ‘Asian American Jesus?’

Samantha and I became friends through the Asian American arts community in San Francisco. I had wanted to do a mockumentary film for a while, and thought spoken word would be an ideal subject. It wasn’t until I saw Sam’s one-woman play, “Back to the Graveyard,” where I was introduced to the awesomely bad Truth Is Real, that I knew I had my star. After the play, I approached Sam about creating a short film based on her incredibly funny spoken word character. We met over bowls of pho, discussed the story, and a few weeks later we were filming.

Samantha Chanse and Yasmine Gomez filming Asian American Jesus.

Samantha is known for her live performances, such as her one-woman shows and stand up comedy. How was it translating that to film?

It’s funny because initially, Sam was just supposed to play Truth Is Real. But as the script developed, new characters appeared that Sam wanted to play as well. Before you knew it we had another one-woman show on our hands, which was a little challenging to direct, especially when the characters interact with each other, but Sam’s performances make it work.

One thing I enjoyed was the inside jokes about the Asian American art community. How have audiences who are not in that community reacted? Do they get the jokes?

I think everyone has been exposed to bad art or artists who are delusional about their own greatness, when others see otherwise. The film pushes this self-important art so it’s so over-the-top horrible, that hopefully audiences laugh because they’ve been forced to uncomfortably sit through their own similar encounters. I just hope this film is not one of them! At the same time, we see that Truth Is Real means well and is passionate about her art, so it’s hard not to respect that.

You didn’t go to film school. How did you get into filmmaking?

I actually studied to be a scientist, but couldn’t see myself working in a lab for the rest of my life. For fun, I decided to take a screenwriting class through UC Extension. From there, I had the beginnings of a story which did not turn into a film until I took Madeleine Lim’s film production class through Kearny Street Workshop, where Sam was actually the artistic director at the time. I figured my script could go into a drawer or I could make it into a film myself because who else would? That first film was 23 minutes long which really burned me out, but luckily I stuck to it and now I’ve found myself a new career.

What are you working on next?

Sam and I actually decided to collaborate again and just completed a short film for the 72 Hour Film Shootout. It was a crazy sleepless whirlwind of a weekend, but we came out of it with a pretty good comedy we can be proud of. Hopefully it will be making the film festival rounds next year.

Asian American Jesus screens as part of Slant 11 on August 11 at River Oaks Theatre.

PIA, directed by Tanuj Chopra, will have its Texas premiere at Slant. A sci-fi love story about the convergence of technology and the human soul, it stars Pia Shah as a malfunctioning android in the year 2063.

Tanuj is perhaps best known for directing the feature film Punching at the Sun, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. That film told the story of a South Asian teenager in Queens, NY dealing with anger and confusion in the aftermath of his older brother’s senseless death in a post-9/11 world. It was the first South Asian American narrative feature ever selected to the prestigious festival, and we’re thrilled to be screening Tanuj’s new work. We asked Tanuj a few questions about PIA.

What inspired the story in PIA?
PIA was inspired by an old Transformers comic storyline where Megatron and Rachet went through the space bridge at the same time and emerged as one fused entity. That storyline impacted me a lot as a kid — there was something horrific and terrifying about the idea. That was a seed for PIA — this idea of a dead human soul inhabiting the body of a female service android — and that giving rise to a new machine. This idea fascinated me and the story grew from there.

PIA, by Tanuj Chopra

This film is part of ITVS’s Futurestates series. How did you get involved with this?
Futurestates is a series conceived by Karim Ahmed and ITVS. Every season they send out a number of invites to filmmakers to submit an idea for a short film about the American future. The catch is that it has to have a fantasy, sci-fi or magic realism slant to it. PIA was my film proposal to the series. The series is a little inspired by the old school Twilight Zone short programs.

Tillotama Shome and Ajay Naidu in PIA

Futurestates is being shown online. Why should people go see your film in the theater if they can see it online?
This is a spiritual question. And an existential one. Why should anyone leave their house to do anything these days when they can do everything online? I don’t know and I’m not one to say to anyone you should see my film at all. However, the one concrete thought I can give is PIA was very beautifully lit, shot and designed by my director of photography, production designer and costume designer.

I think the big screen brings some of these elements to life. I think there is some emotion in the film (and all films) that breathes a bit more in the theatre;  it’s a more visceral experience which I love. And who knows, maybe you go to the theatre and actually talk to a human being at some stage in the experience? Also, Slant rocks, so there’s a reason.

Why, thank you! What are you working on now?
All the new goings on are generally updated at www.chopsfilms.com. We’ve got bunch of features, videos and commercial projects constantly in motion.

PIA screens as part of Slant 11 on August 11 at River Oaks Theatre.

Jaime Lo, small and shy, by Lillian Chan

In our lineup for Slant this year, we have one animation, Jaime Lo, Small and Shy, by Toronto-based Lillian Chan. Drawn in a charming style, the story is told from the perspective of a quiet little girl who spends her days and nights drawing. The 8-minute film is also about what happens to a family when one parent must go overseas for work. We talked to Lillian about her film.

What inspired you to make “Jaime Lo?”
“Jaime Lo” is part of a series by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) called Talespinners that touches on different stories from Canada’s multicultural communities. Growing up as a Chinese Canadian in Canada (and from a suburb with a large Chinese population), I wanted to share a story that addresses a quite common experience from my community, where the father works abroad while the rest of the family stays here. There’s actually a Chinese term for it : astronaut dads!

Telling the story through the eyes of a young girl like Jaime, especially one who liked to draw, seemed liked the perfect starting point for an animator like myself.

Jaime Lo, small and shy, by Lillian Chan

How long did it take?
From start to finish, about a year and a half.

How would you describe your animation style to someone who is not familiar with it? And how did you develop it?
It’s classical but cute, I guess. It’s evolved from a lot of drawing, but I’m not sure there’s a method to the madness. I like where it’s going!

What else are you working on?
I’m in the finishing stages of a collaborative interactive documentary with director Kat Cizek, a new piece for the NFB’s HIGHRISE project. Should be exciting!

Jaime Lo, small and shy screens as part of Slant 11 on August 11 at River Oaks Theatre.

Slant is proud to have the Texas premiere of J.P. Chan’s Digital Antiquities, a sci-fi tale set in the year 2036 about a young man named Kai desperately trying to get some information off this old round shiny thing called a CD. He seeks out Cat, the cranky proprietor of a shop of outdated technology, who begrudgingly helps him on his quest.

J.P. Chan is no stranger to Slant. His films Dry Clean Only, Beijing Haze, and I Don’t Sleep I Dream, have played in prior years of the festival. We caught up with J.P. recently to hear more about his latest film.

J.P. Chan, director of Digital Antiquities, and production designer Tom Soper. Photo by Stephanie Wu.

“Digital Antiquities” is part of Futurestates, a series of short films about social issues as imagined in America’s future. How did you get involved in that?
ITVS, the funders of Futurestates, was looking for emerging, diverse filmmakers to commission. I was invited to pitch an idea for the first season that premiered last year, but they rejected my idea. Fortunately, they invited me to pitch a different idea for season two and liked this one enough to greenlight it.

How did you conceive of the story?
I’d been thinking a lot these past few years about how civilizations come and go and what remains of them for future peoples to discover. Things like pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and stone tablets survived because they’re massive and/or are built of things that don’t disintegrate easily.

Contrast that to today’s increasingly digital lifestyle, where precious memories and records are still largely stored on fragile CDs, hard drives, tapes, and memory cards. Things will probably be better preserved once everything gets uploaded to the “Cloud” but even then there’s risks. In Digital Antiquities, I wanted to explore all these ideas around memories and loss, about secrets and mysteries that can be found on our computers and in our hearts.

The characters spend some time in a tunnel made of e-junk, carefully trying to pry parts out. Was it hard to get all the junk to make the tunnel?
Yes! We were lucky to partner with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, an organization that recycles e-waste here in NYC. They loaned us several hundred pounds of donated equipment which we disassembled and made into sets for the movie, including that tunnel. Our amazing art department led by production designer Tom Soper created a thirty-foot long tunnel made of e-junk in a decrepit loft space in Manhattan.

This tunnel was extended in CGI by our visual effects genius Leonid Karachko and VFX supervisor Johnny Woods. After the shoot, my producer Diane Houslin and production manager Tsia Moses had to oversee the disassembly and return of several dumpsters worth of e-waste to the organization. It was an ordeal, but thankfully the results were worth it.

Digital Antiquities, by J.P. Chan

One thing that we think is awesome about you is that you’re a a self-taught filmmaker! Tell us how you got started in filmmaking. How do you balance your work life and filmmaking life?
Aww, thanks! I’d been wanting to make films since I was a kid, but got distracted for a few decades. By the time I was ready to begin, I was too old and too fiscally responsible to get a formal, expensive education in filmmaking, so I just started shooting inexpensive short films on my nights, weekends, and vacations outside of my day job. In fact, that’s what I still do. I balance these two full-time jobs by sacrificing a lot of other things in my life, primarily traveling around the world like I wish I could. Instead, I try to create worlds in my films and travel there instead.

You were at last year’s Slant. What was your favorite part about the festival or about visiting Houston?
Getting to hang out and watch movies with my little sister, who lives in northwest Houston. Being in New York, I don’t get to see her often and she never gets to come with me on my film festival travels, so Slant 2010 was a great combination of both. Also, last year’s Slant is where I first heard Goh Nakamura’s music and now I’m a huge fan of his and a friend too. Thank you, Slant!

Digital Antiquities screens as part of Slant 11 on August 11 at River Oaks Theatre.

We are thrilled to announce that filmmaker Soham Mehta will be attending Slant in person on August 11 at the River Oaks Theatre. Though now based in New York, Soham grew up in Houston (where he founded the theater troupe Shunya), and got his film degree at UT Austin.

We will have the Houston premiere of his latest film, Fatakra, which just won a Student Academy Award. Click here to learn more about the film and Slant 11.

Slant is proud to screen Soham Mehta’s Fatakra at our festival this year. Fatakra (which means “firecracker” in Gujarati) has been playing at festivals around the country (including SXSW) to critical acclaim and we’re delighted to present its Houston premiere. It recently won a Student Academy Award. Not too shabby, Soham!

The film tells the story of Naveen (Samrat Chakrabarti), an immigrant who left his family behind three years ago to work in Texas. Now, his wife and young son are joining him in the States, and the reunion is filled with tension and high emotion.

Soham told Austin 360 in an interview, “I was looking for stories about relationships that had a separation and were now coming together. I went through different story ideas, and this was the most obvious choice, because in a way it is the experience of my parents and many people like them. So in a way it allowed me to pay tribute to their experience but not just make a tribute film because it had an emotional core that I could relate to.”

Samrat Chakrabarti as Naveen in Fatakra.

Soham, who has had two other films in prior years of Slant (Released and Survivors), also has the distinction of being the only Slant artist who is from Houston. Born in India, but raised in Houston, Soham founded Houston’s Shunya Theatre, a theater troupe dedicated to voicing the South Asian American experience.

After leading the troupe for four years while working a day job in the tech industry, he went back to school at UT Austin to get his MFA in film. (Along the way, he co-wrote the funny feature film Where’s the Party YAAR.) He now lives in New York, working as a freelance editor and pursing his own projects. We look forward to seeing what he does next! Read more about Soham in this interview.

Fatakra and other films screen at Slant on August 11.

The 11th Annual
Slant: Bold Asian American Images Festival

Thursday, August 11, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
River Oaks Theatre, 2009 West Gray, Houston (Map)
$10, Free for Aurora Picture Show members (Click here to buy tickets)
Filmmaker Soham Mehta and curator Melissa Hung in attendance

This annual Aurora program showcases an eclectic mix of the best new short films made by Asian American artists. From a mockumentary that follows a self-important spoken word artist to a sci-fi tale featuring a malfunctioning android, the five short films selected for Slant tell diverse stories. Curated by Melissa Hung, founding editor of Hyphen, Slant will screen for one night only. Don’t miss it!

Share this event on Facebook

Films

Jaime Lo, small and shy by Lillian Chan
Jaime Lo, a shy Chinese Canadian girl, observes the world around her through her drawings. When Jaime’s father is sent to Hong Kong for a year-long work assignment, Jaime must use her creativity to cope with his absence.

Fatakra by Soham Mehta
Naveen left India to chase his dreams in America. Three years and a recession later, his wife and son join him. Sparks fly as a family reunites.

PIA by Tanuj Chopra
In San Francisco, in the year 2063, much of human labor has been replaced with service androids called PIAs. One night, a mysterious and malfunctioning PIA appears at Syama Raval’s front door.

Digital Antiquities by J.P. Chan
In the year 2036, a woman in an antique electronics shop meets a desperate young man seeking to recover data from an old CD.

Asian American Jesus by Yasmine Gomez
In this mockumentary, Samantha Chanse plays six different characters including Truth is Real, a self-professed ‘mad scientist of the spoken word,’ and the subject of college freshman Suzette Law’s final project for her ethnic studies class.

Special thanks to Hyphen and River Oaks Theatre for their help with this program.

Asian American Jesus, by Yasmine Gomez

Digital Antiquities, by J.P. Chan

Fatakra, by Soham Mehta

Jaime Lo, small and shy, by Lillian Chan

PIA, by Tanuj Chopra

Slant is moving! No, not away from Houston. But on the calendar. For the past 10 years, Slant has taken place in May or June. This year, we’re in August. Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 13. We’ll see you at the movies then.

UPDATE: We’ve moved it again. It will now be August 11. 11 years of Slant on August 11!