Press
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Press Officer
Aernout Bouwman-Sie
0031 (0)6-48473713
Asiascope in the press
19 February 2009, Asian News, interview with Aernout Bouwman-Sie
12 April 2009, Chinese Radio, interview with Aernout Bouwman-Sie
22 April 2009, BNN Today (Radio 1), interview with Patrick Chan
23 April 2009, AD Rotterdam, interview with Regina Park
24 April 2009, Dicht bij Nederland (Radio 5), interview with Julie O’Yang
25 April 2009, Trouw, interview with Regina Park
27 April 2009, RTL Boulevard (RTL4), item about Never Perfect
11 May 2009, Multiculturele Televisie Nederland, report Asiascope Rotterdam 2009
11 June 2009, NRC next, interview with Regina Park
13 June 2009, CRTV Amsterdam, report Asiascope Rotterdam 2009 and interview with Regina Park
PRESS RELEASE
Film Festival Asiascope Rotterdam Opens with ‘Never Perfect’
Rotterdam, March/April 2009 – The second edition of film festival Asiascope Rotterdam opens Thursday 23 April (20.00hrs) with the documentary ´Never Perfect´, which is about the Asian beauty ideal. The Korean-American director Regina Park follows a young Vietnamese woman whom is about to have an eyelid correction. After the screening of the film Park, whom will attend the evening in Theatre Lantaren/Venster in Rotterdam, will participate in a discussion with Dutch guests and the audience.
Never Perfect explores the complex struggle of Mai-Anh, a young Vietnamese-American woman, with popular perceptions of beauty. In 1982 her family left behind a tight-knit Vietnamese community for the suburban sprawl of California. Now 27 years-old, having been reared amidst a backdrop of American malls, movies and magazines and living in the same suburban house in which she was raised, Mai-Anh challenges her self-diagnosed “quarter-life crisis” by way of “new location, new lifestyle, new look.”
Mai-Anh begins a literal and symbolic transformation and reinvention of herself: a relocation from quiet suburbia to the heart of urban Los Angeles, a new lifestyle defined by living on her own for the first time, and finally, a new physical makeover: double eyelid surgery. But will she find the answers to her crisis on the operating room table?
“As a Korean-American, I grew up in the Midwest in the 1980s and my experience was similar to many other Asian-American women of my generation: I had few Asian-American female role models and friends, I felt marginalized by my majority Caucasian peers”, explains Park. “From my adolescence through college and young adulthood, my identity pendulum swung from a Barbie/Madonna wannabe to a militant uber-Korean and a self-assured Asian-American woman.” 
Park: “For those out there who perceive double eyelid surgery as ‘just’ a personal choice based on individual aesthetics or for those on the other side of the chasm who perceive it solely as a form of racial self-hatred, I can attest that it’s a much more complex, multilayered debate than that.”
The discussion that follows after the screening of the documentary will be moderated by Leila Prnjavorac, from the Dutch radio station for youth with an immigrant background FunX. Other guests of the evening are the Dutch-Chinese writer Julie O’Yang (41), the Dutch specialist on cosmic surgery and TV-personality Robert Schoemacher (51) and Arjen Oosterbaan (35), Sinologue and documentary maker.
The Chinese avante-garde pop musician Xiao He (34) will be performing on Friday 24 April at 21.15 hrs. in the foyer of Theater Lantaren/Venster in Rotterdam during the Talent & Pro Event. The performance is free of charge.
Regina Park will participate in a discussion with the young Dutch-Chinese filmmaker Jimmy Tai, who’s short Former Lovers will be screened during the festival, on Saturday 25 April at 17.30 hrs. during the Directors Talk in the foyer of Theater Lantaren/Venster. The event is free of charge.
On Friday 24 April and Saturday 25 April Asiascope will show twelve films, documentaries and shorts about Asian immigrants from around the world. The topics of the production go from mixed relationships to illegal immigration. Below is a selection of the films Asiascope will screen this year. Please check our website www.asiascope.nl to see the complete program.
SHANGHAI KISS (USA, 2007), 24 April, 19.30 hrs.
Liam Liu is a 28-year-old aspiring Asian-American actor whose so-called career is going nowhere and whose only meaningful relationship is with a high school girl. When he inherits his grandmother’s house in China, he goes to Shanghai in an attempt to sell it. Instead, he discovers his parents’ home city and all the marvels it holds, including a woman whom he believes is his soul mate. He suddenly finds himself at a crossroad – does he choose this new exotic world full of wonders or does he go back to America and make an honest attempt to put his life in order?
BANANA IN A NUTSHELL (New Zealand, 2006) 25 April, 21.30 hrs.
Growing up in New Zealand, Roseanne was the perfect Chinese daughter. She did everything her parents expected of her, until: 1) she fell in love with a white boy called Stephen, and 2) decided to make a documentary about it. Having been in love for eight years, Roseanne and Stephen navigate the cultural minefield of getting a blessing for marriage from her traditional parents. The intimate story of a girl’s two loves – her Kiwi boy, and her Chinese parents – and the struggle to keep both intact.
TAKE OUT (USA, 2004), 25 April, 19.30 hrs.
Take Out is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York City. Ming is behind with his payments on his huge debt to the smugglers who brought him to the US. The collectors have given him until the end of the day to deliver the money that is due. After borrowing most from his friends and relatives. Ming realizes that the remainder must come from the days delivery tips. In order to do so, he must make more than double his average daily income.
Tickets can be bought at the box-office of Theatre Lantaren/Venster, tel. 0031 (0)10-2772277.
Entrance: 8,- euro, reduction 6,- euro
Entrance opening: 9,- euro, reduction 7,- euro
Asiascope Rotterdam is organised by Asian youth in the Netherlands. They all work as volunteers for the film festival. The project is sponsored by: Talent & Pro, VSBfonds, Stichting Volkskracht, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Erasmusstichting and the graphic design bureau Artbox.
Not for publication:
Please, contact for more information Aernout Bouwman-Sie, tel. 0031 (0)6-48473713 or send an e-mail to info@asiascope.nl.