The Real Shaolin Screening This Saturday!

Hi Blog,

The feature documentary I co-wrote with writer/director Alexander Lee, The Real Shaolin, will be having its US Premier at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (aka. the VC Film Fest) this Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 5pm.

Regardless of my involvement in this film, I think that it's an interesting subject matter that is well made and executed. For all of the fans out there of Kung Fu movies and Asian martial arts, in general, this is a different view of the world of martial arts that shows the cold, commercial reality of Shaolin.

If you live in LA, definitely come to the Laemmle's Sunset 5 and see the film. I think you'll like it.

VC Film Festival page.

Previous postings here.

TIFF: The Real Shaolin Screening Times!

Hi Blog,

Spent yesterday evening working on a new trailer for The Real Shaolin with director Alexander Lee and a professional trailer-editor [fancy!]. Timed for the Toronto International Film Festival, this trailer was one of the last key elements that Alex had to get squared away before jetting off to the fest first thing this morning. This is a brand-spanking-new trailer for the film that I think rocks a lot more than the previous one-- which was done many months ago in a hurry, very late at night by little elves.

The screening schedule at Toronto is as follows:

All screenings at theater AMC Yonge & Dundas 24
Public Screening 1 (AMC 6)
Sun. 9/7 at 3:45pm

Public Screening 2 (AMC 9)
Weds. 9/10 at 9pm

Public Screening 3 (AMC 9)
Sat. 9/13 at 3:15pm

Yonge Dunda's Square Live Kung Fu Demo: Wed 9/10 at 6:30pm

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend this fest but I look forward to hearing people's thoughts on the film!

Previous blog postings about the film here.

Newly refurbished The Real Shaolin website!

The Real Shaolin

Hi Blog,

One of the projects, which I worked on and that I've had to keep mum about for the past year and half, is called THE REAL SHAOLIN. It's a documentary that I co-wrote with the director Alexander Sebastien Lee about Shaolin Kung Fu and the allure/mystic that surrounds it. It's a real labor of love by Lee who spent a lot of time, energy and money over the past four (actually almost 5) years making it. We had a great time working together on it and more importantly a good friendship was forged out of it.

So why do I mention it now? That's because THE REAL SHAOLIN's world premier will be at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival!

Here's Toronto's Press release:

7/29/2008| TIFF Documentaries Explore Worlds Of Youssou Ndour, Valentino, Lebron James, Jimmy Page, Agnès Varda, Eco-Warriors, '68 Rebels, Swingers And More!

Toronto - The Toronto International Film Festival announces 26 documentaries to screen in various programmes as part of TIFF08. One documentary will screen in Mavericks, two will screen as Special Presentations, one as a Masters title, and 22 as part of Real to Reel, showcasing the finest in non-fiction cinema from around the world. Highlights include a look at a fashion master in Valentino: The Last Emperor and a self-portrait of French auteur Agnès Varda in Les Plages d'Agnès. Guitar heroes Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White are profiled in It Might Get Loud. Two films, Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love and Soul Power, explore the musical exchange between Africa and abroad. Three films examine crusading eco-warriors - controversial Canadian activist Paul Watson in At the Edge of the World, authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan in Food, Inc. and Native Americans of the Hoopa tribe in Upstream Battle. Two films revisit cases of injustice - from the courtrooms of California in Witch Hunt to a tarnished legacy in Israel in Killing Kasztner. Several films intersect with various sports, including kung fu masters in The Real Shaolin and LeBron James's high school basketball team in More Than a Game. Two films have the backdrop of Ivy League schools in the tumultuous year of 1968, with Tommy Lee Jones playing college football in Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 and student strikers at Columbia University in A Time to Stir. Not to mention the sexual revolution uncovered in American Swing.

"Documentary-making continues to flourish," says Thom Powers, Documentary and Mavericks Programmer. "Every year there are more films that command the big screen. There has been a short-sighted focus on the recent lack of a documentary blockbuster. In the larger picture, more docs are getting funded and released theatrically than ever before."

Now live at tiff08.ca/blogs, the Festival's Doc Blog returns to offer visitors all of the exciting details and comprehensive information surrounding this year's inspired non-fiction films, and will feature contributions from programmers and filmmakers alike. Ticket packages now on sale. Purchase online at tiff08.ca, by phone at 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM or in person at the Festival Box Office at Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West (main floor, north entrance). Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The 33rd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4 through 13, 2008.

And here's a link to THE REAL SHAOLIN's webpage. It's kind of slow loading and a bit out of date, but I think that'll be rectified soon. There's more to tell, but I'll save it all for a later date!

I'm very happy about this!!