August 19, 2012 (Updated August 29, 2012 with screening dates and video of SAG Foundation's conversation with cast members Linus Roache and Michael Park, and producer/writer/actor Derek Ting.)

by Lia Chang

Don't miss these screenings!: (more listings below)
SAN FRANCISCO - August 24 - 30 at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, 601 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
LOS ANGELES - August 31 - September 6 at the Laemmle's Noho 7, 5240 Lankershim Blvd., Los Angeles, CA (North Hollywood, CA 91601)

Kudos to Derek Ting, for taking control of his destiny, pursuing his dream and realizing his vision with his eleven year journey from inception to the big screen. Derek is the writer, producer and star of $upercapitalist, a financial thriller set in Hong Kong directed by award-winning filmmaker Simon Yin. Ting's film debuts in theaters this month, and is available now through your local cable TV station's video-on-demand, and online at many outlets including iTunes and Amazon Video. (Top image L to R: Lia Chang, $upercapitalist writer, producer and lead actor Derek Ting, producer and Derek's wife Joyce Yung Photo by Francois Bonneau). 

I met Derek and his wife, Joyce Yung, a producer on the film, when the Screen Actors Guild Foundation hosted a special 'Conversations' advance screening of $upercapitalist, at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway in New York. 

$upercapitalist is screening now in Los Angeles (August...

Los Angeles

FAR EAST MOVEMENT entertained the crowds at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton's "One Night in Los Angeles" event to benefit the VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION. 

The American hip hop quartet is the first Asian-American group to earn a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. FAR EAST MOVEMENT's music "Round Round" is featured in the Hollywood movie The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. FM performers are Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), J-Splif (Jae Choung), and DJ Virman (Virman Coquia).

Funds raised from the Perez Hilton's "One Night in Los Angeles" September 6 event will be donated to VH1's Save the Music Foundation. Perez Hilton's event in March this year, "One Night in Austin" during South-by-Southwest's music festival and conference also raised funds for VH1's Save the Music Foundation.  VH1's Paul Cothan, VP and Executive Director of VH1 Save the Music Foundation, said "With Perez' help, we will be able to generate a great deal of awareness for our cause." Cothan said since its inception in 1997, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided more than $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.8 million children.

Among other groups headlining the benefit were IM5, Melanie Amaro, Rita Ora, Walk The Moon, Iggy Azalea, The Saturdays, The Wanted, and Doors Close.

FAR EAST MOVEMENT entertains...

October 24 2012

The 11th San Francisco Documentary Festival, known as SF DOC FEST opens in San Francisco (November 8-21), and in Berkeley (November 9-15). 

This year more than 50 films are featured from around the world. 

Bay Area filmmaker James Z. Feng screens his documentary FIGHT LIFE on the mixed-martial arts world. FIGHT LIFE chronicles the struggle in the lives of three local fights from the moment of victory every fighter chases to the devastating knockout in defeat. Click here to FIGHT LIFE's trailer.

Feng told NBC's Sunday Night Sport Show that he's maxed out his credit card to make this film happen. Feng says he wants to show mixed martial arts as a sport, "I think alot of people don't understand that MMA is a sport, they kind of look at it like its a gimmick..." "My goal is to get it to the world, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make that happen if it means that I don't make a dime from this film so be it. Its not about the money, I've put my own life on the line for this film."

FAME HIGH documents the lives of four talented high school students (an actress, a dancer, a pianist and a songwriter) struggling to gain fame, credibility and a diploma from Los Angeles’ premiere performing arts high school. Directed by Berkeley native, Academy-award nominated documentary filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, FAME HIGH captures the drama, competition, heartbreak and triumph at the Los Angeles County HIgh School for the Arts, also known as "Fame High"...

Columbus, Ohio

Friday November 9, 2012 renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz will have a conversation with Rolling Stone's co-founder, publisher, and editor Jann S. Wenner at the Wexner Center for the Arts Mershon Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.

Their collaboration at Rolling Stone in the 1970s is legendary. Their subsequent—and independent—roles are also legendary as interpreters and shapers of the social, cultural, and political history of America. This event is part of a public celebration of the prestigious Wexner Prize which will be presented in a ceremony to Ms. Leibovitz on Saturday November 10. 

Annie Leibovitz Photo by Nick Rogers courtesy of Leibovitz Studio © 2012 

Annie Leibovitz is the 2012 recipient of the prestigious Wexner Prize which recognizes an artist whose work reflects exceptional innovation and the highest standards of artistic quality and integrity.  

A major presentation of work of more than 200 photographs by Annie Leibovitz is on view now through December 30, 2012 at the Wexner Center for the Arts on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio.

The Wexner Center is the first institution to be able to exhibit the complete "Master Set" which is a collection of 156 photographs personally selected by Annie Leibovitz. The exhibition will include photographs from her recent book "Pilgrimage," a project featuring interiors, landscapes and talismanic objects attached to historical figures...

Glendale, CA  Update: November 17, 2012

The Kollaboration Star 2012 winner is Mike Izon from Kollaboration Honolulu!

The Finale episode will be on YouTube.com/mnetamerica November 29th. 

“Kollaboration Star 2012 – The Finale

A Grand Finale Showcase Featured Winners from Across the Nation on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 8pm at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd. Glendale, California. 

“Kollaboration Star 2012 – The Finale” is the grand finale of Kollaboration’s annual talent competition, which finds the best Asian American local talent in 12 cities throughout the United States. 

From these 12 winners, six finalists are selected by a public online poll and one finalist from each region will be chosen by Mnet to represent their area in an ultimate showdown the crowns the winner the best of the best.

The grand prize winner will win $2000 and a trip to Hong Kong, China to attend the acclaimed Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA).  For additional information regarding “Kollaboration Star 2012 – The Finale,” please visit www.kollaboration.org  or connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KollaborationStar. 

In addition, Mnet a youth entertainment brand for all things Asian cool, which includes the only national, English-language lifestyle television network in the U.S. for fans of Asian pop culture, followed Kollaboration