The screening and panel with Ham Tran, director of "Journey from the Fall," was a total hit.Stats: - 200 + for the screening
- 30 DVD's sold
- Countless autographs of DVD's, books, then even flyers, and then after that, a cardboard trash can. (Okay, that was just me fooling).
- AND dozens of students hanging out after to talk to Ham for over an hour, that, to me, was a miracle in this day and age of various kinds of distractions.
It was so successful, in fact, that Ham didn't have any more DVD's for his next screening in North Carolina. Oops, our bad.
The Q & A was informative as well. I was a bit nervous--it was my first time as moderator, actually--but Ham was smooth as pho noodles. He talked about why he made this film (cause Oliver Stone does not own the Vietnam War story) and how he became a filmmaker (persistence). Professor Mariam Lam discussed the intersection of art and politics, something much more complicated in the Vietnamese American community than at large.
Special shout out to UC Riverside's Asian Pacific Student Programs. Their student coordinators were of professional quality and staffer (and lifelong friend) Billy Caganap busted his chops.
For AAPW, it was a huge success too. Let's hope we can keep this up. There is a need for something like this--a gathering of people, ideas, culture, discussion--in Los Angeles, in Southern California, and the Asian American community. To the stars...
