Trilogy Screening in Austin

All three of my films will be screened together for the first time at the Association for Asian American Studies Conference tomorrow in Austin, TX! It'll be my first time in Texas, so of course I'm going to surround myself with a hotel full of Asians.



-Tadillac

Song Wins Special Jury Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival!

A Song For Ourselves won the Short Film Special Jury Award last weekend at the San Diego Asian Film Fest. SDAFF has a super official awards gala that Eric Tandoc and I were lucky enough to attend. "Lucky" meaning that the San Diego JACL generously sponsored our tickets and let us sit at their table. Eric made the most of the free beer while I popped an anti-anxiety pill.



There was a gala after-party which was "cool, but it's not what i'm use too" so i celebrated the night with the homies from AnakBayan LA & SD over some late night carne asada fries:


Mass Movement in the building! Eric's film Sounds Of A New Hope screened to a packed house.


-Tadillac

Screenings in New Orleans, DC and Philly This Weekend

Three big screenings this weekend! All the films that are playing with A Song For Ourselves in these festivals are excellent, please try and catch one in your city. Unfortunately, I'll be stuck in my room working on film school applications.


DC APA Film Festival
Saturday, Oct. 10th @ 12p

Playing with Manilatown Is In The Heart This screening is FREE!


Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
Sunday, Oct. 11th @ 1p Playing with Sounds of a New Hope by Mass Movement's own Eric Tandoc


New Orleans Film Festival
Sunday, Oct. 11th @ 5p Playing with A Village Called Versailles (I've heard this film is amazing. This will definitely be a special screening since it will be in New Orleans)

Honolulu Weekly Cover Story

One of the coolest parts of the Hawai'i trip was going to Boots & Kimo's to eat this (banana pancakes swimming in macadamia nut sauce)...

...and then walking over to Foodland and seeing this:

The small print along the yellow fist reads "Long Live Chris Iijima"!

Read the whole article here.

-Tadillac

Hawai'i Premiere/Concert on Sept. 24th!

The Hawai'i Premiere & Concert of A Song For Ourselves is going down on Sept. 24th at NEXTDOOR in Honolulu! It's gonna be a full-blown Cali invasion with performances by Bambu & DJ Phatrick, Power Struggle, and EyeASage. But most importantly, the event is a fundraiser for the Chris Iijima Scholarship Fund at the University of Hawai'i Law School.

For more info and to purchase tickets or donate to the fund, please go here.

-Tadillac

LA Asian Pacific Film Festival Part 2

here's more from the LA asian american film festival that ended last thursday. song screened in a very strong shorts program at the festival. from left to right; director of no joke burma li-anne huang, director of parallel adele adele pham and festival director abe ferrer: eric answering questions after the world premiere of his film sounds of the new hope: eric and his mom: cindy, aj from xylophone films, eric and anna at the after-party: thanks to everyone who came out to the "what's the matter with asian american film?" panel. i hope me and spencer didn't offend anyone too much: some heavy hitters like scholar oliver wang (talking below) attended and participated in the panel. others who came out were asian american film legends robert nakamura, renee tajima-pena and curtis choy: after the panel - from left to right: jeff liu from vc, spencer, me, lou nakasako, alex tse (writer of watchmen) and dustin nguyen (the asian guy from 21 jump street!): -tadillac

SONG Gets Mention in LA Weekly

song got at really dope write-up by ernest hardy in the la weekly this week! peep game:

"Also recommended is Tadashi Nakamura’s hugely moving short A Song for Ourselves, which celebrates the life and legacy of the late Asian-American musician-activist Chris Iijima, an unsung hero of America’s progressive political movement. The film illuminates the roles Asians played in the 1960s civil rights movement, forging political alliances while asserting their own identities, while the portrait of Iijima himself — his oldest son’s anguish at not having his father around; his wife’s teary confession that the world makes no sense without him; his own words on how he came to create himself — will make your heart ache."

SONG screening at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival on 5/2

a song for ourselves will be screening at the LA asian pacific film festival on may 2nd, 2:30p at laemmle's sunset 5 theater.  song will be part of the shorts program titled "passion for the people". four other films will be screened including academy-award winning director jessica yu's latest film!

for tickets and more information on the program please go to here.  this show has a very good chance of selling out so please get your tickets now!

-tadillac

New York New York Big City of Dreams

The Shack

my dood kori (also a close friend of the iijima's) came out from "the a" for the new york premiere. here he is in the 40 min. line that you'll always see infront of shake shack:

but it's so fuckin worth the wait! kori went with the double stack. that ball of fried goodness in the middle is really a portobello mushroom and cheese, all battered and fried together: when the previously described shroom burger explodes in your mouth...this is the result...

The Premiere at Manhattan Country School

MCS was so packed they had to open two other classrooms to accommodate everyone who showed up. the screening was a huge success! chris iijima's family, friends, former students and new fans all gathered in the school where chris taught for many years.

the women responsible for the event: chris' former student and now active parent and staff at MCS akemi kochiyama (left) and director of the school Michele Sola

Lunch at the historical Iijima apartment

chris' sister lynne invited me, kori and miya to visit their father tak iijima, a 442 vet and one of the OG's of the early asian american movement. this is the same washington heights apartment where chris was rasied and also where one of the first progressive asian american organizations in the country, asian americans for action (AAA), held their meetings.

Kickin' it

it wouldn't be a new york trip if i didn't see the old CAPSA crew. its been a minute since our bandana and bullhorn days, here we are all sold out and booshie:

also got a chance to hang out with the homie aliwong.com, new york's newest comic sensation:

-tadillac

SONG Screening in Chicago on 4/11 & 4/14

song will make it's midwest premiere next weekend at the 14th asian american showcase in chicago! the film will be playing with the feature documentary you don't know jack: the jack soo story on 4/12 at 3pm and on 4/14 at 6pm. both screenings will be held at the gene siskel film center.

-tadillac

LA Premiere After-Party Feat. DJ ET!!!

for everyone who's going to the LA premiere OR for those who were't able to get tickets, there will be an official after-party at oiwake restaurant just a block away from the theater. the after-party is hosted by the tuesday night project/tn kat family and will be going down from 10p-2a. only $2 cover with your ticket stub from the premiere and $5 without. dj's will be spinning all night, the line-up includes: dj phatrick (devil's pie) dj et (mass movement) +he op+imis+ (tuesday night cafe)

here are walking directions from the JACCC theater (premiere) to Oiwake (afterparty).

Kogi Korean BBQ Taco Truck Will Be At LA Premiere Of SONG on 2/28

it's official, the ridiculously popular kogi korean bbq taco truck will be at the JACCC following the song premiere this saturday night starting at 10pm. the truck is gonna pull up right in front of the theater so people can go straight from the show to truck! for all of you who will be at the show from out of town you NEED to experience the korean bbq taco...

you can read more about the kogi truck here.

-tadillac

Asian Pacific Arts Interview

asian pacific arts, an online magazine published by the ucla asia institute, asked me to sit-down with them to talk about Song and the premiere and concert this sat (2/28). the way they posted the interview is dope because they have both the audio from the interview and the transcript so you can pick and choose what you want to hear rather than having to hear my dumb-ass ramble. you can check it out here.

shouts to my cuzzo liann for setting this up!

-tadillac

A Song For Ourselves MIXTAPE!!!

The much anticipated A Song For Ourselves Mixtape is finally here! Produced and mixed by DJ Phatrick this compilation includes exclusive tracks from Bambu, Kiwi and Geologic of Blue Scholars who will all be performing live at the film's premiere on 2/28. The mixtape also includes songs off the historic A Grain of Sand album by Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin. DOWNLOAD MIXTAPE HERE FOR FREE!

Tracklist: 1. Iijima, Miyamoto, Chin - "We Are The Children" (Intro) 2. Blue Scholars - "Cornerstone" 3. Native Guns - "Slave Thinking" 4. Native Guns feat. Geologic - "Agitation Propaganda" 5. Iijima, Miyamoto, Chin - "Jonathan Jackson" 6. Bambu - "When Will The Time Come?" prod. by Will Bracy 7. Kiwi - "Gaza 2 Oakland" prod. by DJ Phatrick 8. Blue Scholars - "Back Home" 9. Chris Iijima - "Vietnamese Lament" 10. Iijima, Miyamoto, Chin - "War Of The Flea" (Senz of Depth Remix feat. Bambu) 11. Bambu - "Chairman Mao" (Paper Planes edit) 12. Blue Scholars - "Fire For The People" 13. Kiwi - "Cause" 14. Native Guns feat. Geologic - "Said It" (Asi Remix) 15. Iijima, Miyamoto, Chin - Divide & Conquer (Fatgums Remix feat. Geologic, Kiwi, & Bambu) 16. Chris Iijima Soliloquy 17. Kiwi - "Imagine" 18. Bambu - "Seven Months" 19. Blue Scholars - "Life and Debt"

-tadillac

"Song" Premiere Gets Love On Angry Asian Man

angry asian man was probably the first blog i ever got into...and now look at me. the premiere for a song for ourselves got a big shout on angry asian man last week! if you wanna keep up with any kinda asian american anything in the media, this is the place to go. good looks phil for always having my back! -tadillac