“Forget to Remember/Remember to Forget” (RT: 97 min.)
VC FILMFEST kicks off Festival Weekend with a powerful septet of short films that range over relationships that are molded, frayed and broken due to the passage of time. Friction between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and friends and total strangers underline the tensions running through these works, and will linger in the mind long after the lights go up.

THE GOOD SON
(United States, 2002) Director: Michael Sandoval
With every punch he buries in the sandbag, a young Filipino defends his own private room at his father’s house in Queens, New York. Jaime Soriano is an evangelist preacher. Come Sunday, he preaches to Filipino immigrants at the same place where his son Jimmy receives his training in the Filipino martial art, Kali. Jaime’s sermons are full of punishment, redemption, of turning the other cheek – and the need to respect one’s parents. Jimmy assists his father in his ministrations. The preacher and the angry young fighter have found a compromise that is by no means easy for either of them.
16mm, 9 minutes, Documentary Short Film

18 MONEY
(United States, 2002) Director: Eriko Ueno
Down on his luck and living out of his car, Donnie, a young native American man, discovers not only that there is reservation money available to him (because he is now 18) but also that the money, if not picked up, will be forfeited…by tomorrow! 18 MONEY is a compelling drama of a young man’s struggle against impoverishment, racism, and discouragement from others, to better his life.
35mm, 12 minutes, Narrative Short Film

NISEI FARMER, THE
(United States, 2002) Director: Dean Yamada
1n 1988, a northern California Japanese American farmer comes to a crossroads in his life when the $20,000 Redress payment comes in the mail, forcing him to choose between holding onto the bitterness of his youth and letting go to rebuild his broken relationship with his wife.
35mm, 12 minutes, Narrative Short Film

TAI TAI
(United States/Hong Kong, 2002) Director: Nicholas Chin
In Hong Kong slang a “tai tai” is a social wife of a rich businessman. The film takes place in the world of Hong Kong tai tais, a world of high style and hidden emotions, of secrets understood but never confronted. Clara (Josie Ho) is one tai tai who reconciles these her own way.
35mm, 14 minutes, Narrative Short Film

MOTHER’S LOVE
(United States/Philippines, 2002) Director: Lito Torres
MOTHER’S LOVE essays the story of a tormented witness of a family secret.
16mm, 6 minutes, Narrative Short Film

EQUATION
(United States/India, 2002) Director: Anuj Majumdar
A whimsical tale about the perils of presumption and the domino effect of our actions, EQUATION revolves around Pinaki, a lonely astronomer who convinces himself that his neighbor (an immigration officer) is selling visas to illegal immigrants for sexual favors and money. Motivated by his own family’s inability to immigrate to the U.S., he decides to investigate his neighbor’s “corruption.” However, Pinaki’s obsessive mission turns out to be as self-defeating as it is surprising.
35mm, 16 minutes, Narrative Short Film

ANNIVERSARY, THE (Ngåu Qio)
(United States/Vietnam, 2003) Director: Ham Tran
Spanning over thirty years, THE ANNIVERSARY follows the tragic events of two brothers, Hung and Hiep. In 1963, their father takes Hiep to Northern Vietnam in order to escape religious persecution in Central Vietnam, leaving Hung and his mother behind. The war in 1973 reunites Hung and Hiep in a hapless battle that will leave their lives forever changed.
35mm, 28 minutes, Narrative Short Film