New On Demand Destination Brings Award-Winning Films, Shorts & Documentaries Highlighting Asian American Culture

Release by Comcast

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA – December 1, 2010 – Comcast Corporation, one of the nation’s leading providers of entertainment, information, and communication products and services, announced the launch of Cinema Asian America, a new On Demand destination featuring Asian American content that reflects the diversity and depth of Asian American culture and its cinema.  The new offering gives Comcast digital video customers access to classics, award-winning movies featured on the film festival circuit, and short- and feature-length works with genres ranging from documentary to experimental.

“Cinema Asian America is part of our commitment to deliver exponentially more quality content choice and programming that reflects the diverse interests of our customers,” said Diana Kerekes, Vice President of Entertainment Services for Comcast.   “Cinema Asian America will also have a special focus on independent films, both documentary and fiction, as part of our commitment to broaden the reach of independent films.”

Each month, Cinema Asian America will highlight various themes that explore a range of topics and experiences and exemplify the diversity of the Asian American community.  For its inaugural month (from 12/1/10 until 1/3/11), Cinema Asian America will offer a rich selection of award-winning films that have received honors both commercially and critically. The December lineup offers two thematic groupings of films.  The first is titled, “The Life Quixotic,” which presents several films that feature characters who are taking romantic, impulsive and idealistic approaches to life’s challenges.  Films in this section include:

  • Fruit Fly—Filipino American musical directed by H.P Mendoza
  • White on Rice—David Boyle’s hilarious Japanese American family comedy
  • The Rebel—Blockbuster Vietnamese action film directed by Charlie Nguyen
  • Treeless Mountain—Moving Korean American coming-of-age tale directed by So Yong Kim

The second thematic section is “Must-See Docs,” a grouping of incredible documentaries that have won awards worldwide.  Films include:

  • Planet B-Boy—Breakdancing documentary directed by Benson Lee
  • A Song for Ourselves—Tadashi Nakamura’s short film which looks at the life of Japanese American activist and musician Chris Iijima
  • The Killing of a Chinese Cookie—Derek Shimoda’s oddball history of the fortune cookie

 

Cinema Asian America is being curated by Chi-hui Yang, a film programmer, lecturer and writer, based in New York.  From 2000 to 2010, Yang was the Director and Programmer of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the largest showcase of its kind in the United States.

“I am thrilled to work with Comcast to help launch Cinema Asian America,” said Chi-hui Yang.  “There are so many incredible films made by Asian American filmmakers, and Comcast is bringing viewers around the country an opportunity to discover and access cinema that is dynamic, forward-looking and vital.”

Cinema Asian America On Demand is part of the company’s commitment to deliver more choice and control to its customers through its Xfinity services, which include 100+ HD channels, 50 to 70 foreign-language channels, On Demand video choices increasing to 25,000 and increased broadband speeds of up to 105+ Mbps.  Xfinity also offers thousands of online entertainment choices through Xfinity TV online as well as applications that enable customers to program a DVR from the Internet or a mobile device, and cross-platform features like Caller ID to the TV and PC.

 

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