Blog Archives - oblivious nerd girlhood chronicles

LAAPFF: Winning Girl

4/12/2015

WINNING GIRL documentary - Open from Kimberlee Bassford on Vimeo.

Winning Girl

Saturday, April 25th, 5:30pm, JANM

WINNING GIRL follows the four year journey of Teshya Alo, a young Hawai’ian girl who is trying to be an Olympic athlete in two sports: Wrestling and Tae Kwon Do. As a fan of Olympic sports, I eat up these types of stories. I am totally that person who knows nothing about a sport, but then when the Olympics (winter or summer) come around and all of a sudden I must know everything about ice skating or track and field. Whenever I see Asian American or PI folks compete in the Olympics, I gravitate towards them. I want to follow their stories. I want them to win. I want folks who look like me to medal. WINNING GIRL highlights what the process is to even get to the Olympics. It illustrates all the struggles and sacrifices an athlete and her family must make to pursue this dream. I imagine it’s tough to try and compete in one sport, let alone two. Teshya Alo’s story is fascinating to follow. Fans of sports documentaries and ESPN’s 30 for 30 shouldn’t miss this film.

Click on the picture for ticket info!

LAAPFF: Twinsters

4/12/2015

Twinsters

Saturday, April 25th, 5pm, JANM

Tuesday, April 28th, 4:30pm, CGV 2, Encore Screening

Growing up as an only child I would imagine what it was like having a twin sister. There’s a picture that my dad took which was double exposed and showed two of me in the frame. I would imagine that we were twins like in the Double Trouble youth books I would read. TWINSTERS follows the story of Samantha Futerman who finds out she actually does have a twin sister Anais Bordier through the internet. It is quite a modern day take on one of my favorite films, The Parent Trap, except REAL LIFE! This is a documentary that follows the story of these two women finding each other! I remember when this story made the rounds on Facebook and Buzzfeed and to see this play out on screen was heartwarming.

Click on the picture for ticket info!

LAAPFF: Opening Up

4/10/2015

Opening Up

From Vision To Reel – Shorts Program, Free screening

Saturday, April 25th, 11:45am, Downtown Independent

I first met Tani Ikeda when I was in grad school at USC. She was an undergrad on campus and an intern for Tuesday Night Café. I can’t believe that was over 9 years ago. Now she’s an accomplished filmmaker and Co-Founder-slash-Director of ImMEDIATE Justice, an arts non-profit organization that focuses on empowering young women by telling their stories of gender and sexuality through film. OPENING UP is a short film that is part of the Sex Ed: the Saga series. This series was created by youth as a way for them to lead the conversation on sex positive topics.

Click on the picture for ticket info. FYI this program is FREE!

LAAPFF: Moonlight

4/9/2015

Moonlight

Floating Upstream Shorts Program

Friday, April 2th, 9pm, Downtown Independent

Full Disclosure, Janella Lacson is a friend. And I am super proud of her and her films. Last year her short film THE FIRST DATE screened at the festival. This year her film MOONLIGHT is a part of the FLOATING UPSTREAM shorts program. MOONLIGHT follows Lara, a woman under house arrest, and the lonely trapped life she leads and the consequences of her choices. Folks should definitely check it out. MOONLIGHT was also chosen to compete at Cannes Film Festival!

Click on the picture for ticket info.

LAAPFF: June Bride - Redemption of a Yakuza

4/8/2015

June Bride: Redemption of a Yakuza

Friday, April 24th, 7pm JANM

Monday, April 27th, 4:30pm JANM Encore Screening

What happens when a Yakuza is done being a gangster? Would they find God? JUNE BRIDE shows us exactly that. Tatsuya Shindo is a former Yakuza turned preacher. The film follows this riveting story of what happens when your loyalty changes from a gang to the Lord.

Click on the picture for ticket info!

LAAPFF: Kung Fu Killer

4/7/2015

Kung Fu Killer
Friday, April 24th, 11:30pm, Downtown Independent

KUNG FU KILLER is AMAZING. As a kid who grew up on ridiculous action movies, KUNG FU KILLER hits on all the things my childhood self loves. Non-stop action and beautifully choreographed fight sequences. The film feels like a love letter to HK stuntmen. I may not be familiar with all these actors, but I can tell that these actors are big in the field because Teddy Chen, the director, frames the actors with such reverence and respect.

Also fans of the video game Sleeping Dogs may get the same impression from KUNG FU KILLER. The film is set in the same HK setting as the video game. Mike had been playing that game while I was reviewing the film and I couldn’t help but see similar references. KUNG FU KILLER is spectacular and I will totally be in the audience on this night!

For more ticket info: Kung Fu Killer

LAAPFF Opening Night: Everything Before Us

4/6/2015

Everything Before Us

Thursday, April 23rd, 7pm, Aratani

This year Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival kicks off with EVERYTHING BEFORE US, a feature film by the folks behind Wong Fu productions. EVERYTHING BEFORE US takes place in a world where life is dependent on your relationship score. What’s a relationship score? Imagine your credit score but instead of your purchases and payments impacting your life, it’s all your previous relationships. Bad break up? Your life could literally be over. It’s an interesting premise that’s entertaining to see play out.

Click on the picture for more info on the film and buy tickets!

Happy Oblivious Easter

4/5/2015

When I was a kid Easter meant pastel dresses, white tights, & white Mary Janes.

I'm missing the Mary Janes but this outfit is pretty typical for what Mama Oblivious made me wear. Notice that I am on my three wheeler giving my dad "get the f out of my way face."

Easter means Easter eggs. One year I tried to dye eggs on my own. I made several mistakes. Mistakes that would happen to any six year old with immigrant parents who didn't know what dying Easter eggs was all about and left it all up to me.

First thing. I didn't read the directions. I tend to not read directions when I have to assemble things. Mike has to remind me to read directions when we come home from ikea. Otherwise we'd end up with a chair like this.

Since I didn't read the directions I didn't know the eggs should have been hard boiled. Yes this means I attempted to dye raw eggs.

I thought those dye tablets were candy. Like a Smarties candy. So I ate one.

These tablets do not taste like delicious sugar. They tasted like crap. Disgusting crap. Disgusting crap that makes your mouth change colors like you ate too much green icee.

The hilarious thing is that I knew I screwed up. I knew I couldn't go to my parents because what would they do? But I did anyway. And was met with a completely appropriate family reaction.

LAUGHTER.

Upon finding their young child with a green dyed mouth, Mama & Pops Oblivious cackled. Laughed at my predicament. I should be happy cell phone cameras did not exist because they would have taken a picture and posted it online.

After calming down, I was taken to the bathroom and told to rinse my mouth out. I gargled and spit until my mouth was a faint sheen of green.

Mike's family still does an Easter egg hunt. Here is my haul. I'd rather take this then a green mouth.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Stay Oblivious

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

4/3/2015

It's Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival time! It's the big 3-1. I'm quite excited for this year's festival.

Starting on Monday I'll be posting my film festival recommendations! Click on the picture for more info!