SOUTHWEST PREMIERE! Director Mark Tran and Actor Chi Pham in attendance. Filmmaker Mark Tran was a 19-year-old San Jose State University student when he wrote the screenplay for his feature debut ALL ABOUT DAD (Audience award winner, Cinequest FF), based on his experiences growing up in a large Vietnamese family in California. The main character Ty, is based loosely upon himself – a biology major about to give up his studies to pursue filmmaking (a.k.a. the worst thing a Vietnamese father could ever hear from a son). Newcomer Chi Pham steals the show as the patriarch of the Do family, the head figure who only sees hard work, Catholicism, higher education, and loyalty to family as the only way to happiness and success in life. But Mr. Do is about to find out the inner passions and dreams of his four children, and his world is about to unravel. The end result of this often intense family drama is at times also hilarious, touching, and heartbreaking as Mr. Do comes to terms with his disappointments and realizes he must learn to accept his children as they truly are or risk losing them. It is the familiar story of tradition versus modernity, but the film never comes off as didactic or heavy-handed and Mr. Tran’s first film is a fine portrait of a Vietnamese American family just trying to keep up with the times. – Mye Hoang

OPENING NIGHT FILM SOUTHWEST PREMIERE! In Dante Lam's The Beast Stalker, practically every character's face is weighted down by physical scars and the intense burden of some unforgettable, traumatic event. Captain Tong (Nicholas Tse) is the intense leader of a strike force out to nab a rarely-seen crime-lord. Ann Gao (Zhang Jingchu) is a prosecuting attorney faced with a moral and ethical dilemma brought on by the crime-lord's activities, while she also deals with the grief of a recent, deeply personal loss. Hung (Nick Cheung) handles kidnappings for the crime-lord's outfit, while caring for his bedridden wife and slowly going blind due to a mysterious injury. The film begins with an explosive raid which is quickly followed by a car chase where Tong and his men almost catch up to the crime-lord's gang. Their pursuit ends in a gut-wrenching, multiple-car collision; this accident is revisited twice, each time exposing more shocking impacts on the people involved. After the accident, Tong is conflicted by the agonizing regret and failure he feels due to an incidental shooting; his nose bleeds when he becomes stressed, and he fights to keep his emotions in check at all times. Ann's daughter Ling (the adorable Wong Suet-Yin, who handles the grueling events of the film like a champ) is kidnapped to force the attorney to destroy evidence, and Tong's off-the-record investigation brings him face to face with Hung. Their final confrontations rely more on dramatic intensity than acutely-paced action. Nominated for 5 Hong Kong Film Awards and winner of 2 (Nick Cheung for Best Actor and Liu Kai-Chi for Best Supporting Actor as Tong's right-hand man), The Beast Stalker is a highly entertaining mix of action and melodrama bolstered by a strong cast and production values. Sponsored by Staybridge Suites