SSW mentioned the ongoing Asian American International Film Festival that we both attended, and so far has been summarized by the panel that we attended on Saturday about Asian American Aesthetics. My witty quip summarizing the panelists, which included thespian David Henry Hwang and director Wayne Wang, was “cultural tofu” – kind of amorphous, absorbs surrounding flavors, is “value added” (or what we would call in a different decade, “hamburger helper“). Like tofu, artistes strive for something unmistakenly Asian or subdue it to be almost invisible. Do other cultures run into this phenomenon?
I felt that way representing the “Hong Kong” team at the 72 Hour Shootout competition. I’m familiar enough with Hong Kong that I can name everywhere that we (actually they of Hong Kong – I just took care of the delivery part at the end, and other than the team leader, I had not met anyone) filmed in the movie, but am I part of that aestetic? Is belonging a necessary function to adopting an aestetic? We didn’t win, but we were unique as the first ever entry shot in Asia, and I had plenty of people ask how we pulled off getting the film back to New York in time. We’re going to have to top this next year – how remains to be seen.