Fans of indie films from the Asia and the Pacific rejoice: there is an incredible online company streaming hundreds of films that never see the light beyond the normal circuit of films festivals.
AsiaPacificFilms.com was born out of founder Jeannette Hereniko’s experience organizing film festivals. She is best known as the Founding Director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, launching it in 1981 to showcase significant films from Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the USA. She served in this position until 1996. Frequently attendees to the Hawaii International Film Festival would write to her and ask where they could see a certain film again and her honest answer for most was “You can’t, sorry.” Finally, using deep connections in the Asian film world, she decided to create a place where you could.
Learn more about the service that is TechCrunch is calling “a Netflix for Asian Pacific indie filmmakers” and get a code for a free month of unlimited streaming by redeeming the code idaconcpts at AsiaPacificFilms.com.
What is AsiaPacificFilms.com
By acquiring digital rights of indie films from the Asia-Pacific region, AsiaPacificFilms.com gives its subscribers unlimited access to their film collection using latest streaming technology. Their streaming technology is compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems. All films include English subtitles. The viewing of films is quick and easy because there are no additional plug-ins required for your browser. The website charges a flat monthly of $8.99 for unlimited, anytime, anywhere film viewing.
One great feature of AsiaPacifiFilms is that it catalogues the films by country, by filmmaker, by genre, and by theme. A rating feature is currently being developed by their tech staff.
Film Recommendations
A free preview of all these films is available at AsiaPacificFilms.com. Here are my top 4 recommendations.
Squatterpunk (Iskwaterpangk) 2007
79m
Country: Philippines
Director: Khavn De La Cruz
Set in the slums of Manila where law enforcementis rare, Squatterpunk chronicles the punk lifestyles of the youth as they scavenge the garbage beachfora living while still managing to play around. Afilm that casts a tenderly poetic eye at the squalor of Philippine society. Awards/Festivals: GrandJury Prize, Cinemanila International Film Festival; Opening Film, Sonatrope Film Festival; Rotterdam International Film Festival; SingaporeInternational Film Festival; UrbanNomad Film Festival; Hamburg Documentary Film Festival.
They Call Her Lady Fingers 2003
56m
Country: United States (Hawaii)
Director: Patricia Elser Gillespie
This documentary traces Hawaii’s Jazz scene through the prolific life of Betty Loo Taylor. Could a female Chinese-American pianist really play hot, swinging jazz with the big boys? Yes she could and 40 years later she is still busting the scene! “They Call Her Lady Fingers” won the Audience Award as Best Documentary at the 2003 Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) and later was named 2006’s Best Music DVD at the Hawaii Music Awards.
Walls Within (Pawuru Walalu) 1997
85m
Country: Sri Lanka
Director: Prassana Vithanage
Prasanna Vithanage’s third film, Pawuru Walalu (Walls Within), is woven around Violet who conforms faithfully to the behaviour expected of a single mother in a traditional, post-colonial Roman Catholic community of the 1960s. The film won nine awards at the Sri Lankan film Critics Award including those for best director and best film. Walls Within also won the NETPAC award, the Amiens city award, and the Film Exhibition Award at the 1998 Amiens film festival award in France.
Black Snow (Beng Ming Nian) 1990
107m
Country: China
Director Xie Fei
One of Chinese master filmmaker, Xie Fei’s greatest works. Noted as cinematically prophetic in its narration of China during its post-Tiananmen Square era, Black Snow accounts the life of a young man recently discharged from prison. The film’s lurking handheld camera visually presents realistic footage of a man destined for the past from which he left behind.
Get a Month of Unlimited Film Viewing at AsiaPacificFilms.com
The normal monthly cost of AsiaPacificFilms.com unlimited streaming is $8.99.
Get 1 free month of unlimited streaming using the code idaconpts at AsiaPacificFilms.com during your registration.
Let me know what are your thoughts on this online service.
