Guest blogger Julie Hwang is Community Relations Director for the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, which will serve as our guest film blogger for November.

Thanks to Anne Bothwell for welcoming us to the Art&Seek Blog last week. If you read her entry and thought “I didn’t know Dallas had an Asian film festival!” you are not alone. We actually get that a lot, so we’ve decided to use our first guest blog entry to introduce ourselves.

The Asian Film Festival of Dallas was founded in 2001, and over the past 7 years, we have premiered and screened hundreds of films from all over Asia and from Asian American filmmakers in the U.S. The world of Asian cinema is incredibly rich and extends far beyond the kung fu and action films most often screened in the U.S. During our annual week long event, festival goers may find themselves enjoying a North Korean documentary, Thai horror film, Chinese family drama, Japanese comedy, Asian American indie musical and many other films and shorts in a variety of genres and languages.

The film festival is organized by the Asian Film Foundation of Dallas (AFFD), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and supporting emerging and established Asian and Asian-American filmmakers. The AFFD provides multiple venues and opportunities for projects to be showcased, including community activities, filmmaker Q&A’s and screenings.

More than an annual festival event, the AFFD offers a combination of cultural experiences that fosters diversity in the Asian and International community in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. The AFFD is proud to share the rich diversity of Asian culture through the medium of cinema.

Unfortunately, this year’s festival has come and gone, however, we have already set dates for the 2009 festival (September 17-24) and are working hard to find the best films to present to North Texas. Please mark your calendar, look back to the blog for a few updates, and sign up for our mailing list by e-mailing SUBSCRIBE to [email protected].