Asian Film Festival of Dallas hosts pre-opening night reception at Crow Collection of Asian Art

by John P. Meyer

To kick off their 2008 festival, event organizers made guest of honor Jimmy Tsai welcome amidst the splendors of the orient - as collected by Trammell & Margaret Crow.

I've gotta admit to being distracted by the visual splendors confronting me at every turn after making my way to the entrance of the Crow Collection of Asian Art. I was scheduled to attend a pre-opening night reception in honor of Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) guest Jimmy Tsai, whose starring vehicle Ping Pong Playa (for which he wrote the script, and in which he stars) kicks off the week-long festival this evening (Aug. 14) at the Magnolia.

But I kept getting sidetracked by the fascinating diversity of the artworks on display in and around the ground floor of the museum. It's tough to just breeze blithely past a towering fountain surmounted by a wise-looking Confucian bronze, or a crystal ball refracting the mundane reality of a downtown Dallas street into something altogether magical.

Still, I eventually made my way to the second floor gallery space where AFFD organizers and invited guests anxiously awaited the opening of the buffet tables while milling about and conversing about this year's festival lineup.

Oh, and shooting the breeze with guest of honor Tsai and festival exec. director Chiho Mori.

Just as I was beginning to feel somewhat out of place amongst a crowd of unfamiliar faces (this being my first time attending an AFFD event), I was approached by a couple of friendly event volunteers (David Gibson and Derek Tse), who proceeded to make me feel totally welcome while at the same time giving me a bit of insider insight on their participation in the festival.

David, who works for a major pharmaceutical company, has been doing volunteer duty for AFFD for four years now. He got interested in Asian cinema through his appreciation of Anime, and then began exploring the broad spectrum of films available in the category. Now, he's something of a fanatic.

Derek is a first-time volunteer this year. He's a financial advisor for New York Life when not helping out at festival events and screenings. Unlike David, he (like me) enjoys horror films a great deal, and told me a bit about his and David's recent viewing of the Japanese zombie-samurai gorefest, Versus - which resides in my DVD library, as it happens. (Star Tak Sakaguchi's directorial debut, Be a Man! Samurai School, closes the festival on Thurs., Aug. 12.)

After an interval designed to allow folks to wolf down delectable munchies and quaff their choice of beverage (including lager provided by festival sponsor Sapporo), the principals stepped up to the mic and welcomed all to the 2008 festival.

Enjoy the pics - and head out to the Magnolia tonight to meet and greet Jimmy Tsai. He'll be on hand for a Q/A after the movie screening.