For Immediate Release
4 August 2004

Steve Mallorca (Slow Jam King) and Khyentse Norbu (Travelers and Magicians) win ACV Emerging Director Award
at the 27th Asian American International Film Festival in New York

New York, NY - On July 24 at the Closing Night party, Asian CineVision (ACV) honored New York filmmaker Steve Mallorca and Tibetan Buddhist lama Khyentse Norbu with its third annual Emerging Director Award for their feature films Slow Jam King and Travelers and Magicians during the 27th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

The ACV Emerging Director Award is an audience award honoring a first or second time feature filmmaker. "This is the first time in AAIFF history that we have a tie. Slow Jam King and Travelers and Magicians are both amazing films by two extremely talented filmmakers. We are proud to honor them both," said Diana Lee, Festival Director.

In Slow Jam King, a coming-of-age comedy, Jo-Jo, a wannabe gangsta-pimp is on a journey to find his true destiny. Disillusioned by college, Jo-Jo drops out to follow his call to the streets as ³The Filipino Warrior.²

Travelers and Magicians tells the parallel fable-like tales about two men who seek to escape their mundane lives in beautiful Bhutan.

Other nominated directors include Royston Tan (15), Yasuaki Nakajima (After the Apocalypse), Yudai Yamaguchi (Battlefield Baseball), Tsai Ming-Ching (Butterfly Lovers), Wake Li (Crack), Crisaldo Pablo (Doubt), by Nia diNata (The Gathering), Narushima Izuru (The Hunter and the Hunted), Eun-Sook Kim (Ice Rain), Tomorowo Taguchi (Iden&Tity), Quark Henares (Keka), Hak-Soon Kim (Rewind), Edmond Ho-Cheung Pang (Men Suddenly in Black), Shunsuke Yamamoto (The Strange Killers), Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker (Take Out), and Nikhil Advani (Tomorrow May Never Come).

Slow Jam King U.S. premiered at the AAIFF to two packed and enthusiastic houses while Travelers and Magicians had its New York premiere as the Centerpiece Presentation and an encore presentation to sold out crowds as well.

Asian CineVision, Inc. (ACV) is a not-for-profit national media arts organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Asian and Asian American media expressions. Since 1978, ACV has annually presented the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) to showcase cinema by international artists of Asian descent. In addition to the festival, ACV¹s programs and services include film exhibitions, mentoring and educational outreach, training workshops, publications, and a media archive. ACV is based in New York City. For more information, please visit www.asiancinevision.org

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Contact:

Diana Lee, 212-989-1422 or diana@asiancinevision.org