FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 21, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 53
Queens World Film Festival
ant to both Goto and Lim who shared that
the next generation of people will have to
deal with the consequences if we fail to
be proactive toward climate change. Lim
recalled a recent trip to Jamaica where
he noticed that no one was using plastic
straws and were instead using reusable
cups and travel mugs.
“I have two kids and when you travel
around the world, you see how things
are,” Lim said. “I realize we take things
for granted, so being mindful about how
we take care of our planet is really important.
So trying to educate my kids and even
get them to practice things like recycling
little things like plastic straws is really
important.”
Goto also earned a nomination for Best
Director of a Short Narrative Film, an
honor which she described as “amazing
and surreal.”
Sanitas Pacifi ca (62 minutes) –
Wednesday, March 27 | 10:15
p.m. | The Zukor Theater at
Kaufman Astoria Studios
Astoria resident John Ashe Say is debuting
his fi rst feature fi lm “Sanitas Pacifi ca”
which he wrote, directed and produced.
Th e art fi lm is about an older man who
tries to fi nd peace for his past trauma and
has an existential experience with a medium
while visiting a cabin in the woods.
Say shared that the fi lm was shot in the
mountains of North Carolina over a period
of one week.
“I didn’t sleep at all,” Say recalled. “It
was just all day all night. When everybody
went to bed, we were up building sets and
doing stuff for the next day.”
Post-production took over two years
aft er fi lming and the Astoria resident said
that it was a learning experience for him.
“We learned a few things along the way
and it took a long time but we’re very
proud of the product. I think you can tell
it looks like it cost a lot more money than
we spent on it,” Say said.
Say fi rst entered the Queens World
Film Festival back in 2016 with his short
fi lm “Timshel” and shared that he was
excited that his feature work will also be
recognized this year.
The Beach House (12 minutes)
– Monday, March 25 |
7:45 p.m. | The Zukor Theater
at Kaufman Astoria Studios
Th is year’s festival also raised the bar for
Asian representation, welcoming a total
of 15 Asian fi lmmakers from across the
globe. Eric Elizaga is a Filipino-American
actor and director from Hawaii who
moved to New York in 2011 to pursue
acting. Th e short fi lm “Th e Beach House”
is Elizaga’s fi rst foray into fi lmmaking.
Th e story follows Korean adoptees Max
and Jamie, a couple who were both adopted
by white parents. During their time at
a beach house with friends, the pair bonds
over their experiences of being Asians
who “grew up white.”
Elizaga was inspired to create the story
based on the leading actor’s story of being a
Korean adoptee and his desire to tell his story.
“It’s like the things we talk about in
media, we don’t see ourselves refl ected a
lot, so we came up with this story to put
on screen,” Elizaga said.
While writing the fi lm, Elizaga said that
a lot of what’s touched on in the fi lm is
based on the experiences of friends who
grew in communities where Asians were
the minority.
“It was a learning experience for me
because I’m from Hawaii and Hawaii is a
majority Asian community. So for me, it
was like this whole other world that I was
never accustomed to,” he said.
Visit queensworldfi lmfestival.com to
fi nd out how to get tickets to these fi lms
and others at the Queens World Film
Festival.
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