LITTLE MAO takes the Big Apple

Chairman Bobby vs. the Statue of Liberty (photo of Kevin Wang by Johnny Vong)

Little Mao is going to Manhattan.  It will play the Asian American International Film Festival on Saturday, August 3 at 3:30 in the In Times of Innocence shorts program.

"We are proud to play on Yankees territory," proclaimed Chairman Bobby.  "We shall take the game to them."  When the Chairman was advised that the film was playing and not his baseball team, Bobby revised his remark to say, "Oh...well, we're still proud to be playing New York especially so close to our comrades in Chinatown and that our message will reaching the centre of America.  Play on!"

New York follows successful screenings this year in San Francisco, Los Angeles (where star Ariyena Sorani was nominated for an acting award), Toronto and Puerto Rico.

Little Mao will screen at at the Anthology of Film Archives (AFA) at 32 Second Avenue (at 2nd Street) on August 2.  Members of Bobby's team will be on hand to witness the historic event.

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LITTLE MAO in Hollywood

Little Mao plays the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest today and tomorrow!  Click for information and tickets.

 Not only that, but Comrade Ariyena Sorani (aka Koh)'s has been nominated for Best Actress at the Young Artists Awards taking place in Studio City on Sunday, May 5.  Ariyena and her mother, Mary, are in Hollywood this weekend to represent Little Mao and we hope collect her award.  Hail Mao!

Left to right: Isaac Pilozo (Comrade Joe), Kevin Wang (Little Mao) & Ariyena Sorani (Comrade Cindy)

LITTLE MAO debuts in Latin America at Rincon International Film Festival

 Hola comrades!

Little Mao makes its Latin American premiere at Puerto Rico's Rincon International Film Festival on Tuesday. On April 9, it will play at 1:45 at the Villa Cofresi Resort. In its sixth year, Rincon is the largest film festival in tropical Puerto Rico.

photo by Maloney Aguirre

"I am proud to be unveiling my film in the homeland of legendary Blue Jays Roberto Alomar and Carlos Delgado," beamed Chairman Bobby (Kevin Wang above) from Toronto.

The Rincon screening takes place on the same week as the ReelWorld screening on April 13 in Toronto, and a few weeks before Little Mao graces the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival at the same time that star Ariyena Sorani (Comrade Cindy) may pick up a trophy at the Young Artists Awards.

Only one week into April (and the baseball season, hence this metaphor), Little Mao has hit a single, a double and a triple.  Can it deliver a home run to complete the cycle?  Stay tuned, comrades...

LITTLE MAO goes Hollywood

On the heels of conquering San Francisco, Little Mao will now storm Hollywood.  Little Mao will play the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest on May 3 and 4.  No word yet on whether Chairman Bobby will stroll the red carpet, "but it's the right colour," he sagely noted.

Comrade Cindy (Ariyena Sorani) looks west to Tinseltown

The screenings perfectly complement Comrade Ariyena Sorani (aka Koh)'s nomination for Best Actress at the Young Artists Awards taking place in Studio City on May 5.  Here's to a clean sweep in L.A!

Little Mao star earns Best Actress nomination in Hollywood

Ariyena Sorani (aka Ariyena Koh) has been nominated for Best Actress under age 10 in a short film at the Young Artists Awards.  Ariyena excelled as Chairman Bobby's younger, wiser sister Cindy in Little Mao.  Ariyena competes against 18 other talented actresses in this category.  The winner will be announced on Sunday, May 5, 2013 in the Empire Ballroom of the Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel, Studio City, California.

Congratulations, comrade Ariyena!

 

LITTLE MAO storms the largest Asian film fest in North America

Little Mao will screen at the largest Asian film festival in North America when it plays twice in March at CAAM Fest (formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival). This marks the California premiere of the film.

Little Mao plays in the Wrench in the Works shorts program on Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 12:15 pm at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, then Monday, March 18, 2013 at 8:30 pm at the New People cinema.  Click here for the full schedule and ticketing information.

Look out, comrades, here comes Little Mao (photo: Maloney Aguirre)

Reached from spring training in Dunedin, Florida, where he's been following his beloved Toronto Blue Jays, Chairman Bobby was elated, but torn about attending the screenings: "I am honoured that the film continues to hit doubles, triples and home runs across North America. Unfortunately, though, the screenings coincide with spring training though I will be present at CAAM in spirit. May a hundred flowers bloom!"

Little Mao enjoyed its world premiere with three sold-out screenings last April at the TIFF Kids Film Festival, held at the world-renown TIFF Bell Lightbox.  Since then, the film has played across Canada and the U.S. including festivals in Chicago, Seattle and Cinefest Sudbury.  More screenings will be announced here.

2012 in pictures

2012 saw Little Mao screen at several festivals, from Toronto to Chicago.  Expect more in 2013, but right now let's look back at 2012:

World premiere of Little Mao in our hometown, Toronto, at the prestigious TIFF Bell Lightbox. 
Three of four screenings were sold out and at one screening, nine cast members and their families came out.

Joshua Budd (Crying Kid) & Brian Obonna  (Home Plate Umpire) (photo by Mira Dimovski Budd)

Alysha Bauer (Jan) & Ariyena Sorani (Cindy) (photo by Mary Sorani)

Left to right: Kevin Wang (Chairman Bobby), Ariyena Sorani (Cindy), Joshua Budd (Crying Kid), Brian Obonna (Home Plate Umpire), Allan Tong (writer/director)  (photo by Mira Dimovski Budd)

OMNI-TV's Jeffrey Lee interviews Kevin Wang (Chairman Bobby)

Ariyena Sorani and Alysha Bauer join director Allan Tong onstage for a post-screening Q&A with TIFF Kids programmer Shane Smith.  This was the very first screening. (photo by Sonya di Rienzo)

At the same time Little Mao was premiering at TIFF Kids in Toronto, the film was screening at Colorado's Indie Spirit Film Festival.

 

 

Little Mao travelled to Sudbury's renown Cinfest Film Festival.

Director/writer Allan Tong with Comrade Marsha Cummings (of POV magazine)

Allan at the Big Nickel

In the fall, Little Mao appeared at several Ontario festivals.  At Kitchener-Waterloo's Grand River Film Festival, Little Mao was a finalist in the short films competition.  Below, Tia Ng (one of the players on the opposing team) appeared at the Hamilton screening (photo by Des Ng).

In October, Little Mao travelled to the American midwest to the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, which along with TIFF Kids is one of the most respected childrens' film festivals in the world.

Allan at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Chess Records

Allan with fellow filmmakers Julio and Leslie Cabrera of Puerto Rico

 

 

Little Mao kicks off 2013 in Seattle

Little Mao will begin the new year with two screenings at the Children's Film Festival in Seattle.  It takes place on Sunday, January 27 at 7:00 pm and Friday, February 1 at 1:00 pm in the program, Hang On For The Ride.  For tickets, click here.

Seattle marks Little Mao's return to the U.S. after an appearance at the prestigious Chicago International Childrens Film Festival in October.  More screenings across North America will be announced here.  Stay tuned, comrades...

Today, Little Mao salutes Comrade Ariyena Sorani (aka Cindy) on reaching her 10th birthday:

Photo by Maloney Aguirre

LITTLE MAO director & cast talk baseball and Mao on TORONTO TV

TORONTO TV's Joseph Lau speaks to the director and stars of Little Mao during the world premiere screenings the TIFF Kids International Film Festival.  The final screening takes place Sunday, April 22, 3:00 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, while Little Mao makes its American premiere today at 2:45 pm and Sunday, April 22 at 8:00 pm. at the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs.

Click to play interviews.  Note: Kevin's solo interview is in Mandarin (not English):

LITTLE MAO world premiere at TIFF Kids

A packed audience watched the world premiere of Little Mao at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival this morning.  Stars Ariyena Sorani (Cindy) and Alysha Bauer (Jan) walked the red carpet and answered questions at the post-screening Q&A onstage with director/writer, Allan Tong.  On-hand to support them were co-producer Austin Wong, and the proud families of Ariyena, Alysha and Allan.

Left to right: Ariyena Sorani (Cindy), Alysha Bauer (Jan) and director/writer Allan Tong 
during the post-screening Q&A

The film ran as part of the 10:15 am screening of the Canada Creates program of shorts at TIFF Kids (formerly Sprockets) taking place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto.  This morning's screening was the first of four screenings at this festival.

Alysha Bauer (Jan) & Ariyena Sorani (Cindy)

Ariyena Sorani (Cindy) and director/writer Allan Tong

Little Mao talks in Sing Tao Daily and The Korea Times

Little Mao star, Ariyena Sorani, talks to The Korean Times about her acting career and her role as Cindy.  (The story is in Korean only.)

Photo by Maloney Aguirre

Meanwhile, Little Mao director and writer, Allan Tong, appears in the Sing Tao Daily, Canada's biggest Chinese-language daily.  (Sorry, this story is in Chinese only.)

Little Mao has its world premiere at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, tomorrow, Wednesday, April 11 at 10:15 am.  This screening is sold out, but tickets are still available for others screenings on:

~ Sunday April 15, 12:00 noon


~ Monday April 16, 12:45 pm


~ Sunday April 22, 3:00 pm

Cast members and director Tong will be on-hand for all screenings.