LITTLE MAO is back in Toronto today at ReelWorld Asian Heritage Month screening

Little Mao marks another return to Toronto's Asian Heritage Month with a screening organized by ReelWorld Film Festival. Mao, plus two other shorts films and a documentary feature, screens at 1:00 pm today at Innis Town Hall at 2 Sussex Avenue (St. George/Harbord). Free admission! Director Allan Tong and many of the other filmmakers will be present for a Q&A. Come one comrade, come all!

Full details: https://www.facebook.com/events/154155911789845 or https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/canada-150-asian-heritage-month-film-festival-unity-in-diversity-tickets-34626747534

LITTLE MAO screening at Asian Heritage Month

Little Mao returns to Toronto as part of an Asian Heritage Month screening organized by the ReelWorld Film Festival. The short films run from 2:00-3:30 today at the Innis Town Hall's VIP Screening Room, room 222, at 2 Sussex Avenue (St. George/Harbord).  Free admission!

A panel discussion about women in film and a documentary screening follow into the early evening.  Full details: http://www.reelworld.ca/ArticlesDetails/TabId/126/ArtMID/581/ArticleID/107/Free-Admission-to-Asian-Heritage-Month-Film-Festival.aspx

photo by Maloney Aguirre

LITTLE MAO returns to Toronto

Little Mao takes another swing at the bat in Toronto

One year after its world premiere of three sold-out screenings at the TIFF Kids Film Festival, Little Mao returns to Toronto. 

On Saturday, April 13, 4:00 pm at Famous Players Canada Square Cinemas (2190 Yonge Street at Eglinton), ReelWorld Film Festival will run Little Mao before the feature documentary, Goodness in Rwanda.  Click here for information and tickets.

"Just in time for baseball season!" proclaims Chairman Bobby.

Photo by Maloney Aguirre

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.

Hamilton hails MAO not once, but twice

Little Mao plays not once, but twice at the Hamilton Film Festival. First screening is at 1:00 pm, then another 7:00 pm on November 10. Details & tickets: (905) 529-3000, info@hamiltonfilmfestival.com or
www.hamiltonfilmfestival.com

Little Mao is going to Chicago

The Chicago International Childrens Film Festival will screen Little Mao on Friday, October 26, 11:45 am in the Me 'n' My Family program of short film.  The screening takes place at Chicago's venerable Facets Multi-Media Theater.  The CICFF is one of the largest childrens film festivals in the world, rivalling TIFF Kids where Little Mao had its world premiere last April.  Click for details.

Little Mao up for award at Grand River in Kitchener-Waterloo

Little Mao is a finalist in the SHORT Shorts competition hosted by the Grand River Film Festival in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.  The finalists will be screened followed by a reception open to the public on Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 7:00pm at the Princess Twin Cinemas, 46 King St. North, Waterloo, N2J 2W9.  Mao's director and some of its stars will attend.  Watch here for the results.  For tickets, click here. Facebook event.

Cinefest invites LITTLE MAO to Sudbury

Chairman Bobby (Kevin Wang) will take another swing at a film festival on September 18

 

Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival has invited Little Mao to screen on 2:00 pm on September 18.  Chairman Bobby, Jan, Joe and all his comrades will appear onscreen at this prestigious festival in northern Ontario.

 

Little Mao premiered at Toronto's TIFF Kids Film Festival in April, playing to three sold-out audiences at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.  "We are honoured to appear in Sudbury, home to many of our proletarian brothers and sisters," announced Chairman Bobby.

Comrade Joe (Isaac Pilozo) ponders the workers' paradise from home plate

Chairman Bobby's Little Red Guards in a class struggle with the 1st Base Umpire (Sonya Morson)

Cinefest, as it's commonly called, is one of Canada's premiere film festivals.  Little Mao will appear in a short films program on September 18.  The full festival schedule is found here: http://cinefest.com/  

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/140297289445778/?context=create

TIFF Kids and Indie Spirit screenings today

The Opposing Team: Alexandra Clementi, Alexandra Wellman, Tia Ng, Charlotte Herie, Emily Nankoo, Kevin Nankoo, Josh Ling

Little Mao screens for the fourth and final time at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival today at 3:00 pm.  The program in which Mao appears, Canada For Kids, is sold-out. 

In the U.S. Mao makes its second appearance at Colorado Springs' Indie Spirit Film Festival at 8:00 pm local time. 

"We have conquered Toronto and America!" declared an exhausted, but spirited Chairman Bobby after three screenings in Toronto, one in Colorado, plus two media interviews. 

"Who shall be next?"

LITTLE MAO invades America

Little Mao invades imperialist America this weekend when it premieres at The Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Little Mao will screen alongside the short, Choreography for Plastic Army Men, and the Canadian feature, I Declare War on Saturday, April 21 at 2:45 pm and Sunday, April 22 at 8:00 pm.  The two screenings will mark Little Mao's first appearance on Yankee soil.  The fourth and final screening at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival takes place at 3:00 also on Sunday.

"We will conquer the American imperialists!" declared Chairman Bobby as he watched his beloved Toronto Blue Jays cruise to a 7-3 victory against Tampa Bay.  "We will rally against the Yankee--wait...you mean we could win the Best Short award?  Praise the Indie Spirit Film Festival!"

Click here for tickets and full details.

Kevin Wang interviewed before LITTLE MAO screening

OMNI-TV's Jeffrey Lee interviews Little Mao star Kevin Wang today at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.  The interview with Kevin and director Allan Tong will appear on OMNI's Mandarin news.  (Date and time to be announced shortly.)

 Kevin and other actors from Little Mao will be on hand for the next screening at TIFF Kids at theLightbox tomorrow on Sunday, April 15, noon. Tickets still available: http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffkids/2012/3700005764

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.

Quotations from Chairman Bobby about the 2012 Toronto Blue Jays

With the Toronto Blue Jays kicking off their 2012 season in Cleveland tomorrow night and his own film, Little Mao, having its world premiere on April 11 at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival (formerly Sprockets), Chairman Bobby reflects on the imperalist Yankees, Fidel Castro's pitching and all things Jays:

 

Q: Chairman Bobby, how do you feel about the Jays in 2012?
Chairman Bobby:  Hopeful, comrade, hopeful!  We stand a great chance of earning one of those new wild card spots in the playoffs, even though the Jays are competing against those capitalist roaders, The New York Yankees, who boast an unfair advantage because the capitalist baseball system allows them to pay huge team salaries.  Unfair!




Q: Let's start on the mound.  What do you think of the Jays' starting rotation? 
Chairman Bobby:  A well-defended nation is a strong one.  Same goes with baseball. Comrade Ricky Romero should have a similar season to last year, but I expect Brandon Morrow to have an amazing year!  If the fifth starter is Kyle Drabek, I hope that his father talked some toughness into him so he launches a comeback just like our comrades did with The Great March of 1934.  Expect 90+ wins.

 
Q: Hitting? 
Chairman Bobby: Comrades Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie will crush their enemies just like Fidel and Che.

Q: Fidel Castro and Che Guevara played baseball? 
Chairman Bobby: Sure, Comrade Fidel pitched.  Check out: http://archive.org/details/1959-07-27_Havana_Rally?start=49.5





Q: The bullpen lost 25 games for the Jays last year, third-worst in the American League.  How will they perform in 2012?
Chairman Bobby: The bullpen will mature under veterans Sergio Santos, Coco Cordero and Darren Oliver.

Comrade Cindy (Ariyena Sorani) spies a pop fly for the Motherland

Q: Oliver is 41-years-old.  Isn't he too old?
Chairman Bobby: Comrade Fidel is 85 and Comrade Lenin was 53.

Q: But they weren't throwing in a major league bullpen.
Chairman Bobby (long pause):  It appears our comrade needs some re-education.

Chairman Bobby (Kevin Wang, far left) oversees his Imperial Guards (Kyle Wong, left, and Joshua Holmes, right) as they escort Comrade Joe (Isaac Pilozo in catcher's uniform) to "re-training" camp

Q: Moving to the infield...
Chairman Bobby:  Comrade Lind's average should rise given off-season conditioning.  Brett Lawrie should excel in his first full season as a Jay.  Comrade Escobar will shine at shortstop and at the plate.

Q: Overall, where have the Jays improved the most in the off-season?
Chairman Bobby: Pitching.  The starting rotation is more reliable, but the key lies in a consistent bullpen.  Of course, this wouldn't be a concern had those imperialist running dogs, The Philadelphia Phillies, not stolen Roy Halladay from us in 2009.

Q: Is Halladay your favourite pitcher?
Chairman Bobby:  Second.

Q: Who's first?
Chairman Bobby:  Why, Fidel!

Chairman Bobby's Little Red Guards discuss dialectical materialism with the First Base Umpire (Sonya Morson)

Q: Forgive me, Chairman...Please complete this sentence: "If I ran the Blue Jays I would..."
Chairman Bobby: "...give away all tickets to the proletariat and reclaim Doc Halladay."

Q: But Hallyday plays for the Phillies.
Chairman Bobby: We would get him back.

Q: How?  He's locked into a long-term contract.
Chairman Bobby (removing his sunglasses):  We have our ways.

Chariman Bobby's Little Red Guards (from left to right): Third Basewoman (Alexis Thomas), Guard (Joshua Holmes), Rightfielder (Scott Richardson), Chairman Bobby (foreground, Kevin Wang), Comrade Jan/Centerfielder (Alysha Bauer), Comrade Cindy/ Leftfielder (Ariyena Sorani), Guard (Kyle Wong, back row), Second Basewoman (Erin Richardson), First Baseman (Joshua Budd), Shortstop (Ben Prystawski).  Missing: Comrade Joe (Isaac Pilozo) who was in "re-training" camp

All photos by Comrade Maloney Aguirre

newsflash: LITTLE MAO world premiere this spring

Chairman Bobby (Kevin Wang) shall unleash Little Mao across the world this spring

Comrades, the world premiere of Little Mao has just been confirmed. Details will be announced later this month, including city and festival. Stay tuned for the revolutionary announcement!

Long live LITTLE MAO!

Kevin Wang as Chairman Bobby (photo: Johnny Vong)

The film, Little Mao, is complete. Watch this blog for festival screenings in the months to come. Writer-director Allan Tong thanks all of his comrades in making this movie a reality.