watch I WANT TO BE A DESI 1 & 2 online

Desi 2 returns to Toronto

I Want To Be A Desi 2 returns to Toronto on Friday, April 13 at 4:30 pm as part of ReelWorld Film Festival. Desi 2 will preceed the feature, Arab Rap, and take place at the Famous Players Canada Square Cinemas 6 at 2190 Yonge Street (at Eglinton).

The lucky April 13 screening caps an award-winning three-year run which took the six-minute short from San Diego to Peterborough across North America.  Click for tickets.

Desi 2 plays Barrie Film Festival

I Want To Be A Desi 2 screens at this weekend's Barrie Film Festival north of Toronto. It takes part in the festival's Short Film Showcase on Saturday, October 16. The winner will be announced at the Awards Party later on Saturday night.

Desi2 plays DisOrient on April 24

I Want To Be A Desi 2 screens at the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon in Portland on Saturday, April 24 at noon as part of the Life As We Know It program. The screening marks yet another west coast screening for the six-minute documentary, following successful festival appearances in San Diego and Vancouver. Full festival details and ticket orders at:

I Want To Be A Desi 2 named top doc at U of T Film Fest

I Want To Be A Desi 2 was awarded the Best Documentary prize at last night's University of Toronto Film Festival. Director Allan Tong was on hand to accept the award and thank the Hart House Film Board which organized the jammed-pack one-day, multimedia event, and his collaborators including cinematographer, David Eng, who picked up an award for one of his films.Two DV cameras from the Hart House Film Board, a battered, old Canon XL-1 and a 24P Panasonic, were used in filming Desi 2. One scene was later shot in Hart House, which sits on the grounds on the downtown UofT campus.

For those who missed the screening yesterday, I Want To Be A Desi 2, can be viewed for a little longer at the National Screen Institute's Online Film Festival.

Desi 2 plays at 2010 University of Toronto Film Festival

IWTAB2 plays on Saturday, March 13 at the University of Toronto Film Festival. It appears in a one-hour program devoted to non-student shorts at 5:45 pm. All screenings at this fest are free and take place at Hart House just west of Queen's Park. Go to the second floor Music Room. Full schedule at: http://uoftfilmfest.ca/wp/

Desi2 @ ReFrame Peterborough

Director Allan Tong and co-producer Dinesh Sachdev attended the screening of I Want To Be A Desi 2 at the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival on January 30. The film played to its largest audience-to-date, where over 200 Peterboroughians laughing and applauding at the beautiful Showplace Performance Centre. Desi 2 played alongside the films Terra Sacer (Sacrificed Land) and Six Miles Deep, directed by Alberto Guevara & Elysée Nouvet, and Sara Roque respectively.
Immediately after the late-afternoon screening Allan joined those filmmakers plus documentarian Amy Miller (right in photo above) and ReFrame programmer Wanda Nanibush (left) for a discussion with the audience about truth in documentary film.

In the audience was local filmmaker (who is screening a film at the festival) and ReFrame projectionist, Lester Alfonso (left in photo below).
Allan and Dinesh (right in photo above) thank Wanda for inviting them to her impressive film festival, and Allan thanks Greek translator Irini for her assistance, linguistically and photographically.

I Want To Be A Desi 2 screens at ReFrame in Peterborough

I Want To Be A Desi 2 will screen at the ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival on Saturday, January 30, at 4:00 at the Showplace (with Terra Sacer and Six Miles Deep). Director Allan Tong and co-producer Dinesh Sachdev will present the film. Allan will also speak at the Filmmakers Panel immediately following the screening, also at the Showplace.

Director Allan Tong interview on CFFF-FM

Director Allan Tong will be talking about "DESI 2" with CFFF radio's Barry Boyce on his Social Justice Power Hour program on Monday, January 18, from 3:30 to 4:00 pm. CFFF is Trent University's radio station, and Allan is promoting the January 30 screening of "DESI 2" at the ReFrame International Film Festival in Peterborough.

Listen online at http://www.trentu.ca/org/trentradio/

DESI2 returns to Canada

Following successful screenings in Washington, DC and San Diego, I Want To Be A Desi 2 received its Canadian premiere at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival on November 6 and will enter the new year screening at The ReFrame Peterborough International Film Festival on Saturday January 30, 2010. Q&A with director Allan Tong and co-producer and "Desi" Dinesh Sachdev willfollow.


Full schedule will soon be up at www.reframefilmfestival.ca

Casting Call for I Want To Be A Desi

Nov. 24: I'm casting South Asian actors for the Dec.6 shoot of I WANT TO BE A DESI, the comedy version of "DESI 2." This is an ACTRA TIP project (BravoFact), so all actors and background performers must belong to ACTRA:

SA FEMALE 1: background role: early-20s to play a virginal, naive Indian bachelorette.

SA FEMALE 2: actor role: early/mid 20s to play glamorous Bollywood bride who becomes a gold-digger.

SA MALE: 30s-up: actor role; business owner type who runs a "Desi School." Looks legit, but is really a little sneaky.

ASIAN/FILIPINO FEMALE: background role: 30s-up to play a nanny.

To apply: e-mail CV, headshot and agent details to tong.allan@gmail.com. Auditions scheduled. No calls, please.

Desi 2 at Vancouver Asian Film Fest

Following two screenings at San Diego Asian Film Festival and Washington's DC APA last month, I Want To Be A Desi 2 continues its festival tour with a screening at The Vancouver Asian Film Festival on Friday, Nov.6 in the Mighty Asians & Funny Canadians program.

DESI 2 plays San Diego

I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 continues its American festival run with not one, but *two* screenings at the San Diego Asian Film Festival in the American Dreams and Reflections program:

Friday, October 16 @ 4:00 pm (free screening)
Tuesday, October 27 @ 5:40 pm

@ The UltraStar Theater
7510 Hazard Center Drive, located off Friars Road at 163, San Diego, CA

Full details and ticketing info:
http://sdaff.bside.com/2009/films/americandreamsandreflections_sdaff2009

DESI Does Washington

I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 screens at the DC APA (Washington's Asian Pacific American Film Festival) on Monday, October 5 at 6:30 pm at the Canadian Embassy in the all-Canuck program, Twelve.

For tickets and more information go to http://www.apafilm.org/category/events/

Washington, San Diego & Vancouver want "Desi 2"

Washington's DC APA and Vancouver Asian film festivals join San Diego Asian in selecting I Want To Be A Desi 2 to screen in the autumn. This short documentary continues its hitting streak on the Asian film fest circuit, starting with the mid-July world premiere at New York's Asian American International Film Festival. Exact screening dates will soon be announced but the film's "tour" schedule looks something like this:

Editor Ngardy Conteh has just outputted a fresh master that will in turn be transferred to BetaSP tape that the festivals will play.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another November screening perhaps, in of all places, Toronto.

Meanwhile, I'm busy prepping to shoot I Want To Be A Desi, the short comedy that inspired this "pre-sequel." Stay tuned...

(July 27/09) Hot on the heels of its world premiere, I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 has just been invited to screen at the San Diego Asian Film Festival in late-October. The screening will take place sometime between October 15-29 at this revered festival that celebrates film made by the Asian disapora.

Needless to say I'm excited and co-producer Dinesh Sachdev is thrilled (actually Dinesh is excited and I'm thrilled).

Stay tuned for details in the weeks to come...

I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 has world premiere at

Asian American International Film Festival
in Manhattan

(July 27/09) I Want To Be A Desi 2 had its world premiere at the 32nd AAIFF in lower Manhattan on Saturday, July 25. The short documentary was part of the shorts program about individual identity, "Here...look at me," that screened at the newly renovated MOCA (Museum of Chinese in America) at 215 Centre Street in New York's Chinatown.

The nearly sold-out screening at the new Museum of Chinese in America

Despite a sultry summer's day and the dinner-hour scheduling, a near-sell-out crowd came out to pack the screening room at MOCA where the paint was still drying. Myself, director Allan Tong, and co-producer Dinesh Sachdev attended. The films ranged from profiles of a Vancouver yo-yo champion to a Hiroshima survivor to a Japanese-American cowboy singer. The quality was high throughout and I was pleased to be part of this line-up.

The post-screening Q&A with several of the directors in the program.
I Want To Be A Desi 2 director, Allan Tong, is the third from the left, in black

I was part of a spirited group Q&A afterwards that included filmmakers of several other films on the bill. I was asked why I made IWTBAD2 and if there is a IWTBAD1. I explained that in a Lucas-esque way, I'm putting out the sequal before the original film, and that Desi 1 will be completed by the fall for Bravo TV. Dinesh received a hearty round of applause for his performance as the roti-lovin' Mr. Desi in the film.

Allan answering an audience question as director Irene Herrera
(You Can Call Me Nikkie) listens.

Overall, I had a fantastic time at AAIFF. I met other filmmakers and saw their fine work, and was treated well by AAIFF staff and volunteers. I enjoyed the screenings, workshops and receptions. The festival was all the more sweeter because it took place in the greatest city on earth in the middle of summer.

Director Allan Tong and co-producer/Mr. Desi, Dinesh Sachdev,
after the successful screening.

By coincidence the festival took place exactly one year after we commenced shooting at Toronto's Masala! Mehndi! Masti! South Asian Festival. (Thanks to Yasmine Gomez for taking the photos. Yasmine's music video, You Will Remember by the band Lumaya, also played at AAIFF.) I hope I can return 12 months from now to premiere I Want To Be A Desi.

Dinesh Sachdev (left) speaking to Dickson Chow (in glasses), director of
The Veiled Commodity which also played at AAIFF.

I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 to premiere at
New York's Asian American International Film Festival

I Want To Be A Desi 2 will have its world premiere at the AAIFF in Manhattan in the program "Here...look at me" at 6:45 PM on Saturday, July 25. The venue is the recently renovated MOCA (Museum of Chinese in America @ 211-215 Centre Street).

Full details & ticket info at: http://www.aaiff.org/2009/06/02/here-look-at-me/

NEWS FLASH: (June 2, 2009)

I WANT TO BE A DESI receives BRAVOFact funding

June 2: The short comedy film has received BRAVOFact funding. I WANT TO BE A DESI is the prequel to the short documentary, I WANT TO BE A DESI 2. Filming will commence in the summer of 2009. Stay tuned for further details...

NEWS FLASH: (April 20, 2009):
I WANT TO BE A DESI 2 has been selected to premiere at New York's Asian American Film Festival, taking place July 23-26 in Manhattan (www.asiancinevision.org). The filmmakers shall attend. Screening details will be announced in June.