16mm x Twitch!

The San Diego Asian Film Festival misses celluloid.
In most years, we’re able to fire up a film projector for a retrospective screening, but 2020 won’t be one of those years.

Or will it?

 
Tuesday, October 27 is the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, so let’s light one up for the relics of films past. While we can’t stream celluloid, we can celebrate it by foregrounding the materiality of a film print, the years etched onto its surface, and the projector that unwinds color and sound.

That’s right. We’re going to play a rare 16mm print, set up a camera, and beam it out to the Twitch-verse live.
And you get to choose the film.

 
We’ll have options from our top-secret bin of 16mm prints from Asia, which the Twitch audience will get to choose from. You’ll watch as our projectionist preps the print, beams the image, and changes the reels. This isn’t the same as the analog experience. Not even close. But 2020 has been about awkward analog-to-digital translations, a process that has simultaneously made our society hyper-conscious about medium specificity and in-person aura.

It’ll be messy, uncanny, mournful, and a little dirty. But it’ll also be interactive and pajama-friendly. Join us as we celebrate Asia’s audiovisual heritage, 2020-style.

JOIN US ON TUES, OCT 27 @7PM (PT)
for this very special SDAFF x Twitch broadcast!