The award-winning film “The Rebel” is showing in a special engagement, free admission, at the Bowers Museum tonight, in celebration of a successful DVD launch.

The film, directed by OC Viet Charlie Nguyen, is being released on DVD by Dynasty, a subsidiary of the Weinstein Company. The Bolsavik heard from one store (not even located in a Vietnamese area) that bought 100 copies and sold 91 on the first day.

The release of The Rebel also launches a campaign by the organizers of ViFF, the Vietnamese International Film Festival, to call on the Vietnamese-American community to reject DVD piracy and buy originals only, be it Thuy Nga or Asia or Van Son musical variety shows, or films such as The Rebel and Journey from the Fall. Their motto is “Mua dia thiet, ung ho phim Viet” – which rhymes in Vietnamese and translates into something like “Support Viet films, buy real discs”.

The showing tonight is jointly presented by VAALA and Visual Communications. VAALA is a Viet cultural non-profit organization and a co-organizer of ViFF. Visual Communications is an LA-based Asian-American cultural and media non-profit organization.

Director Charlie Nguyen and lead actor Dustin Nguyen (of 21 Jump Street fame; recently played Cate Blanchett‘s boyfriend in Little Fish; pictured right backstage with co-star Ngo Thanh Van) will be there.

The event is at:

7 p.m. today October 3
The Bowers Museum’s Norma Kershaw Auditorium
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana 92706

It’s free to the public.

Later this month, the film will be shown (on 35mm film) in Alhambra, also with Charlie Nguyen and Dustin Nguyen in attendance, here:

7:30 p.m. October 23
Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14
1 East Main Street (corner Garfield Ave.)
Alhambra 91801

The Alhambra screening does charge admission, at $10 general, $8 student, seniors and Friends of Visual Communications member.

The full press release follows after the jump

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 18, 2008

Contact:            Visual Communications, (213) 680-4462, info@vconline.org;

VAALA, (714) 893-6145, vaala91@yahoo.com

AWARD-WINNING FILM “THE REBEL” RETURNS FOR SPECIAL

ENGAGEMENTS IN LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTIES

Dustin Nguyen Starrer Set for Promotional Screenings to Celebrate

Official Ultimate Edition DVD Release; Star and Director To Appear

LOS ANGELES, CA – Suspense, action, romance and a touch of black magic ignite when the award-winning THE REBEL, by film director Charlie Nguyen charges back onto the big screen in a pair of special Southern California promotional screening engagements during the month of October.

THE REBEL will be presented on Oct. 3, 7 p.m. at the Bowers Museum’s Norma Kershaw Auditorium, 2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana 92706, telephone: (714) 567-3695; and Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. at the Edwards Alhambra Renaissance 14, 1 East Main Street (corner Garfield Ave.), Alhambra 91801, telephone (626) 300-8312.  Director Charlie Nguyen and lead actor Dustin Nguyen (21 JUMP STREET; HEAVEN AND EARTH) are slated to appear, and will participate in a Q & A session following each screening.

Admission to the Oct. 3 screening is free to the public, with a pre-screening reception at 6 p.m.; admission to the Oct. 23 screening (presented on 35mm film) is $10 general, and $8 students, seniors and Friends of Visual Communications member with valid I.D.  Parking information available by calling the respective theaters.

The screenings, organized and presented by Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts organization and by Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA), Southern California’s leading Vietnamese arts and culture organization and the presenter of the biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF), coincide with the ultimate edition DVD release of the film.  Copies of the 2-disc set, packed with commentaries by the director and lead actors, exclusive interviews, deleted scenes, trailers and other extras will be available at both screenings for post-screening autograph sessions with the director and actor.

“Throughout its four decade-long history, Visual Communications has been committed to championing the best new work by Asian Pacific American artists,” said Shinae Yoon, Visual Communications Executive Director.  “The DVD release of THE REBEL is an important step toward spotlighting new and exciting filmmakers like Charlie Nguyen, and in cultivating a new generation of media artists who will carry the question of Asian Pacific diasporic identity forward.”

Celebrated as the highest grossing Vietnamese film ever made, THE REBEL stars contemporary Asian superstars Johnny Tri Nguyen (The Protector; Spiderman), Dustin Nguyen (“21 Jump Street,” Finishing the Game) and Vietnamese pop star/actress Ngo Thanh Van.  Set in Vietnam in the 1920s during the long-standing French colonization, rebel forces emerge to disrupt the foreign control as the French employ elite Vietnamese agents to destroy them.  Government agent Cuong (Johnny Nguyen) captures rebel operative Thuy (Ngo Thanh Van), only to escape with her when Cuong’s conflicted allegiances turn on a moment of brutal clarity.  Cuong and Thuy are in turn pursued by a power-mad agent (Dustin Nguyen) who harbors personal demons of his own at the hands of French colonizers.

THE REBEL has garnered worldwide critical and popular acclaim since its overflow 2007 World Premiere screening as the Opening Night feature of the Vietnamese International Film Festival.  The online movie magazine Film Threat has gushed over the film, proclaiming THE REBEL “So badass it hurts…but it hurts so good”; while Pop Journalism praised THE REBEL as “an achievement of martial arts ability anchored in an intriguing tale of politics, power and betrayal”.

Winner of the 2007 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature and the 2007 Vietnamese International Film Festival’s Audience Award, THE REBEL was soon after acquired for home distribution by The Weinstein Company, and is slated for release on Sept. 30, 2008.

“Both VAALA and Visual Communications are excited to team up to present THE REBEL to the greater Los Angeles and Orange County communities,” noted Ysa D. Le, Executive Director of Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association.  “I’d also like to call for everyone to buy the officially released DVDs to support the filmmakers, so that we could have more great films likeTHE REBEL.”

Founded in 1991 by a group of Vietnamese American journalists, artists and friends, Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA) is a community-based non-profit organization that seeks to promote and enrich arts and culture by, for, and about the Vietnamese communities.  VAALA has organized numerous cultural events such as art exhibitions, book fairs, book signings, recitals, plays, lectures, the biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF), the biennial Cinema Symposium, the annual Children’s Moon Festival Art Contest and year-long art and music classes.  VAALA recently developed smART Program, which offers free art workshops for non-profit youth organizations in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas.

Incorporated in 1970, Visual Communications is a non-profit Asian Pacific American media arts center that promotes intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans.  A pioneer in the national media arts arena, Visual Communications boasts a catalog currently comprising over 100 films and video produced through the organization; maintains a photographic archive of nearly 500,000 historical and contemporary images of Asian Pacific American histories and communities; conducts filmmaker training and education workshops and seminars; and organizes public exhibition events including the annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

For more information on the promotional screenings of THE REBEL; and for additional info about Visual Communications and VAALA programs and events, please visit www.vconline.org and www.vaala.org.