Best of 2006: Style Makers
APA looks back on some of the biggest Asian faces and fads to hit the fashion world this year.
Best of 2006: Television
2006 saw a jump from 17 to 24 Asian faces cast in regular roles on prime time television shows. With shows like Heroes, Lost, and Grey's Anatomy, is diversity becoming more mainstream?
Best of 2006: YouTube Clips
Time Magazine named "You" man of the year. For the Asian and Asian American communities though, YouTube put the emphasis on "Us." APA looks at the video clips that defined the year.
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from Lou Ye's Summer Palace
Overview: APA's 2006 Calendar
A year ago we were equally passionate about Memoirs of a Geisha and a potential Oscar for Ang Lee. Now we're talking about Yul Kwon and Masi Oka. APA highlights some of Asia and Asian America's steps and missteps along the way.
Early January - Hu Ge's short film "The Bloody Case that Started from a Steamed Bun" (a parody of Chen Kaige's epic The Promise) is posted and shared online.
Jan 13 - Wayne Wang's Last Holiday opens
Jan 16 - Golden Globes: Brokeback Mountain wins 4 awards, Sandra Oh wins for Grey's Anatomy
Jan 19 - Asian Excellence Awards
Jan 19-29 - Sundance Film Festival
Special Jury Prizes, Dramatic, for Independent Vision - In Between Days (So Yong Kim)
Special Jury Prizes, World Cinema Documentary - Dear Pyongyang (Yonghi Yang)
Special Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic - Eve & The Fire Horse (Julia Kwan)
Other films at Sundance: Man Push Cart (Ramin Bahrani), Punching At The Sun (Tanuj Chopra), Journey From The Fall (Ham Tran), The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (Auraeus Solito)
Jan 26 - Korean government halves the 40 year-old screen quota on days in which Korean films must be shown in local theaters
Jan 27 - Justin Lin's Annapolis opens
Jan 28 - Ang Lee wins best director at the DGA Awards
Jan 29 - Sandra Oh wins SAG Award for Grey's Anatomy
Jan 31 - Academy Award nominations announced. Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain leads the way with eight nominations. Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle is nominated for Best Animated Feature. Steven Okazaki's The Mushroom Club is nominated for Best Short Documentary. Pia Clemente is nominated for her short film Our Time is Up.
Feb 10 - James Wong's Final Destination 3 opens
Feb 22 - Hao Wu, a Chinese documentary filmmaker who lived in the U.S. between 1992 and 2004, was detained by the Beijing division of China's State Security BureauFeb 26 - Black wins big at the Filmfare Awards
March 3 - Always: Sunset on Third Street sweeps the Japanese Academy Awards
March 4 - Independent Spirit Awards: Ang Lee walks away with a Independent Spirit Award for Brokeback Mountain. Also definitely worth noting is Mora Stephens and Joel Viertel's Conventioneers, which won the John Cassavetes Award, which honors features made for under $500,000. Someone to Watch Award went to Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana for Cavite.
March 5 - Ang Lee wins Academy Award for best director
March 8 - Chloe Dao wins Project Runway 2
March 14 - Eric Byler's Americanese wins the narrative audience award and a special jury prize for outstanding ensemble cast at the SXSW Film Conference and Festival in Austin
March 16-26 - 24th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is held, with a spotlight on actor James Shigeta and tributes to David Tatsuno, Pat Morita, and Kayo Hatta.
Best Narrative Feature Award - Punching at the Sun (Tanuj Chopra)
Special Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature - Colma: the Musical (Richard Wong)
Best Documentary Feature Award - Abduction (Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim)
Special Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature - Chinese Restaurants: Latin Passions (Cheuk Kwan)
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature (tie) - Water (Deepa Mehta)
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature (tie) - Journey from the Fall (Ham Tran)
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature - Sentenced Home (David Grabias and Nicole Newnham)
March 31-April 13 - Chicago Asian American Showcase
April 11 - Korean director Shin Sang-ok passes away
April 23 - Kaavya Viswanathan's How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life plagiarism controversy
May 4-11 - VC Film Festival
Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature - The Motel (Michael Kang)
Special Jury Prize - Colma: The Musical (Richard Wong)
Audience Favorite Film Award - Asian Stories (Book III) (Kris Chin and Ron Oda)
Best Documentary Feature Award - The Queen From Virginia: The Jackie Bong Wright Story (David Ngo)
Special Jury Prize - John & Jane Toll Free (Ashim Ahluwalia)
Best Short Film - Missing (Kit Hui)
Linda Mabalot New Directions/New Visions Award - New Year (Susan Tuan)
May 5 - The Promise opens in the U.S.
May 18 - Lou Ye's Summer Palace premieres at the Cannes Film Festival, despite being denied permission to do so from the Chinese government.
May 26 - Mei Melancon plays Psylocke, Ken Leung plays Spike-Face Dude, and Kea Wong reprises her role as Jubilee in X-Men 3
May 29 - Wang Chao's Luxury Car wins the Un Certain Regard at Cannes
May 29 - Amir Muhammad's The Last Communist is officially banned by the Malaysian government
May 30 - Legendary director Shohei Imamura passes away
June 16 - Justin Lin's Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift opens
June 16-July 1 - New York Asian Film Festival
One to Watch - Slip of the Tongue (Karen Lum)
Best Music Video - Plus/Minus' I've Been Lost (Rik Cordero)
Excellence in Short Filmmaking - Stationery (Monica Rho)
Michelob Light Music Video Competition - Zoetrope (Peilin Kuo)
V-Clip National Competition:
3rd Runner Up - Stella's Debut (Kevin Lee)
2nd Runner Up - Second Chance at a Last Goodbye (Peter Phan)
Winner: Between (Peilin Kuo and Jessie Spiro)
Emerging Director Award: Eve and the Firehorse (Julia Kwan)
June 27 - MTV K launches (MTV Chi launched Dec 6, 2005, MTV Desi launched July 2005)
June 28 - Mike Kang's The Motel opens theatrically
July 21 - M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water opens
July 21 - Mako, Oscar-nominated actor and founder of the famed Asian American theatre East West Players passes away
July 27 - The Host opens in Korea, beginning a record-breaking run
July 29 - Tales from Earthsea opens in Japan, and ultimately becomes highest-grossing film of the year
Aug 4 - Jet Li, Fearless
Aug 25 - Jay Chandrasekhar's Beerfest opens
Sept 7 - Opening of "One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now" at the Asia Society in New York.Sept 8 - The Protector opens in the U.S.
Sept 8 - New York premiere of Red Doors
Sept 9 - Jia Zhang-ke's Still Life wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
Sept 14 - premiere of Survivor: Cook Islands
Sept 23 - "MTV Chi Rocks!" is taped in San Gabriel, California. Open only to new cable subscribers, the concert featured Chinese and Chinese American acts like Jeff & Machi, Jin, and Far East Movement.
Oct 11 - Kiran Desai wins the Man Booker Prize for her novel The Inheritance of Loss
Oct 13 - Takeshi Shimizu's The Grudge 2 opens
Oct 27 - Nia Danata's Love for Share wins the Hawaii International Film Festival
Nov. 2 - Wisit Sasanatieng's Unseeable opens in Thailand
Nov 25 - Patrick Tam's After this our Exile wins the Golden Horse Awards
Dec 1 - Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, starring Kal Penn, opens
Dec 4 - The 4 Star Theatre in San Francisco (the last remaining Chinese movie theater in the U.S.) wins legal battle to stay in business
Dec 7 - Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay opens in Korea
Dec 13 - Curse of the Golden Flower and Still Life open against each other in China
Dec 17 - Yul Kwon wins Survivor
Dec 21 - The Zhang Yimou, Tan Dun, Ha Jin, and Emi Wada collaboration of The First Emperor premieres at the Metropolitan Opera in New York
Dec 26 - My Life Disoriented, directed by Eric Byler, premieres on PBS
Back to APA's "Best of 2006" issue
Date Posted: 1/12/2007