MOVIE RELEASE Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Now Playing, various times AMC Loews Lincoln Square 1998 Broadway at 68th Street New York City Landmark's Sunshine Cinema 143 East Houston Street between 1st and 2nd Ave New York City iwojimathemovie.warnerbros.com Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) USA, English / Japanese with English subtitles, color, 141 min Directed by Clint Eastwood Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, and Shidou Nakamura The combat picture has been a Hollywood staple for so long that it can sometimes seem as if every possible story has already been told. Or else as if each individual story, from G.I. Joe to Private Ryan, is at bottom a variation on familiar themes: victory against the odds, brotherhood under fire, sacrifice for a noble cause. But of course there are other, contrasting stories, a handful of which form the core of "Letters From Iwo Jima", Clint Eastwood's harrowing, contemplative movie and the companion to his Flags of Our Fathers." That film, partly about the famous photograph of American servicemen raising the flag on the barren volcanic island of Iwo Jima, complicated the standard Hollywood combat narrative in ways both subtle and overt. It exposed the heavy sediment of individual grief, cynicism and frustration beneath the collective high sentiments of glory and heroism but without entirely debunking the value or necessity of those sentiments. Letters, which observes the lives and deaths of Japanese soldiers in the battle for Iwo Jima, similarly adheres to some of the conventions of the genre even as it quietly dismantles them. It is, unapologetically and even humbly, true to the durable tenets of the war-movie tradition, but it is also utterly original, even radical in its methods and insights. - A. O. Scott, The New York Times

MOVIE RELEASE Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2006) Friday, January 12th, various times Cinema Village 22 East 12th Street between 5th Ave and University Place New York City www.abductionfilm.com | www.cinemavillage.com Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2006) USA, English / Japanese with English subtitles, color, 85 min Directed by Patty Kim & Chris Sheridan Documentary Hailed by The Los Angeles Times as "Extraordinary! Spine-tingling!" and a work of "Narrative Mastery!", Abduction tells the astonishing story of a 13-year-old Japanese girl who never returned home from school one dark November night in 1977. Years later, her parents found out the shocking truth: she had been abducted by North Korean spies. This is the dramatic story of her parents' moving 30-year-battle to bring their daughter home. Abduction points to one of today's biggest human rights and political crises in Asia - the abduction issue, is one of the major untold stories behind Japan and North Korea's tense relations, a key factor affecting nuclear talks. Using the bold signature of true-crime style, rarely-seen footage and exceptional access, the filmmakers weave an extraordinary tale of espionage and love. Winner, Best Documentary Feature, 2007 SFIAAFF.

FESTIVAL Korean American Shorts Festival New York (KASFNY) Saturday, January 13th, 6:00 - 8:00pm Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Avenue at Second Street New York City www.koreanx.net/kasfny The Korean American Shorts Festival New York (KASFNY) is an intimate festival meant to showcase and celebrate work by Korean American directors, producers, and actors, traditionally underrepresented in mainstream media. Our aim is to help provide an arena where audiences and artists in the filmmaking community can converge to creatively and critically discuss Korean American cinema. Its the first New York shorts festival focused exclusively on Korean American filmmakers, themes, or actors. The 2007 festival will be held in conjunction with other planned celebrations in New York for Korean American Day The Festival will be followed by a short Q&A and an afterparty for more intimate conversation with the filmmakers and networking. About Korean American Day The U.S. Congress has designated January 13 as "Korean-American Day." Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, and Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, sponsored the resolution. The "Korean American Day" would be celebrated on January 13th. In the year 1903, January 13th marked the arrival of the first Korean immigrants to America. Korean Americans, like the waves of immigrants that came to the United States before them, have taken root and thrived in this country through strong family ties, community support, and hard work. The influence of Korean Americans may be observed in all facets of American life, including, but not limited to, entrepreneurship, the arts, and education. The resolution also noted that members of the Korean-American community served with distinction in the U.S. armed forces during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. It also noted many other contributions of Korean-Americans in sports, medicine and the arts. The Korean-American community has been seeking such a designation since 2003.

READING Enough To Say It's Far: Selected Poems Of Pak Chaesam The Korea Society Wednesday, January 17th 6:00 - 6:30pm Registration and Reception 6:30 - 8:00pm Presentation and Q&A The Korea Society 950 Third Avenue at 57th Street, Eighth Floor New York City www.koreasociety.org Enough to Say It's Far: Selected Poems of Pak Chaesam, translated by David R. McCann, Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature, Harvard University & Jiwon Shin, is the first English translation of selected poems by one of the most important and unusual modern poets of South Korea. In contrast to the strident political protests found in the poetry of many of his contemporaries, Pak Chaesam's work is characterized by intimate portraits of place, nature, childhood, and human relationships, and by indirection, nostalgia, and reflectiveness. Often focused upon the border of this world and some other, Pak writes with a sparseness of presentation but a cornucopia of imagery, meticulously exploring objective and subjective realms of existence and memory. Encouraging the reader to see and listen, and to allow the sensory to reshape the analytical, Pak's poetry opens up new realms of experience. A fellow Korean poet described Pak's poetry as being "the most exquisite expression of the Korean sense of han."

FESTIVAL Flower Market 2007 Asian American Arts Alliance (AAAA), Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA), and United East Athletic Association (UEAA) Friday, February 16th, 12:00 - 10:00pm Saturday, February 17th, 10:00am - 6:00pm Columbus Park Mulberry Street Between Worth and Bayard Streets New York City Free www.myspace.com/flowermarketnyc Celebrate the Year of the Pig at the Lunar New Year Flower Market at Columbus Park. MoCA and partners United East Athletics Assocation and the Asian American Arts Alliance present the Lunar New Year Flower Market at Columbus Park, which kicks off New York's celebrations. The Flower Market held in a heated tent in the heart of Chinatown, is a gathering place for families to take in the dynamic atmosphere and enjoy arts & crafts activities and performances by Chinese American artists. A range of auspicious flower and blooms, used to decorate one's home to bring luck and prosperity in the New Year, will be available for purchase.

CONFERENCE Korean American Educators Association 21st Annual Conference Korean American Educators Association (KAEA) Friday, June 1st Wilshire Plaza Hotel 3515 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, California www.calstatela.edu/academic/kaea | Helena Yoon: hjy3574@lausd.k12.ca.us 323) 939 - 8337 Korean American Educators Association (KAEA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting services to educators and communities and providing professional development opportunities to its members. Founded in 1976, KAEA has been playing a critical role of bridging American and Korean cultures for educators, students, parents, and other community members in greater Los Angeles for more than a quarter of a century.