Rice to host Asian Film Festival April 26-28

Rice University will host its annual Asian Film Festival April 26-28 at the Rice Media Center. The film screenings are free and open to the public.

The festival schedule is:

April 26, 7 p.m. — “The Owl and the Sparrow,” which follows the intersecting lives of children and adults on the streets of Saigon.

April 27, 6 p.m. — Reception sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League.

April 27, 7 p.m. — “The Pilgrimage,” a short film that shares the story of Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp overseen by the U.S. military.

April 27, 7:25 p.m. — “I Wish,” which tells the story of how 12-year-old Koichi, who was separated from his brother Ryunosuke after their parents divorced, begins to believe that the new bullet train service will create a miracle when the first trains pass each other at top speed.

April 28, 5 p.m. — “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Remember His Past Lives,” which centers on the last days in the life of its title character. Together with his loved ones, including the spirit of his dead wife and his lost son who has returned in a nonhuman form, Boonmee explores his past lives as he contemplates the reasons for his illness.

The event is sponsored by the Houston Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, Rice University Office of Public Affairs’ Multicultural Community Relations, the Rice Media Center and Rice’s Chao Center for Asian Studies.

For more information about the Rice Media Center, visit www.ricecinema.rice.edu.