http://www.bet.com/OnTV/BETShows/lensontalent/default.htm

It’s a chance for me to do another short with a budget of up to $100,000!

Exact dates and times coming soon, including how you can help me win!

Details here: http://www.japantravelinfo.com/2010/win.html

Seven Days trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNN14azHDC4

Order via Amazon.com or direct at http://www.popcultureshock.com/sevendays

The trailer is below:

Also this Saturday, June 13th a friend of mine, Aaron Woolfolk, has his film opening in Japan. It’s called “The Hirayama Bridge” and it features Danny Glover and many talented American and Japanese cast.

If you are in Japan, please go to see “The Harimaya Bridge” at the closest theater to you during the first week (if possible, this Saturday or Sunday). And if you can get a friend or two to go with you, please do so!

If you are not in Japan — and even if you are in Japan — please tell everyone you know in Japan to go see “The Harimaya Bridge” as soon as they can. Please tell your friends and family when you email them or if you speak to them on the phone; please announce it on your blogs; please announce it on your Facebook pages (in the “what’s on your mind” box on the top of the page); and please tell people you see (if you are in Japan).

You can find info on the film here:

http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.harimaya-bridge.jp

You can see the Japanese trailer for the movie below:

A few prominent Hollywood folks have contacted me about helping to produce the feature. Nothing concrete, but the future looks bright. With “Slumdog Millionaire” (a music heavy film starring people of color) cleaning up at the Oscars and hip-hop showing its might at the box office (from the “Step Up” series to “Notorious”) the time seems ripe. And Tyler Perry’s strong showing at the box office continues to demonstrate the viability of urban films.

There are several business models and budgets to make “Akira” into a full-length feature film. And I just finished a rewrite of the script, which takes the story to places that even surprised me! So stay tuned.

Feel free to post on the blog. That is if you can pull yourselves off Facebook or Twitter. Speaking of the latter be sure you follow us on Twitter via my personal page or the AHHS feed.

Many of you have written to ask, so here’s the low-down on HOW TO OWN OR WATCH THE FILM ONLINE. The choices are many!

1) Purchase the DVD right here for a mere $9.95 plus shipping.

2) Watch the Director’s Cut On Demand via Amazon.com for $1.99
(A download to own option is available as well.)

3) Buy the DVD via Amazon.com

4) Buy the DVD via Createspace.com
(You may need an account to log-in.)

Get your fix of drama and romance however you can! Buying the DVD direct from me is still the best way to show your support. But however you ingest it, we appreciate your support for the “little movie that could.”

MORE NEWS…

INTERESTING SALES FIGURES

Available online for less than three months, AHHS is performing well on Amazon.com. Check out these numbers:

Currently ranks #5,038 in Amazon Video On Demand.
#5 in Amazon Video On Demand > Movies > Comedy > African American Comedy
#13 in Amazon Video On Demand > Movies > Drama > African American Drama
#16 in Amazon Video On Demand > Movies > African American Cinema

Our little film is hanging with the big boys! In the African American Comedy category we’re especially strong. Note: These figures are updated hourly but we’ve consistently performed well.

We’re also in the Top 100 of the Amazon sales chart for African American Cinema:

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,403 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
Popular in these categories:
#79 in Movies & TV > African American Cinema > Comedy
#84 in Movies & TV > African American Cinema > Drama

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

AHHS will be playing at two upcoming festivals in Atlanta and California.

On Saturday March 21st, “Akira’s Hip Hop Shop” screens at the 5th annual Women of Color Arts & Film (WOCAF) Festival in Atlanta. The screening is scheduled to take place between 5:10 – 7:00pm with a few select other short films.

Next month, AHHS will be screening at the 11th Annual California Independent Film Festival slated for April 16th – 19th 2009 in Livermore California. ‘Nuff respect to Derek Zemrak who saw the film at the Sapporo Short Fest Market in Japan last September and extended an invitation for us to participate. I may even make the trip up north to attend the screening and Q&A so stay tuned.

While the film is off the festival circuit officially, we will continue to consider themed festivals and college screenings so please inquire.

THE ONLINE “SHOP” IS NOW OPEN!

Now you can get your very own “Akira’s Hip Hop Shop” T-shirt. Let that fine Asian guy or sexy Chocolate sista know you’re ‘down with the swirl’ by sporting your allegiance to a post-racial world. New shirt designs coming soon!

You can also decorate your swinging pad (or Mom’s basement in these hard times) with a mini (12×18) or mega (full movie poster sized) “Akira’s Hip Hop Shop” poster. Get your swagger on with our swag!

As always, I couldn’t do any of this without your support. From Joliet to Japan … Jerusalem to Johannesburg, I remain in your debt.

Thanks and One Love,

Joe

http://lhaaffbside.blogspot.com/

African American and Asian American interactions

NOVEMBER 20 – AKIRA’S HIP HOP SHOP and ELI’S LIQUOR STORE
Time: 7PM
Location: TBA — please check this blog again or call our info line, (206)326-1088 after November 3rd, 2008.
Admission: Suggested donation of $5.00

AKIRA’S HIP-HOP SHOP 37 mins. (special public screening of the director’s cut!) 37 mins.
Written and directed by Joe Doughrity Akira’s Hip Hop Shop stars James Kyson Lee (”Heroes”) and Emayatzy Corinealdi (”The Young & the Restless”). An interracial love story about a Japanese immigrant in love with hip hop who meets a young Black woman with a passion for Asian cuisine and culture.
Winner – Best Director, Director’s Guild of America Awards 2007

screened with

ELI’S LIQUOR STORE 16 mins.
Written and directed by Arnold Chun and Alonzo Jones . Co-produced by Yealee Song and Joseph H. Shim.

A poignant story set in Los Angeles’ Koreatown circa 1999. It’s the story of Elijah Gooden, a 43-year-old African-American man from Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Georgia Tech University and worked in corporate America before moving his family to Los Angeles to start his own business. He and his family experience culture shock and adversity as they struggle to build their livelihood in an area dominated by Asian-American business owners.

….
Film Makers Bio:

Joseph Doughrity (”Joe D.”) is a writer, producer, and director. The son of an educator, Joe grew up an avid reader and developed hobbies ranging from sports to comics, videogames, and a fascination with Japanese culture. His first job in Hollywood was as a Production Assistant on John Singleton’s debut film “Boyz N the Hood”. This was the start of a five-year collaboration with the Oscar nominated director including serving as his personal assistant on the films “Poetic Justice” and “Higher Learning”.

Joe recognized the significance of the Internet early and worked in the dotcom industry beginning in 1999 as a Content Provider for new media startup Psylum, Incorporated. When Psylum was purchased by USA Networks’ Sci-fi Channel, Joe was chosen to re-launch the Psycomic website and recruited iconic filmmaker Kevin Smith (”Clerks”) to write a weekly column that became the basis of his book Kevin Smith Speaks. Psycomic became a leading destination on the Internet for fans of comic books and graphic novels. He continues to work on the web serving as the Video Editor for PopCultureShock.com, a leading news, review, and interview site focusing on comics, movies and videogames.

Joe has written and edited for comic books (for Caliber Press, publishers of The Crow and U.N. Force), magazines (The Source, Rappages, Straight From the Lip), and motion pictures (see partial credits below). As a documentarian, he created electronic press kits for the urban romance “Jason’s Lyric” and Tony Bill’s “A Home of our Own”. Joe’s “Seven Days in Japan”, a documentary he wrote, produced and directed, won Best Documentary at the 2005 San Diego Comic-con Film Festival beating out films which cost ten times its modest budget. “Seven Days in Japan” went on to screen at the Pacific Media Expo and premiered on cable’s BET-Jazz channel in February of 2007.

As a screenwriter, Joe has written for studios and production companies such as HBO (”Wheels of Steel: The KRS One/Scott La Rock Story”), Mandalay Films (”Grandmaster Flash”) and New Line Cinema. His recent scripts include “Motown Miracle: Soul on Ice”, the true story of a Black hockey team from his native Detroit, “Cornerstore”, a day in the life look at a liquor store, and “Akira’s Hip hop Shop”, an interracial romantic dramedy about an Asian man and a Black woman.

Joseph received his BFA from Columbia College-Hollywood where he majored in Cinema Studies. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America.

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Posted By Curator,LHAAFF to The Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center African American Film Festival, Seattle at 10/26/2008 02:11:00 PM