what's hay qua??

thanks to our good friends at VANG2009 for lending their voices to HAY QUA!

in order of appearance:

• tim bui, director of 'powder blue' (ft. jessica biel)
• joey nguyen, director/producer/host
• pete nguyen, member of 'thomas' apartment'
• jimmy le, board of 'lee's sandwiches'
• ryan hubris, past executive director of 'VANG'
• bryan vo, executive director of 'uNAVSA'
• johnny d, exec producer of 'the kristine sa show'
• kristine sa, host of 'the kristine sa show'
• vudoo soul, r&b artist

you are all inspirational. see some of you in june. :)

"owl and the sparrow" in nyc this friday.

our dear friend stephane gauger's film "owl and the sparrow" is premiering in new york this friday, may 29th. he will be in attendance for q&a's on friday and saturday, at cinema village.

"time out new york" has just given the film a four-star review:

Owl and the Sparrow

FOUR STARS 

Dir. Stephane Gauger. 2007. PG. 97mins. In Vietnamese, with subtitles. Pham Thi Han, Cat Ly, Le The Lu.

Orphaned ten-year-old country girl Thuy (Pham) flees rural Bien Hoa for the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. In another kind of movie, her fate would be a dismal one. But in Vietnam-born, U.S.-raised filmmaker Stephane Gauger’s sweet-natured fairy tale, a lost child can broker redemptive romance between two lonely adults: a heartbroken zookeeper (Le), recently jilted by his fiancée, and a stewardess (Cat) who’s mired in a dead-end relationship. Sentimental without being cloying, the film is a charmer, just like the gravely wide-eyed Pham. (Opens Fri; Cinema Village.)—Maitland McDonagh

just heard word that the new york vietnamese meetup group will be attending the 9:20pm friday showing.

see you all friday !

unleashing the press release...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VASCON PARTNERS WITH KOLLABORATION NY TO LAUNCH "THAT'S NEAAT!/HAY QUA!" MINI-FEST IN NYC FOR VIETNAMESE AMERICAN CREATIVE THINKERS, DREAMERS, DOERS

NEW YORK, NY (May 21, 2009) -- The imaginative and unconventional "That's Neaat!/Hay Qua!" Mini-Fest is unfolding, almost out of nowhere, fast and furious. A collaboration between VASCON andNEAATO , Mini-Fest was also quick to partner with highly-anticipated Kollaboration New York 2009(KNY2009) and take inspiration from TED with very humble beginnings. The Mini-Fest will present its out-of-the-box programming during the day on June 27th at New York's iconic Bitter End venue, home to legends like Woody Allen and Norah Jones, followed by KNY2009 later that evening a couple of blocks away at NYU Skirball Center.

Mini-Fest has at least one goal: to alter the way you think about life, dreams, and everything in between. Already, rabble-rousing publishers, award-winning architects, writers, musicians, film directors, environmentalists, and rising chefs are signing up to present their bite-size talks and performances about what stirs their hearts and opens our eyes.

Sharing a mission to elevate Asian Americans in entertainment and creative fields, KNY2009 and Mini-Fest are excited to provide a discounted 2-in-1 registration package, for a mere $40 (limited time only). VASCON veterans will be elated to hear that VASCON royalty Magnetic North, Vudoo Soul, and VASCON board members among others will be in attendance for the reunion of the year. A number of them linked up in KNY2009's latest remix of Ne-Yo's "Closer", as seen here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m90uNe08iuc

The $40 Early Bird combo registration kicks off on May 21st until end of month (or while supplies last!), with Regular registration following on June 1st. There is limited seating, so make sure to book your flight and register before the events sell out. Flights to New York for that weekend are currently averaging at $250.

Visit the continuously-updated website for more information: http://thatsneaat.carbonmade.com

Contact:

Email: thatsneaat@gmail.com

Register: http://thatsneaat.eventbrite.com

Official Website: http://thatsneaat.carbonmade.com

Blog: http://thatsneaat.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thatsneaat

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Press release available as PDF.

press release launching.

watch for the press release launching this week ! some of the people we admire most in new york have already begun to reply to our invitations to present. it's going to be a crazy/amazing time, we can feel it. in the meanwhile, take a peek at the beginnings of our website...

"that's neaat!/hay quá!" mini-fest

what: "that's neaat!/hay qua!" mini-fest

when: saturday, june 27th / 10-4pm

where: the bitter end (147 bleecker, nr laguardia)

long story pretty short:

one day (yesterday, was it?), after watching some pretty awesome TED videos, we thought to ourselves: why not bring the most creative vietnamese americans in new york together and see what comes of it? imagine, a roomful of vietnamese american dreamers and doers in one of the most passionate cities in the world. don't know about you, but we think that's (pretty) neaat. or as we say in vietnamese, hay quá!

currently accepting cool people who want to: share cool ideas, show their films & documentaries, play their instrument, sponsor, donate a service, attend, volunteer, be our friends...

also, picking up where the wonderful HA sisters and VIET CLUB left off, we will continue to add to our links of creative viet americans in ny, as well as anywhere else in the world. if you have any suggestions, please email them over!

leave a comment or email us privately: thatsneaat@gmail.com