Association for Promotion of Asian Films

[Stephen Cremin]

Does anybody on the list have any background information on this French 
organisation (Association pour le Pomotion du Cinema d'Asie or similar, 
excuse my French) or the festival they're planning in Deauville from 5-7 
March 1999.  I first came across them a year ago when they politely 
asked me change the name of my festival as they had copyrighted the term 
"Pan-Asian Film Festival" and in the same letter asked if they could 
also have the films I had secured for my festival.  I felt that the term 
was about as copyrightable as "Japanese Film Festival", ie presumably 
not.  When asked to provide documentation of copyright ownership, they 
sent a very lengthy articles of associations which made no reference to 
the term "Pan-Asian" inside a hospital envelope.  They didn't seem to 
have any publications or screenings under their belt despite being 
around for a while.  They subsequently cornered my main sponsor when he 
was passing through Paris when one of their members was accompanied by 
Max Tessier: quite friendly apparently.

I just heard today that they are organising an Asian Film Festival in 
Deauville and wondered if anybody on the list could shed any light.  As 
of a couple of weeks ago they didn't seem to have a venue, so I was 
wondering if the event was still happening and what the programme looked 
like.  They also seem to have secured sponsorship from the Asia-Europe 
Foundation in Singapore who have had my festival proposal since last 
November and I'm obviously curious as to whether they've managed to 
secure my programming this year...

Stephen Cremin
The Asian Film Library
[London Pan-Asian Film Festival]

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