Film Will Screen on Saturday, July 19 in NY as Closing Night of the Asian American Film Festival
New York, NY July 18, 2008 – IFC Films announced they have acquired U.S. distribution rights to Jessica Yu’s Ping Pong Playa. Playa, which marks the first fiction feature for the Oscar-winning director, will screen at the closing night of the Asian-American Film Festival on Saturday, July 19th in New York. IFC Films plans to release Ping Pong Playa in theaters on Friday, September 5, 2008. The film is co-written by Yu and Jimmy Tsai, who also plays the leading role.
"When the opportunity came along to work with Jessica again, we could not let it pass," said Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment. "Jimmy Tsai gives an unforgettable performance as C-dub, solidifying him as a rising star in Hollywood. After having seen the film in Toronto, we’re thrilled to be releasing this hilarious comedy this September."
Ping Pong Playa follows a streetwise swaggering Christopher "C-dub" Wang, a suburban guy who waxes political on all things Asian American and clings to pro basketball pipe dreams. But when misfortune strikes his family, C-dub must overcome living at home, working a dead-end job and his worldly older brother, to run his Mom’s ping pong class and defend the family’s athletic dynasty.
Jessica Yu is best known to audiences for her outstanding work as a documentary filmmaker, notably her features In the Realms of the Unreal and Protagonist, also released by IFC Films in 2007, and the Academy Award®-winning short Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien. In addition to directing episodes of The West Wing
and Grey’s Anatomy, she has directed several fiction and documentary shorts, including Home Base (90), Sour Death Balls (91), The Conductor (93), Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien (96) and Better Late (97). Her feature-length documentaries are Men of Reenaction (95), The Living Museum (99), In the Realms of the Unreal (02) and Protagonist IFC FILMS 2007(06). Ping Pong Playa’ (07) is her first fiction feature.
Arianna Bocco, Vice President of Production and Acquisitions for IFC Films negotiated the deal with ICM and The Firm.
About IFC Entertainment
A multi-platform leader in the independent film industry, IFC Entertainment operates a group of companies devoted to bringing the best of specialty films to the largest possible audience: IFC Films, IFC Productions, and the IFC Center. Through an innovative day-and-date distribution model, IFC Entertainment makes films available to a national audience through theatrical release by IFC Films, while ’IFC In Theaters,’ an on demand service, simultaneously releases these titles to cable and satellite. IFC Productions is a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects. IFC Center is a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema with luxurious seating and HD digital and 35mm projection that shows art-house films in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. IFC Entertainment’s companies are subsidiaries of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world’s most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading distribution company for independent film; IFC Productions, a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects; and IFC Center, a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media’s NYC studios and post-production facilities.