“The SENSEI” is now out!
THE SENSEI is available for purchase on DVD at Amazon.com now! Additionally, the film is now released digitally through multiple platforms including Netflix.com,Amazon .com, Blockbuster.com, CinemaNow.com, Dish Network, EchoStar, iNDemand, COX ONDemand, Time Warner Cable ONDemand, Comcast Cable ONDemand and iTunes.
“A FILM THAT WILL CHANGE HEARTS AND MINDS”- Thomas Howard Jr. Program Director
MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION
“A MASTERFUL JOB…”- Michael Guillen’
The EVENING CLASS/ GREENCINE DAILY
“THE SENSEI is truly an emotional martial arts drama that truly needs to be seen” – Albert Valentin, KUNG FU CINEMA
“A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WORTH EXPLORING”
- Raymond Horwitz, BLACK BELT Magazine
“POWERFUL…This movie is like a kick to the gut”- Ainsley Drew
CURVE magazine
“Spiritual and Socially Conscious…A REALLY, REALLY, REALLY Good Movie!”-Chael Needle
A & U magazine
“A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARTIAL ARTS FILM”-Phillip W. Chung
ASIAN WEEK
“A POWERFUL EXPLORATION” – NEWFEST
“AN AMBITIOUS GENRE-BENDING INDIE” – FRAMELINE
“THE SENSEI has AWAKENED Hollywood”– Jay Fermin, PINOY WIRED
January 23rd,2010
NEWS |
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Film set in Colorado town deals with themes of tolerance involving gays, Asians
By Joe Nguyen, AsiaXpress.com
DENVER – A nearly packed audience battled snowy weather and harsh driving conditions to see the showing of actress and director Diana Lee Inosanto’s “The Sensei” during the Untitled Film Festival on Dec. 8 at the Starz FilmCenter.
“The Sensei” is a labor of love for Inosanto, who spent seven years working on the project. She said the murder of Matthew Shepard and her cousin’s coming out had a strong impact and inspired her to write her screenplay.
“I kept looking at a storyline about a straight couple dealing with the whole AIDS issue,” she said. “ … The storyline wasn’t working … and when Matthew’s case came around, I thought, that’s it.”
About half of those in attendance consisted of the movie’s cast and crew, as it was primarily filmed in Colorado. The film takes place in 1980s Sterling, Colo. and follows the story of hapa Karen O’Neil (Inosanto) who returns to her hometown after a five-year absence. After a gay high-school student named McClain, played by Michael O’Laskey II, is severely beaten by his peers, she agrees to teach him martial arts in secret.
“I wanted to play with the themes of tolerance and go around the issues of hate and how we all deal with it and how we, maybe, overcome it,” Inosanto said during the discussion following the movie.
O’Laskey said it was surprinsingly easy to get into character. He said he was confused about how a gay person would live in a setting of a small town with the AIDS scare, but figured that’s what McClain was feeling as well.
“Approaching the character, I was more or less concerned with the fact that McClain’s problem is not that he’s gay, (but) that he’s being bullied,” he said. “I’m sure we can all identify with bullying at one point in our life.”
Inosanto had been involved with the Matthew Shepard Foundation for some time, but in order to get the film ready for the festival, she and her husband, Ron Balicki, worked throughout the night to finish it.
“I was in an editing bay working on this until four in the morning last night,” said Balicki, who also produced and acts in the film. “I got to shut my eyes inside the editing bay for about an hour then I got up and got to the airport and got here.”
But working around difficult situations wasn’t something new to the crew. He said the couple had to figure out a way to make up the funds when an investor pulled out midway through filming.
“My thought, I’d never be able to live with her unless she was able to make this movie,” said Balicki, who also produced and acted in the film, “because I knew she wasn’t going to be happy.
“So we did the second mortgage thing – we funded pretty much this whole thing.”
During the questions and answers session, Inosanto said that she had a difficult time getting permission to film in a high school. The Associated Press reported that Jefferson County school officials said that they were concerned filming “The Sensei” at Alameda High School would remind people of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. Alameda principal Dale McCoy argued that it would be a good learning opportunity for his students.
“We had it set up where (the students) would earn independent-study credits by means of real-life experience application,” McCoy said.
Unfortunately for McCoy and the filmmakers, the school board rejected the idea and the movie had to be shot at another school. “(Alameda High School principal Dale McCoy) fought so hard for this film and for us,” Balicki said.
After battlling through numerous obstacles, the film is finally complete with the exception of a few minor tweaks. Balicki said that they’re now preparing for the festival circuit in hopes of being picked for distribution, “Now it’s submission time,” he said.
July 30th,2009
NEWS |
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A Different Kind of Martial Arts Film: D. Lee Inosanto’s ‘The Sensei’ battles prejudice and homophobia in 1980s small town in Colorado
If there’s one thing D. Lee Inosanto is no stranger to, it’s martial arts. Her father is martial arts legend Dan Inosanto, her godfather was the late Bruce Lee (whom she refers to simply as “Uncle Bruce”), and Inosanto herself is a highly trained martial artist who has worked as a stunt person on projects from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Face/Off.
So when Inosanto decided to write, direct and star in her first feature film, it made sense that it would take place in the world she knows so well. But what might catch people off guard is the story she chose to tell.
Inosanto’s feature, The Sensei, is set in a small Colorado town in 1985, the early years of the AIDS epidemic. McClain (played by Mike O’Laskey) is a gay teenager who is constantly being ostracized. He tries to sign up for classes at the local martial arts dojo to learn to protect himself, but they won’t accept him either. Enter Karen (D. Lee Inosanto), the black sheep of the family that runs the dojo who returns to the town after several years away. Karen privately trains McClain, and the two develop a friendship until a secret Karen harbors changes everything.
Tackling issues like AIDS and homophobia in a martial arts setting may seem odd, but it made perfect sense to Inosanto. The inspiration came from a family friend named Gilbert Johnson who was an editor/ publisher of martial arts subjects.
“He was the first person I knew to contract AIDS,” Inosanto said. “He was a straight man, a very conservative man — the last person you would expect to get AIDS. But in his final months, he became an activist — marching alongside the gay community. He was one of my favorite people.”
By the mid-’90s, AIDS had impacted major sports figures like Magic Johnson. Inosanto’s own cousin came out around this time as a lesbian, and Matthew Shepherd was killed in a high-profile hate crime. All inspired Inosanto to write The Sensei.
“Being a child of a mixed marriage instilled in me the idea that any type of prejudice is wrong,” she said. “That was the drive behind the film.”
Shot on a low budget, the project faced many hurdles on the way to the big screen. The school where the shooting was originally to take place pulled its support after realizing the lead character was a gay teen (making news nationwide when the Associated Press picked up the story), and one of the main funders pulled out after the controversy broke.
Another possible problem was the martial arts community’s conservatism and its sometimes blatant homophobia.The Sensei’s trailer was first screened in public at a large martial arts convention in Las Vegas where Chuck Norris’ birthday was being celebrated. Inosanto worried how the trailer might be accepted, but was surprised by the reaction.
“So many people came up to me afterward and said ‘thank you,’” Inosanto said.
Since then, she has received similar reactions. Many of the strongest supporters are martial artists who are gay but in the closet, or others who cannot openly take a stance.
“This one guy in Alaska said his black belt would be stripped away if he took in a gay student,” she said. “Even with all the progress, it’s clear we still have a long way to go.”
The Sensei makes its world premiere at the 24th annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival running through May 8. The Sensei screens on May 4 at 4 p.m. at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood. For more info: vconline.org.
Philip W. Chung is a writer and co-artistic director of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. Lodestone’s latest production of Trapezoid runs until May 25 in L.A.: lodestonetheatre.org.
July 30th,2009
NEWS |
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