Festival Accès Asie's 12th Edition
from Thurs. May 3 to Sat. May 19

Montreal, April 12th, 2007 - Festival Accès Asie presents to the Montreal public with enthusiasm, their 12th edition with collaborators such as: Gesù-Centre de créativité, the MAI, (Montréal, arts interculturels), Oboro and Tangente. Celebrating the month of May as Asian Heritage Month from May 3rd to the 19th, this year's program proposes to festival goers, an array of magical moments in visual arts, dance, music and film. The artistic director, Janet Lumb, shaped this year's edition with the theme « Silent Heroes » honouring men and women whoare spreading, on a daily basis, a warmth and life in our, at times, disenchanting world. During this ten days the Festival offers a unique opportunity to explore the riches of Asian cultures by artists who are combining the marvels of tradition with the force of innovation.

The Festival kicks off with artist/ activist, Marissa Largo, an exhibition called From the Pearl of the Orient to Uptown that is opening it's door on the 3rd of May at the Mai (Montréal, arts interculturels). Bringing to fruition from her last collaboration with members of Kabataang Montreal (KM) from the Côtes-des-Neiges area, KM comes to the aid of young Phillipino-Canadian youth who are afflicted by difficulties of social and familial integration and identity issues. This exhibition presented until June 17th, invites you to discover Marissa's works with this community as well as her recent video installations, Jet Lag, Tinikling Lesson as well as her collection of life-size photographic portraits called Flip-side.

From the 3rd to the 6th of May, aXes, an inter-disciplinary performance of music and dance is presented at Tangente featuring GaPa, a percussion duo composed by Ganesh Anandan and Patrick Graham and dancer/choreographer, Hideo Arai. They explore together the treasures of their respective cultures. GaPa fuses music that is inspired by tradition and musical styles from India, Ireland, Arabia and Japan. Hideo Arai bases his dance on the techniques of Japanese movements called Nogushi Taison that borrows movements vibrant in the natural world. Supported by a minimalist decor made by shadows and projections, this performance takes the form of a series of choreographic and musical skits that alternate between compositions and improvisation.

This first Festival week ends with a bouquet of animations and shorts by talented emergent directors which is followed by an episode from a documentary series. On Sunday, May 6, Festival Accès Asie collaborates with the NFB presenting Asthma Tech by Jonathan NG, What are you Anyways by Jeff Chiba Stearns, experiment 02_06 by Alison Reiko Loader, The Girl Who Hated Books by Jo Meuris, Jaime Lo, Small and Shy by Lilian Chan, Consultant by Florence So followed by a screening of On The Islands, an episode from the documentary series Chinese Restaurants by Cheuk Kwan. The public is invited to plunge into a cinematic world full of humour, joy and reflection.

From May 11th to the 13th, Festival Accès Asie in collaboration with the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), proposes Field-Land is the belly of man, a captivating dance performance by Asian Canadian choreographer/dancer, Alvin Tolentino. This multi-media solo performance uses ingenius and intricate approaches in a contemporary choreography with music and visual support to create a dance metaphor that underline the beauty of man and earth and the soil that nourishes us. This sensitive work Field: Land is the belly of man gives praise to the traditional harvesting of rice. This is a solemn call to the preservation of cultural ancestral heritage with two thousand years of agricultural history, sacred customs from ancient times and contained in a grain of rice.

On May 12 at 2 p.m., a cyber-improvisation 9 Moments, is presented with Gallery Oboro of two choreographer/dancers expressing in a virtual dialogue of gestures from different cultures. Ina Bhowmick will be in Montreal responding to dancer, Emily Cheung in Toronto. Ina Bhowmick, trained in traditional Indian dance developed a Fusion Bollywood style that she explores in a number of projects through performances, events and in film. Of Chinese origin, Emily Cheung honours dance mixing movements from different styles and facilitating a multi-and inter-cultural communication. A fascinating performance.

All music lovers are invited on May 12 to Silk & Jazzy au Gesù-Centre de créativité, for a concert from musicians from Vancouver. After having played at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the duo formed by Qui Xia He and André Thibault return to Montreal to present their new repertoire with a modern approach of Chinese traditional music, revisited and freely adorned with a multi-coloured mosaic of World music. Silk Road Duo's Silk & Jazzy invites you to discover the most recent compositions from their new album Autumn Cloud, presently being nominated by the 2006 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Festival Accès Asie collaborates during Asian Heritage Month with Estuaire, a poetry magazine review for the launching of a special edition series that is dedicated entirely to poets who are inspired by the Orient. On May 17th, this late afternoon delight is the sole occasion for Montrealers' to hear the distinctive voices of several poets. The public can abandon themselves to the fleeting delights of haiku and to the charms of contemporary poetry in the company of these messengers about the Orient. Invited are poets José Acquelin and a number of authors coming to read their works such as: Francine Alepin, François Charron, Gilles Cyr, André Duhaime, Monique Juteau, Naïm Kattan, Nancy R. Lange, Yves Laroche, Carol Lebel, Nadine Ltaif, Jean Marcel, Bahman Sadighi, Hossein Sharang, Marie Sunahara and Larry Tremblay.

The closing party of the 12th edition of Festival Accès Asie celebrates Bollywood, Indian cinema. In collaboration with director Caroline Tabah who is responsible for the conception of this project, this will be a party of Bollywood dancers with images of India and many other musical inspirations of India. The program includes diverse performances of dancers, professional choreographers such as : Manijeh Ali from Silken Dance, Bollwood Blast, Virsa Punjab Da, Samantha Burnstein as well as projected extraits of songs and dances from Bollywood films immensing you in the total magic of cinema. Followed by a DJ, you are invited to join in and dance to the rhythms from India. This is the third edition of Bollywood Party & Other Perfumes from India and is also a philanthropic evening to help children in populated areas in India.

Director Janet Lumb and the Festival Accès Asie team cordially invite you in this voyage to discover the enriching cultures and unique activities.

Media contact: Andy Carton (514) 575-9436