FREMONT, CA: The opening day of FOG Movie Fest began with great fanfare with the opening ceremony on the red carpet in Century Theaters at Pacific Commons, Fremont in the afternoon of Saturday, August 5.
Dignitaries such as Congressman Ro Khanna, Mayor of Fremont Lily Mei and Council member Rishi Kumar graced the occasion and addressed the crowd on the red carpet along with Dr. Romesh Japra and his team.
Media representatives such as those from Indtv USA, Sitaare TV and TV Asia were present for the occasion and conducted interviews with the cast and crew.
The opening day film was “Doctor By Heart”, a Bay Area venture that is funded by RJ Productions, Dr. Japra’s own production company. It had three back-to-back shows. Ranu Sinha, PhD, directed this movie. It tells the story of the journey of Dr. Romesh Japra from a small town in Punjab to the pinnacle of success in the Bay Area, with a mix of fictionalized accounts and real events. All the cast and crew members are from the Bay Area, so the screening hall was almost packed to capacity for all three shows.
The short documentary film, “The White Coat Chef” was next. Directed by Jamie Oi Ping Chung, this film tells the story of Hishen Dang, an Asian American of Vietnamese heritage from San Francisco, who became a chef because of his interest in cooking and later went on to medical school with an aim of helping the community.
Ocean Ho, the Director of Photography from the film, and Arjun, a producer of the film, were present for the screening.
The last film of the day was “Welcome to Willits”, a thriller set in the redwoods of Northern California that is directed by Trevor Ryan. Strange things are known to happen in the woods. The region where the film is set is one of the largest marijuana-growing places in the US and is called the Emerald Triangle.
A couple, Brock and Peggy live there, and both husband and wife are high on drugs made in their own home lab. When their niece, Courtney comes visiting, there is also a group of young people who have come camping. The night later spirals into violence and gore, thanks to the drug-induced hallucinations of Brock.
Lakshmi Iyer
India Post News Service
