Marty Syjuco

Please join us .. hear, meet and greet the author. And have a book autographed for your private library.

Author Celine Parreñas Shimizu will be the featured lecturer at 1pm on Sat., May 12 at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival and she will sign her latest book, Straightjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies (Stanford University Press) after the lecture. Directors Guild of America – 7920 W Sunset Blvd., LA 90048 (310) 289-2000.

Also showing at the venue at 5:00pm is Give Up Tomorrow, a 95-minute documentary film which was co-produced by Marty Syjuco. His brother, Miguel Syjuco wrote the much-acclaimed novel, Ilustrado. This documentary film is a piercing case study of political and judicial corruption involving some of the most politically prominent and powerful families in the Philippines. Despite credible evidence pointing to Paco’s innocence, and numerous inconsistencies during the trial and subsequent appeals, he was nevertheless convicted of the crime and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Viewers will sympathize with Paco’s family, who desperately try every legal avenue for appeal to overturn Paco’s conviction amid the constant melodrama and media circus surrounding his case. Amnesty International, the government of Spain, Fair Trials International and the United Nations have all advocated for Paco’s innocence and release. He continues to be jailed to this day. Director Michael Collins and Philippine-born producer Marty Syjuco have crafted a riveting tale on a young man’s struggle to maintain his innocence.

Give Up Tomorrow has received worldwide critical acclaim, as winner of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival’s Audience Award and Special Jury Prize for Best New Director. In addition, the film won the Audience award at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Human Rights Award at Docs Barcelona, and the Activism Award at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival. http://laapff.festpro.com/films/detail/give_up_tomorrow_2012