A documentary about Taiwanese-American NBA star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) opened this year’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on Thursday and attracted many Lin fans, including one dressed in a wedding gown.
It was the first time the documentary, called Linsanity, was selected to open a film festival.
Director Evan Leong (梁伊凡) said he felt honored and happy to have his work chosen to start the Asian film festival.
Linsanity chronicles Lin’s inspirational story before his meteoric rise to fame with the New York Knicks in February last year.
It records his unwavering faith and hope for opportunities at a time when he was struggling to find a place in a league that showed little interest in him, the festival’s Web site said.
The 24-year-old Havard graduate is a devout Christian.
Leong said he had learned a lot from Lin during the shooting, and praised him as a role model on and off screen.
The opening ceremony of the festival drew many people, including Hollywood stars of Asian ancestry such as Chinese-American actress Bai Ling (白靈) and Japanese-American actor Brian Tee.
A large number of Lin devotees also attended the event. One woman, clad in a white wedding dress and a bridal veil, held up a framed drawing of Lin as a former member of the New York Knicks alongside a sign referring to her as Lin’s future wife.
Organizers put up a cutout of the Houston Rockets star that allowed visitors to have their picture taken with it at the documentary’s screening.
The documentary is expected to hit theaters in major US cities in September, producer Brian Yang said, adding that he is also in talks with theaters in other nations.
China has shown interest in the documentary, and it could appear in theaters there in the fall if everything goes smoothly, Yang said.
The 29th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival will run through May 12.
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