AAIFF - FATE SCORES, a film by Chinese-Canadian director and actor Albert M. Chan

FATE SCORES, a film by Chinese-Canadian director and actor Albert M. Chan, will have its New York premiere on Sunday July 26th, 2009, at 2:15pm at the Museum of Chinese in America (215 Centre St. New York, NY) as part of the 32nd Annual Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

The film has also screened this year at the Boston International Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, On Location: Memphis International Film Festival, and the Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival.

FATE SCORES explores themes of isolation, connection, and chance, and is a thoughtful look at the seemingly random interactions between ten strangers on a city park bench, eventually culminating into something extraordinary.

"FATE SCORES was inspired by my experiences observing ordinary people interact in impersonal urban environments," explains Chan, who grew up in Toronto, Canada, and has spent the last twelve years in Boston. "One can witness a wealth of human drama everyday at a place as mundane as a city park bench, but only if one pays attention."

As part of an underrepresented ethnic minority in film and TV, Chan cast actors to reflect the ethnic diversity he's accustomed to seeing in Toronto and Boston. "I'm proud to say that ethnic minorities make up about half the cast," Chan said. "Filmmaking can be such a powerful tool when it comes to changing people's perceptions and the stereotypes they're used to seeing from typical Hollywood fare. As an Asian male actor in North America, instead of portraying a professional (like a lawyer, doctor, or accountant) or yet another gangster, I basically said to myself, 'In this film, I want to be an indie rock musician and I want to get the girl in the end,' and I went out and did just that without having to explain myself to anyone."

But Chan has not always exploited his creative talents. In fact, he's had a more traditional Asian upbringing.

"My parents immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in the 1960's," says Chan. "Growing up, acting was something that I always wanted to try, but I was too preoccupied with academics. I finally decided to give acting a try years later when I was getting my Ph.D. in Engineering at MIT. It started off with a couple of musical performances on campus, and soon afterwards, I was doing student films and local independent films, and over the years my acting career has progressed to where it is today."

Chan's film and TV acting credits include GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST (Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Michael Douglas), LAW & ORDER SVU, Showtime's BROTHERHOOD, CW Network's I'M PAIGE WILSON, and Disney's feature film UNDERDOG. Chan also recently finished wrapping up film roles as Dr. Lee in EVERY DAY (Helen Hunt, Liev Schreiber, Brian Dennehy, and Carla Gugino) and as Richard in LIFE OF LEMON (Dan Lauria, Mimi Kennedy, Rachel Miner). Chan recently broadened his interests to filmmaking with FATE SCORES, his first film.

FATE SCORES is produced by Chanal Productions, in association with Aaron Howland and Seth Howland of 7 Fluid Oz. Productions LLP. For more information about the film, visit http://fatescores.com.

Now in its 32nd year, the Asian American International Film Festival is the country's longest running festival for filmmakers of Asian descent. Tickets are available at http://www.aaiff.org/2009/tickets.

Fate Scores Website - http://fatescores.com/