The Shangri-la Cafe
The Shangri-la Cafe is a 2000 film written and directed by Lily Mariye. The film is about a Japanese American family who conceal their identity and reluctantly adopt discriminatory practices in order to operate a Chinese restaurant within the hostile cold war climate of Las Vegas in the late 1950s.
Cast
- Montana Tsai as Annie Takashi
- Joanne Takahashi as Emiko Takashi
- Sam Anderson as The Man
- Christopher Chen as Tad Takashi
- Albert Chien as Jimmy Takashi
- Cedric Harris as Reverend Charles Osteen
- Montae Russell as George Brooks (as Monté Russell)
- Margaret Laurena Kemp as Mildred Brooks
- Kelli Kirkland as Helen Osteen
- Charles 'Brick' Tilley Jr. as Man #2
- Bob Bergen as Television Announcer (voice)
Reviews
“It’s an impressive directing debut for actress Lily Mariye. Heartfelt and unusually sensitive to the heightened experience of children, “The Shangri-la Cafe” is a strong showcase for Mariye’s directing talents. It deserves to be expanded into a feature.”
-Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
"An extraordinary debut by a unique new voice in American filmmaking."
-Jonathan Kaplan, Director, The Accused, Over the Edge
"... Lily is a director with vision."
-Anthony Edwards, Actor/Director
"A compelling and emotional story, superbly told, Lily Mariye has much to say and this is a powerful beginning"
-Lesli Linka Glatter, Director, The Proposition, Now and Then, State of Emergency
"A stirring evocation of a very personal place and time, 'The Shangri-la Cafe' serves up a tender, bittersweet childhood recollection of a not always glittering Las Vegas past."
-Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
Awards
- National Organization for Women Filmmaker of the Year (Lily Mariye)
- Best Short Film Award, Moondance International Film Festival
- Best Screenplay Award, Brussels Independent Film Festival
- 2nd place, Best Short Film, Nashville Film Festival
- 2nd place, Best Short Film, Woodstock Film Festival
Official selection
- BBC British Short Film (London)
- Seattle International Film Festival
- Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films
- Hamptons International Film Festival
- American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood
- Athens International
- Sepia Women of Color (Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.)
- Big Bear
- Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film and Video
- New York Asian American International
- San Francisco Asian American
- Women of Color (Berkeley, CA)
- Sedona Film Festival
- Shades of Power (S.F., CA)
- Chicago Asian American Showcase
- San Diego Asian Film Festival
- Slant (Houston, TX)
- University of Iowa
- Boston Museum of Fine Arts
- Portobello Film (London)
- Woodstock Film (NY)
- Blue Sky International Film (Las Vegas)
- Magnolia Festival
- Yale Women in Film Festival