October 17, 2011
Dear Filmmaker/Distributor:
The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) will hold its next annual conference at the Sheraton Centre
Toronto Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 15–18, 2012. The Asian Educational Media Service
(AEMS) at the University of Illinois, at the request of AAS, will again be organizing the video screenings
held in conjunction with the meeting.
The AAS Annual Conference is the premier conference of Asia scholars in North America, scheduled this
year with over 380 panel sessions covering a wide range of subjects and more than 100 exhibitors
providing a diverse assortment of scholarly materials and services.
We are interested in any films related to Asia which you may wish to have shown at the screenings.
About twenty videos will be selected for scheduled showings. Criteria utilized in the selection process
include timeliness, broad appeal to the scholarly community, and examples of new field work. All films
presented in the conference will be listed in the AAS Annual Meeting Program Addendum and described
in Addenda available at the meeting, including a list of distributors and contact information.
Please consider that many of the attendees who come to view films are looking for documentaries to
use in their classrooms or order for their school libraries. Thus, films the length of a typical class period
(40 minutes or less), or which have segments the length of a class period, are encouraged (but are by no
means necessary).
Distributors and independent filmmakers who would like to be considered for the 2012 program,
should fill out the attached submission form (one for each film) and mail it together with two DVD
copies of the film(s) to us by December 2, 2011. DVDs must be submitted together with the application
form, and not afterwards. Promotional images will be required from all films selected in the AAS
screenings.
We will not be accepting any films that had scheduled showings at past meetings. If the film is not yet
available on DVD, but will be by the meeting, please contact us at aems@illinois.edu for special
instructions. Please note: AAS does not pay rental or royalty fees, nor does it charge you for publicity
and exposure. AAS considers this program of mutual benefit to both you and our members.
We look forward to receiving your submissions to the 2011 AAS meeting. Please feel free to email or
call me with any questions you might have. Again, deadline for submissions is December 2, 2011. We
expect the selection process to be completed by January 31, 2012.
Sincerely,
Jason Finkelman
Events Coordinator
Asian Educational Media Service
finkelma@illinois.edu
217‐265‐0640