Join us for a celebratory and cozy evening with The Debut (selected by guest programmer Chance Calloway), and a karaoke preshow (come early to sign up and sing)! Just in time for this coming-of-age classic’s 25th anniversary.

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It’s a celebration full of family, friends, parties, karaoke, cultural assimilation tensions, and food. It’s not Thanksgiving, it’s The Debut. Starring Dante Basco as Ben, a Filipino-American high school student saving up for his dream of attending CalArts. While celebrating his sister’s eighteenth birthday, he’ll have to reconcile his father’s dream of him becoming a doctor with his artistic aspirations. Add in an adventurous love interest, a violent ex-best friend, and the lure of a kegger across town, and you have this fantastic independent feature co-written and directed by Gene Cajayon.

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I discovered The Debut in the word-of-mouth days of video rentals when you could hear tall tales and urban legends of smaller films starring great actors you had grown up watching in other projects. Their collaboration on this film about culture and expectations was so specific, it became universal. - Chance Calloway and Hollywood Entertainment

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dir. Gene Cayajon, 2000
United States, digital projection
88 min

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7:30 DOORS
8:00 SCREENING