LINSANITY, the feature documentary about Jeremy Lin, the young Asian American basketball player whose stunning rise in the 2012 NBA season captured imaginations of basketball fans and non-fans around the globe, will be the Opening Night Presentation of the 36th annual Asian American International Film Festival.

Asian CineVision is hosting the film’s New York premiere on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at the Asia Society and Museum’s elegant Lila Wallace Acheson Theatre at 725 Park Avenue with a Gala reception to follow. Director Evan Jackson Leong (1040: CHRISTIANITY IN THE NEW ASIA) and producers Christopher Chen, Allen Lu, and Brian Yang, who started filming Jeremy four years ago, long before LINSANITY was a word, will be present to celebrate this homecoming.

“We are incredibly excited to host the New York premiere of LINSANITY,” says John C. Woo, Asian CineVision Executive Director. “To be able to bring this story back to the people that experienced that magical moment where Asian American hopes and pride took flight and soared, this will be the cultural and community high point of the summer.”

Starting from February 4th 2012 onwards, Jeremy Lin, the young Harvard alum point guard, and first Sino-American to play in the NBA, came out of complete obscurity to turn around the injury-plagued Knicks’ losing season—leading them to a 7 game winning streak and into the NBA playoffs. Ignited Asian and non-Asian sports fanatics from Taiwan to Vancouver, from LA to NYC, closely followed Lin’s journey, while sports writers and social media outlets dubbed Linsanity as their passionate response to his accomplishments game after game. The unprecedented buzz around Lin’s meteoric rise to NBA superstardom has electrified Asian and Asian American cultural economies and the discussion on identity and race.

Set for theatrical release in mid-September 2013, LINSANITY pins down the unforgettable frenzy of February 2012 with galvanizing game footage, juxtaposed with intimate interviews and home video with Jeremy and his family, showcasing their faith, passion, and perseverance. Justin Chang, in his Variety review, remarks upon “Lin’s impressive mental resilience and his quicksilver ability to turn setbacks into opportunities”. With narration by Daniel Dae Kim (LOST, HAWAII FIVE-O) and what critics have described as “superb editing,” “this is a film that,” Woo says “will be an outstanding highlight for the Festival.”

LINSANITY recaptures that thrilling moment in time when a determined young man did what seemed the unbelievable, and took us all to the heights with him. The film’s premiere at AAIFF’13 marks the legend of Jeremy Lin coming a full circle to its place of inception, where Lin-sane fans will relive the magic that was Linsanity.

For more: asiancinevision.org ‘)}