For thirteen years, Cesar Alejandro Jr. has helped steer the conversation on Asian niche films and martial arts cinema for the website, Filmsmash. On Friday, Cesar officially announced the website’s closure after several days of suffering a malicious attacks on the platform.
“Hey folks we have come to the hard decision that we will have to shut down the Film Smash website. We were the victims of a Russian dark web hack and I urge EVERYBODY to NOT visit the website. We are unsure what’s next but the FB page is still online.” said Cesar in a statement.
Filmsmash is but one of a sizeable handful of turn-of-the-century websites that have emerged in the last twenty years to accommodate the Western wave of Asian movies by some of the most notable directors of our time, spanning multiple genres between festivals and commercial releases. It was a continuation of the legacy of KFC Cinema following that site’s demise, with Cesar coming aboard thanks to cohorts Jannick Neveu, Jimmy Nguyen and Brian Goodwin, and shepherding much of the work in recent years.
For this, Filmsmash has been part of the zeitgeist for longer than this site’s been around (and steadier at that even since my short-lived Freehostia spot back in 2008), in a community comprised of current and former sites Twitchfilm (n.k.a. Screen Anarchy), Eigapedia, Asianwiki, Kung Fu Cinema, Martial Arts Movie Junkie, Kung Fu Kingdom, The Action Elite, World Film Geek and City On Fire to name a few.
Cesar also plays key roles at Otakon in DC, and is an avid collector of physical media and rarities of various kinds relative to Asian culture and entertainment fandom. In addition, he’s the biggest Utada Hikaru fan that I know, and generally speaking, that MEANS something!
Like a lot of us bloggers and independent journos covering what we enjoy, Cesar is a working man who took the time he could to share space with us all the same. He’s also gifted me on occasion and has been one of my biggest supporters and cohorts during my own lifetime trials in recent memory, and I sincerely hope this won’t be the last we hear from him after this heinous ordeal by whoever is responsible.
In the meantime, I welcome any and all to follow Filmsmash on Facebook for future updates, and send Cesar your regards. And, Ms. Hikaru, if you’re out there reading this, I extend this invite to you as well.
(1.28.23: A previous version of this article was updated and amended for historical details and context.)