PARK CITY - The first Asian-American filmmakers panel discussion at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday was notable for several reasons.
    * It was one of the funniest discussions I've heard at the Park City film event. So put away that notion that Asians are a stoic people with no sense of humor.
    * There was free food, which never happens at a panel discussion. And it was pizza (in case you thought it was sushi or pork lo mein).
    * Finally, after being surrounded by Asian Americans for a few hours, I know what it's like to be a white guy living in Utah.
    But more importantly, I learned that Hollywood - especially the film industry - has a long way to go in seeing beyond race in the stories it tells through mainstream movies. According to the panelists, studio execs still can't see the value of backing a movie with an Asian lead unless it's about something exotic like a geisha.
    For six years, the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience in Park City has hosted a reception during Sundance for movie makers to promote work that focuses on Asian American communities and culture.
    This was the first time the event also included a panel discussion about the future of Asian American filmmaking. Panelists were movie producer Janet Yang, whose "Dark Matter" premiered at Sundance; filmmaker Grace Lee; actress Suzy Nakamura ("Help Me Help You"); actor Sung
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Kang ("Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift"); director Justin Linn ("Annapolis"); actor Dustin Nguyen ("21 Jump Street"); and "Survivor: Cook Islands" winner Yul Kwan.
    And there is cause to celebrate. This year, there are nearly 20 films at Sundance and Slamdance directed or produced by Asian American filmmakers, a record for either festival.
    "There is an Asian American movement happening," said Chi-Hui Yang of The Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience Committee, which hosted the event.
    He's right - to a point.
    Big movie studios still aren't ready to take a risk. TV has made bigger strides in minority casting, with hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Heroes."
    Lin said studios still balk at the opportunity to tell stories strictly from the point of a view of an Asian character. He would like to make a movie about the famed 442nd Japanese American battalion during World War II, but he wants to tell it through the eyes of the soldiers and not some fabricated white character thrown into the story to fill the lead role. Unfortunately, that kind of movie is a much harder sell, he said.
    Is Hollywood's subtle racism getting better, and are Asian American filmmakers starting to break out? Yes, but they're breaking out in the independent film world, not the studio system.
    And that's just one more reason independent movies are more interesting to watch.