Mr. Asti has been involved for over 30 years in the broadcast and motion picture industry; beginning in 1976 when he managed a radio station for Asti Broadcasting Corporation of Miami, Florida. Mr. Asti’s interest into the arena was once again piqued in 1979 when the State of Arkansas developed a film office along with the infusion of advanced broadcast satellite technology into the private sector by US Congressman Wilbur Mills and NASA’s James Beggs. Those events along with the 1982 Williamson Report developed by the Uof A Industrial Research Extension was cause for Mr. Asti to develop, fund and began implementation of a strategic plan for the long term development of post industrial industries in the State of Arkansas.

For many years Mr. Asti represented Advanced Communications Corporation in its quest for developing its Direct Broadcast Satellite license; the license now owned by EchoStar’s DISH Network. Due to this involvement, along with Congressman Mills’ educational trust - the Foundation for Educational Advancement Today - Mr. Asti bagan to develop a series of film festivals throughout the State of Arkansas. Amongst the initiatives and festivals developed were the Southern Film Alliance, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the Eureka Springs Digital Film Festival, Little Rock’s “A-fest” film festival, the Fayetteville Short Film Festival, and was an advisory board member of the Pine Bluff Silent Film Festival. He also chaired the Little Rock ICE Commission; formally the Motion Picture Television Commission.

In 1984 Mr. Asti began to impliment initiatives with out-of-state motion picture producers in the funding and production of motion pictures in Arkansas and Florida. In 1985 Mr. Asti gave the first presentation to the Mid South Venture Forum, sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Center of the University of Arkansas, on motion picture development and the development of a communications based economy. And in 1988 he began work, as a part of the original 1982 Strategic Plan, on the development of a documentary film festival. That year the first public film screenings of documentaries began.

In 1989 he created and funded the Southern Film Alliance, the forerunner to what is now the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and in 1990 Mr. Asti funded an economic and educational conference bringing together five Universities and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to discuss Motion Picture development in the State of Arkansas. The following year, after searching other areas of the country, Mr. Asti selected Hot Springs as the home for the documentary festival he had begun those years before.

His involvement and aid to the industry has been continuous and at times significant.