@ Lane Community College Mary Spilde Downtown Campus – FREE
OSU Ethnic Studies Professor Patricia Sakurai, moderator
Join us for a panel/audience discussion that looks at casting, auditions, roles and writing from an Asian American filmmaking experience.
Panelists
Yu Gu, Director of Centerpiece Film Who Is Arthur Chu?
Yu Gu is a filmmaker born in Chongqing, China and raised in Vancouver, Canada. Yu’s hybrid documentary A Month in Spring premiered at Hot Docs International Film Festival and was licensed and distributed by HBO. Her first feature documentary, Who is Arthur Chu? was funded by the Center for Asian-American Media and premiered at the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival. In 2018, the film will be broadcast on acclaimed public TV series America Reframed on May 22 and released digitally shortly after. Her second feature, A Woman’s Work, is supported by the Sundance Institute, ITVS, Tribeca Film Institute, Firelight Media, Film Independent and the Rockefeller Foundation. In collaboration with artist Gu Xiong and Academy Award-winner Mark J. Harris, Yu is directing Interior Migrations, a multi-platform project documenting the memories of migrant workers in Canada. Yu received her MFA in film production from the University of Southern California.
Po-Chih Leong, Director of Opening Film The Jade Pendant
Po-Chih Leong is a British director based out of Los Angeles, California. A graduate of the London Film School, Po-Chih worked for the BBC for a number of years before moving to Hong Kong to establish the film division for major television broadcaster TVB. He directed his first feature film Jumping Ash in 1976 and has since helmed films such as a Hong Kong 1941 starring Chow Yun-fat, Ping Pong starring David Yip, and The Wisdom of Crocodiles starring Jude Law. He has been nominated for Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards and has won the Special Jury Prize at the Gérardmer Film Festival for The Wisdom of Crocodiles.
Dinh Thai, Director of MONDAY
Dinh Thai is an award-winning writer/director by way of commercial directing. He’s actively developing ideas for film and TV while running his production company Art and State, creating adverts for brands and ad agencies. His short narrative, MONDAY, was the first place winner of HBO’s inaugural APA Visionaries contest.
Harleen Singh, Director of Drawn Together: Comics, Diversity and Stereotypes
Harleen developed her passion for storytelling during frequent childhood travels in her native India, exposing her to remote places and diverse personalities. In California since 2009, she has assisted documentary producers and managed content marketing at The History Channel and National Geographic Channel. Her debut film, The Odd Couple: A Story of Two Triathletes (2015), premiered at SIFFT, and screened at festivals across the globe. The film was also a special invitee to the 2015 Parliament of World Religions. Since 2013, she has been a jurist for the United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF). Harleen earned an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the Indian School of Business.
Tom Huang, Director of Find Me
Tom Huang is a award-winning indie filmmaker and screenwriter. His last feature, “Why Am I Doing This?” has won Best Feature honors at festivals in Houston, Philadelphia and Hollywood, as well as the Cinequest Director’s New Vision Award. Tom has also written for sitcoms on ABC and CBS, and is a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab Fellow. His web series, “Unusual Targets,” was featured at the Los Angeles Film Festival. “Find Me,” is his latest feature, now playing at film festivals across the country.
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