AWARDS NOMINEES

The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is once again pleased to present juried awards for the following categories: NARRATIVE FEATURE and DOCUMENTARY FEATURE. For SHORT FILMS, there are two awards — the Linda Mabalot New Directors/New Visions Award, recognizing original use of cinematic technique and vision, and the Golden Reel Award, to celebrate the creative endeavors of Asian Pacific American cinema artists. These awards will be presented before the Closing Night Program on Thursday, May 5, 2011. This year, we are pleased to present a slate comprised of both veterans to the Film Festival and visionary newcomers, united in their talent for engaging storytelling and sophisticated technical abilities. Stories that combine the best in both comedy and drama, as well as issue-oriented narratives and works that cast a trained eye on largely unseen communities are foregrounded here. The directors of the juried awards nominees are:

2011 JURY AWARDS FINALISTS: NARRATIVE FEATURE

BERTHA BAY-SA PAN
Director, ALMOST PERFECT

Vanessa Lee is still her large and boisterous family’s go-to girl, with a threadbare excuse of a life of her own. A long-coveted romantic relationship is threatened by her family’s inevitable implosion. Desperate to find her way back to love, she discovers that the only person she really has to save is — herself!

BERTHA BAY-SA PAN received her M.F.A. from the Columbia University Graduate Film School in 1997 while working as an International Sales Executive in film distribution. Pan’s feature film directorial debut FACE, premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival in Dramatic Competition. FACE received the Audience Award at the GenArt Film Festival, the Critics Award at the CineVegas Film Festival, and the Grand Jury Award at the Urbanworld Film Festival. Pan was nominated for the prestigious Open Palm at the Gotham Awards, and received the Premio Speciale Prize at the International Women’s Film Festival in Torino. FACE was released in theaters in 2005, garnering positive reviews from major publications including The New York Times (a Critics’ Pick), Entertainment Weekly, and The Hollywood Reporter.

BYRON Q
Director, BANG BANG

Justin, a troubled teen looking for a way out of the gang life, takes refuge at the home of his best friend Charlie, a rich Taiwanese kid who lives in the nice part of town. Caught in the midst of teenage angst, gang life, and alienation, the two friends find themselves heading down two different paths of life.

BYRON Q is a filmmaker residing in Los Angeles, CA. He studied under renowned French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin while attending school at UCSD. BANG BANG is his debut feature film, financed by family, friends, and a lot of credit cards.

BILLIE RAIN
Director, HEART BREAKS OPEN

A model queer activist and advocate, Jesus’s world implodes after discovering that he is HIV positive, forcing him to confront his innermost fears, his relationship with his ex-boyfriend, and a future living with HIV.

BILLIE RAIN grew up in the Washington DC area, spending her youth being active in movements for social change, including Positive Force, ACT-UP and Riot Grrrl. Through the early to mid-90s, Rain toured the United States performing spoken word and playing music in punk rock bands; and later started Riot Grrrl Press, a pre-internet distribution service for self-published ‘zines focusing on young women’s and queer issues. In 1996, Billie began dealing with a chronic pain and rare tumor condition that eventually moved her out of the performance world. Settling in the Pacific Northwest, her public art consisted of writings on healing, disability and undoing oppression. In 2006 she released the short experimental film TO BE A HEART, a unique exploration of gender featuring the poetry of Hafiz. In 2009, shortly after her third major tumor surgery, Billie began working with producing partner Basil Shadid on HEART BREAKS OPEN, the second installment of her “heart” trilogy. Currently rain is beginning development on LOVE LIKE A HEART ATTACK, her third “heart” film.

IAN GAMAZON
Director, LIVING IN SEDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES

A pregnant woman kidnaps a man who has done her wrong and makes him confess to his sins. With no help in sight his only chance of escape is to convince her of his innocence.

IAN GAMAZON’s sophomore film CAVITE had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and North American premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2005. The film also played in numerous festivals including the Los Angeles Film Festival and the prestigious New Directors/New Films. CAVITE continued its success and earned Gamazon the “Someone To Watch Award” at the 2006 Independent Spirit Award. CAVITE was picked up and distributed by Magnolia Pictures. LIVING IN SEDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES is director Gamazon’s third feature-length film.

CHUCK MITSUI
Director, ONE KINE DAY

Over the mountains, hidden from the tourist beaches of Waikiki, 19-year-old Ralsto awakens to the news of his girlfriend Alea’s pregnancy. Ralsto embarks on a journey to raise funds for “da kine,” while Alea contemplates her situation.

CHUCK MITSUI has been a pioneer in the Hawaii skateboard scene since 1995 when he opened the first skate shop in the islands, 808 Skate. While continuing to run his shop Mitsui began producing commercials and short programs for XL@M TV, an extreme sports network in Hawaii. In 2001 he released his first skate video entitled “Hi808” and followed it up in 2005 with “It’s 8:08,” which gained much acclaim in the skateboarding world. In 2006 Mitsui was accepted to the prestigious Binger Film Lab’s Script Development Programme where he completed the first draft of ONE KINE DAY. The following year he retuned to the Netherlands to attend the Binger Film Lab’s Director’s Coaching Programme to sharpen his directing skills. ONE KINE DAY was shot in the summer of 2009, completed in 2010, and went on to win the Audience Award at the 30th annual Hawaii International Film Festival where it premiered in October 2010.

STEPHANE GAUGER
Director, SAIGON ELECTRIC

BAD NEWS BEARS meets BEAT STREET on the mean streets of Ho Chi Minh City as a young ribbon dancer ingratiates herself into Vietnam’s nascent underground street-dancing scene.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Orange County, California, STEPHANE GAUGER received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and French Literature at California State University Fullerton. Gauger subsequently worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. His feature directing debut, OWL AND THE SPARROW, shot on location in Ho Chi Minh city, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2007 and has gone on to win over fifteen awards at international festivals, including the audience award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the emerging filmmaker award at the Denver Film Festival, and the best narrative feature at the San Francisco International Asian American Festival. At the 2009 Golden Kite Awards in Hanoi, OWL AND THE SPARROW received the critic choice award as well as the best foreign co-production award. His music documentary VIETNAM OVERTURES, about a music exchange program between Norway and the music institutions of Vietnam, premiered at the 2008 Hawaii International Film Festival.

CHRISTINE YOO
Director, WEDDING PALACE

Pressured to get married by family and friends, 29 year-old advertising executive Jason Kim finds the woman of his dreams in cyberspace, 9000 miles away in Seoul, Korea. Complications arise when she arrives in Los Angeles for the first time and he comes face to face with an alarming reality…

CHRISTINE YOO earned a BA in Film Production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. She makes her feature film debut with WEDDING PALACE after working as a professional film & TV writer in Hollywood for nearly a decade. Yoo co-wrote the animation series AFRO SAMURAI starring Samuel L. Jackson for Spike TV and Fuji TV. She also co-wrote Hannibal for Vin Diesel and BET network. Her original screenplay, the romantic comedy, FOR STEPPERS ONLY was optioned and developed by Lionsgate. A second generation Korean-American, Yoo was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in Iowa City, Iowa and Memphis, Tennessee.

MUN CHEE YONG
Director, WHERE THE ROAD MEETS THE SUN

The lives of four strangers intersect for a brief time in the city of Los Angeles. Intercutting between two friendships that blossom among the men, a series of wild and often gut-wrenching adventures ensue.

MUN CHEE YONG grew up in Singapore. At 18, she took her first plane ride, landing in London where she would spend the next three years studying monetary economics at the London School of Economics on a scholarship while getting to know the world. She backpacked widely in Europe and in the Middle East, working on a goat farm where the sun never set, in a cable factory, at a dishwashing conveyor belt, on a kibbutz. She returned to Singapore and got a job as a broadcast journalist, covering social and political stories in Asia. She co-created “Extraordinary People,” winner of an Asian TV Award for Best Documentary Series. Later, she moved to Los Angeles to study at the esteemed USC Film School where she focused on directing and also cinematography. She won a DGA student film award for her short film, 9:30, which screened at over 50 festivals worldwide, including Deauville, Edinburgh and Cannes “Tou Les Cinemas Du Monde,” winning a special jury award at SXSW.

2011 JURY AWARDS FINALISTS: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

TAMMY CHU
Director, RESILIENCE

A Korean birth mother and her American son reunite and attempt to build a relationship after 30 years apart. Unable to communicate with each other, and amidst cultural clashes, the film follows the perspectives of both mother and son as they struggle to become a family again.

TAMMY CHU was born in Seoul, Korea and adopted to the U.S., where she studied Cinema and Photography at Ithaca College. Tammy’s first short documentary, SEARCHING FOR GO-HYANG, was broadcast on PBS (USA), EBS (Korea), and screened at film festivals internationally. She was an associate producer on the award- winning documentary, BEHIND FORGOTTEN EYES, narrated by LOST’s Yunjin Kim. Tammy has been living in South Korea for several years working as an independent filmmaker.

PATTI DUNCAN & SKYE FITZGERALD
Director, FINDING FACE

Marina, a beautiful young Cambodian woman, is forced to become the mistress of a very important official, Svay Sitha. One day while she is at the market, Sitha’s wife throws acid at her. Her face devastated by the burns, she begins her long struggle to survive and later to reestablish her identity.

PATTIE DUNCAN, Ph.D., is currently associate professor of women’s studies at Oregon State University, where she specializes in Asian/Asian American studies. She is the author of Tell This Silence: Asian American Women Writers and the Politics of Speech (University of Iowa Press, 2004), and numerous articles, essays, and reviews. She has served as a judge for the Asian American Writers Workshop national book awards, and is a member of several local, national, and international social justice organizations. Her current research focuses on independent Asian/Asian American media, environmental justice, anti-Asian violence, militarized prostitution in Asia, and acid violence as a gendered form of violence. Dr. Duncan is also a member of APA Compass, a public affairs radio collective on KBOO 90.7 FM, where she produces programming relevant to Asian Pacific American communities.

After earning an MFA at the University of Oregon, SKYE FITZGERALD directed 2nd Unit on the feature RICOCHET RIVER starring Kate Hudson and quickly decided to focus on non-fiction film. He has produced or shot nonfiction projects focused on developing nation and human rights issues in over 20 countries. Fitzgerald co-produced the award-winning feature film MONSOON WIFE, the first full-length feature to be shot completely on location in Cambodia since 1965. Other projects include the documentary RETURN TO EVEREST for Eddie Bauer, DATELINE ON MT. RAINER for Dateline NBC, FROGPOND (pilot) in the Philippines, a segment for CNN’s show Mainsail on the Antarctic island of South Georgia as well as segments for the History Channel’s Gangland series and the Weather Channel. In 2004/2005, Fitzgerald was named a Fulbright Scholar to shoot the documentary BOMBHUNTERS in Cambodia.

TONY NGUYEN
Director, ENFORCING THE SILENCE

Unlocking a thirty-year-old mystery surrounding the first Vietnamese American to be reportedly assassinated on U.S. soil, ENFORCING THE SILENCE explores how the Vietnam War continued in America.

TONY NGUYEN is a second-generation Vietnamese American. His mother, two-months pregnant, fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and gave birth to him seven months later in a small town in Indiana. Tony comes to documentary filmmaking from over ten years of service in the nonprofit sector where he directed Asian American community programs in Washington D.C. and Oakland, CA. His core values of justice, truth, community, and courage have inspired him to follow his heart and produce films that explore the stories of unsung heroes in our everyday world. He is the director and editor of THE MAYOR OF CHINATOWN, an eight-minute portrait of a real estate agent who dedicated his life to serving his community in Oakland, CA. He is also collaborating with Academy Award^® winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki on a personal documentary about his mother’s last day at an ironing board factory in Indiana. ENFORCING THE SILENCE is his first feature-length film.

IRIS K. SHIM
Director, THE HOUSE OF SUH

Behind one of Chicago’s most famous murder cases is a story about an immigrant family’s failed attempt to achieve the American Dream.

Originally from Chicago, IL, IRIS K. SHIM graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2004 with a B.A. in Psychology. After a year long stint in Los Angeles working on several films, including a documentary directed by Academy Award winner Jessica Yu, Iris returned to Chicago to produce and direct her first documentary short, OF KIN AND KIND, which tells the story of Andrew Suh, a man who, at the age of 19 was sentenced to a 100 year prison term for the shooting death of his older sister’s fiancé at her bidding. The film screened at the 2007 DisOrient Film Festival in Eugene, OR and the 2007 Chicago Underground Film Festival. Based on OF KIN AND KIND, THE HOUSE OF SUH is Iris’ feature debut and made its world premiere at the 2010 Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.

JEFF CHIBA STEARNS
Director, ONE BIG HAPA FAMILY

After a realization at a family reunion, half Japanese-Canadian filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out why everyone in his Japanese-Canadian family married interracially after his grandparents’ generation.

JEFF CHIBA STEARNS is an independent documentary and animation filmmaker born in Kelowna, British Columbia, of Japanese and European heritage. After graduating from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design with a Degree in Film Animation in 2001, he founded Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. specializing in creating animation, documentary, and experimental films aimed at children and adults that combine different philosophical and social elements together to create humorous inspiring stories. His animated shorts, KIP AND KYLE (2000), THE HORROR OF KINDERGARTEN (2001), WHAT ARE YOU ANYWAYS? (2005) and YELLOW STICKY NOTES (2007) have been the official selection of hundreds of film festivals around the world, garnered various awards and accolades, and broadcast on the CBC, Discovery Latin America, Shaw, Air Canada, and Movieola.

KIMI TAKESUE
Director, WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?

Employing an observational style, WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? reveals multifaceted portraits of Ugandans in both public and private spaces. From the vibrant streets of Kampala to the rural quiet of the North, a diverse society emerges where global popular culture finds expression alongside enduring Ugandan traditions.

KIMI TAKESUE is an award-winning filmmaker and the recipient of the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Filmmaking. In 2010, she was awarded her second artist fellowship from the New York Foundation in the Arts in the category of Video.  Her films WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME (2010), SUSPENDED (2009), E=nyc2 (2005), SUMMER OF THE SERPENT (2004), HEAVEN’S CROSSROAD (2002), ROSEWATER (1999) and BOUND (1995) have been televised in the U.S. and have screened at over 200 film festivals and museums, including the Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Locarno International, Vancouver International, London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Takesue’s films have aired on PBS, the Independent Film Channel, and the Sundance Channel.

S. CASPER WONG
Director, THE LULU SESSIONS

Dr. Louise Nutter, or LuLu, has just discovered a new anti-cancer drug when she finds out she is dying of breast cancer herself at 42. THE LULU SESSIONS is a raw, intimate, yet surprisingly humorous story about the filmmaker showing up for her best friend, and together, testing the limits of their bond while taking on life’s ultimate adventure.

S. CASPER WONG is a New York based writer, director and producer of both narrative and documentary films. Her narrative feature screenplay, OO1, a suspense drama, was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Screenwriting Grant; the Grand Jury Prize for Best Screenplay at Urbanworld Film Festival and the Sloan Fellowship at the Hamptons International Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab. Her award-winning narrative short film, SHIRTS & SKINS, screened internationally and was licensed to the Independent Film Channel for national broadcast. It is now part of the Tribeca Film Institute’s curated Reframe Collection. Wong is currently in production for STAYING WELL, a feature documentary about integrative east-west medicine and the global health crisis. This collaboration with UCLA is also being developed as a three-part television series. Prior to receiving her MFA in film from NYU, she was Senior Attorney for IBM, specializing in international intellectual property and antitrust law. Wong also holds a J.D. from New York Law School and a B.S. in Bio-medical Engineering from Columbia University. THE LULU SESSIONS marks her feature documentary debut.

CHRISTOPHER WOON
Director, AMONG B-BOYS

AMONG B-BOYS observes Hmong youth and their involvement in Hip Hop culture through B-boying, a.k.a. Breakdancing.  Among B-Boys builds a meta-narrative comprised of their families’ refugee experiences, the origins of the Hmong B-Boy in California’s Central Valley, and their navigation of secondary migration, higher education, family, and simply growing up.

A 5th generation Chinese American, CHRISTOPHER WOON grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area with a middle class, pan Asian American sensibility, which has translated into a passion for uncovering Asian American narratives. A Los Angeles transplant, Chris’ first exposure to filmmaking came as a UCLA student in Asian American Studies and as an intern with Visual Communications in 2002. Chris begin AMONG B-BOYS as a documentary short with VC’s Armed With A Camera fellowship in 2004 and received the James T. Yee Fellowship from the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) in 2006 to expand the film. Woon is currently completing his Master of Arts in Asian American Studies at UCLA, while finding time to dance, make music with his band Agent 126 and making Hip Hop beats under the name “Paper Son,” having produced songs for the likes of MC’s O2, Khabral, Swapmeet Ensemble, Grand the Visitor, and Bambu.

2011 JURY AWARDS FINALISTS: SHORT FILM

KITTY LIN
Director, AWAKENING – THE RIVER OF FORGETFULNESS

An old woman unveils a buried secret that has haunted her for years, hindering her from moving on to her next life.

KITTY LIN was born in Taiwan and moved to California when she was 13. She has been socially awkward even until the day she graduated from School of Visual Arts in New York. Her first 3D-animated short film, THE SKY BAR, has been recognized in major festivals and publications all over the world. She was named one of the “New Directors to Watch” in Taiwan, and had won both Gold Award and Jury’s Award in Taiwan International Animation Festival. After working at a high-end commercial production industry in New York for the past four years, now decided to switch over to live-action filmmaking. AWAKENING – THE RIVER OF FORGETFULNESS is her first live-action short film.

KEVIN UNG
Director, CHUBBY CAN KILL

Wing, an overweight 20-something working at a video store under the control of a local gang, decides to teach them a lesson by imitating his favorite movie heroes. However, Wing soon discovers that killing gangsters is not as easy as it is in the movies.

KEVIN UNG is a 22-year old filmmaker currently living in Hong Kong. In 2009, he studied abroad at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) via UCLA’s Education Abroad Program. In 2010, he was selected as part of a group of Hong Kong’s young film talents to showcase an original short in the Freshwave International Short Film Festival. Given the opportunity he wrote and directed CHUBBY CAN KILL entirely in Cantonese, a language he had to learn throughout the creation of the film. CHUBBY CAN KILL screened at the Broadway Cinematique in Hong Kong and received special mention in the Freshwave International Short Film Festival.

SOHAM MEHTA
Director, FIRECRACKER (FATAKRA)

Naveen left India to chase his dreams in America. Today, three years and a recession later, his wife and son join him.

SOHAM MEHTA is a theatre and film artist who splits his time between Texas and New York. Born in India but brought up in Houston, Soham spent the early part of his professional life working in technology by day and directing plays by night. Soham founded Shunya, a Houston-based theater troupe dedicated to providing a voice to the South Asian American experience. After leading the troupe for four years, Soham returned to school to pursue his MFA in film production. His award-winning short films have played in festivals around the world. SURVIVORS, one of Soham’s short films, is available on iTunes from Shorts International. Soham cowrote the feature film WHERE’S THE PARTY, YAAR? which starred Kal Penn and is available on DVD from Lions Gate. He continues to develop his own work while working as an editor for film and television.

YOON JUNG LEE
Director, REMEMBER O GODDESS

In the midnight, one man reports a disappearance of himself at a police office. His memory begins at a moment when he is left alone in an apartment.

YOON JUNG LEE was born in 1980 in Seoul, South Korea. She graduated from Sogang University in English Literature, before completing MFA in Film & Video at California Institute of the Arts in 2005. As a visual artist, her experimental works are introduced at galleries, but she works as a visual director in various performances, and also as an editor for independent films as well as working in the directing team on feature movie projects. She was the scripter for THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD and MY SWEET, YET BRUTAL SWEETHEART. She travels between Seoul and Philadelphia, PA, but mainly works as a freelancer in Philadelphia.

SEO YUN HONG
Director, TEAMWORK

With her grandmother on her deathbed and her relatives panicking around her, young Yeonhee remembers a more peaceful time, when all she wanted to do was win a three-legged race.

SEO YUN HONG was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1978. She graduated from Korean National University of Arts and the ChungAng Graduate School of the Arts. Hong eventually enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts Graduate MFA program at NYU, where she studied at the Kanber Institute of Film and TV. Her 2010 short TEAMWORK has been featured in the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival and the 2010 Asiana International Short Film Festival, winning the Short film competition in the 2010 ‘Back in the Box’ Competition.

MICHAEL INOUYE
Director, ALEX IKEDA: THE CREATION OF A SONG

ALEX IKEDA: THE CREATION OF A SONG is a portrait of a 24-year-old singer-songwriter struggling with love, work, loneliness, and the sacrifices required of an artist.

MICHAEL INOUYE studied English at Willamette University, with a focus in Creative Writing. A cinephile since high school, Michael finally decided to step behind the lens and made his first festival film in late 2010.

HYEONG-IK PARK, YOON HONG-RAN
Directors, LINE

Discord and disagreement erupt between a man and a woman who are separated only by a thin wall. LINE is a unique and sensational story that uses a building as a canvas.

HYEONG-IK PARK was born in 1986 in Gangwon-do and is studying in Gangwon National Univ., Dept. of Visual Culture. YOON HONG-RAN was born in 1986 in Chungbuk, and graduated from Gangwon Natiional Univ., Dept. of Visual Culture.

MINA T. SON, SARA NEWENS
Director, TOP SPIN

Ariel Hsing, a young table tennis champion and Olympic hopeful, has the full support of her family in her athletic endeavors. TOP SPIN is as much a story about a family working together as it is about a future table tennis champion.

SARA NEWENS has been involved in filmmaking and production for over a decade. In 2006, Sara directed her first documentary short, ALL THIS BLUES, which has traveled to film festivals from Sarasota, Florida to Los Angeles. Additionally, she was an Assistant Producer for the feature documentary NEW YEAR BABY, about a family’s survival of the Khmer Rouge genocide. Currently an M.F.A. candidate in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University, she recently completed THE COMFORT OF COLD, a film on cold-water ocean swimming, and FIRELINE, which delves into the intensity of fighting wildfires in rural California. Most recently, Sara has been awarded a Princess Grace Foundation scholarship for her upcoming thesis work on Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy.

MINA T. SON earned her degree in Psychology and Asian American Studies from UCLA, after which she participated in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. After two years abroad, she returned home to find her mother suddenly very ill. Mina ventured into the world of documentary filmmaking in 2006 with her first short documentary, IN MY HOME, about her experience as a full-time caretaker for her mother. In 2007, she was awarded the Armed with a Camera Fellowship from Visual Communications, and completed her second short documentary, PAST THE FOOD, about a Vietnamese American man’s experience with compulsive binge eating. Currently an M.F.A. candidate in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University, Mina strives to make documentaries that bring diverse groups of people together, transcending race, culture, and language to reach the heart of universal emotions and issues.