Where are the Asian Women in Film?

This is a free event. Please RSVP HERE

Donation of $10 at door is strongly recommended. All the donations will be used for covering the management of the panel as well as sustaining the programs of ACV, AAWMM, and MOCA.

Visibility matters. How did Asian female filmmakers get their start in film?  What roles are they playing? What are the added challenges of being Asian and female in the film business?  As AAIFF’13 boasts a significant lineup of works by both Asian American and Asian female filmmakers (one third of the features and one fourth of the shorts; check out the press release here for details), are we talking about visibility issues the same way as we talked about it in the past? What can we do to increase our visibility in front and behind the camera? What are the new channels in the era of international mobility and crowd-sourcing?

Speakers include Nadine TRUONG, director of SOME I USED TO KNOW at AAIFF’13; Di QUON, actor and producer; and Christine CHOY, veteran director and professor.  S. Casper WONG, filmmaker and founder of AAWMM will be moderating.

AAWMM will launch its Monthly Networking Drinks following the panel at the Red Egg at 202 Centre Street from 8pm to 10pm.  All Asian women in film and people who love them are welcomed!

Speakers Bios
Christine Choy was trained as an architect, receiving her Master of Science degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University. Soon thereafter, her life took a different direction-direction. Christine crossed the country to Los Angeles, studying at the American Film Institute where she earned a Directing Certificate. Christine has produced and directed about seventy works in various forms, receiving over sixty international awards. Among them are numerous fellowships such as the John Simon Guggenheim, the Rockefeller, and the Asian Cultural Council, as well as an Academy Award Nomination for the documentary film, WHO KILLED VINCENT CHEN?.  Christine has an equally impressive history as an educator, teaching not only at NYU at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, this year once again as Chair of the former, but also at Yale, Cornell, and SUNY Buffalo. She was also a visiting scholar at Evergreen State College, as well as the Oslo and Volda Film Institute in Norway.

Di Quon is known best for her role as the abused nanny “Rita” in GROWN UPS staring Adam Sandler. She made her big screen debut as “Lily Kim” in another blockbuster film Maid in Manhattan starring Jennifer Lopez. Her television credits include both comedy and drama from CAMPUS LADIES TO MEDIUM. In 2006, Di Quon created, starred and produced the first Asian American dramedy television show with Eric Byler for PBS titled MY LIFE… DISORIENTED. Prior to her acting career, she was signed to Wilhelmina Modeling agency and appeared on the cover of Aerosmith’s Young Lust album. Prince named her “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” and asked her to star in the video with the same name. Currently she lives in New York, with her husband Jeremy Wilms, musician and assistant music conductor for the Broadway musical FELA!. 

– Personal quote from Di Quon regarding MY LIFE…DISORIENTED

As an Asian actress, I have felt that there are limited roles for me. Often times the roles offered are full of stereotypes. Because as a society we look towards media to show us our place within it, it meant a lot to me to create something positive that properly represents me and the Ethnic Minority Group I am part of. We tried to walk the fine line of keeping cultural identity without playing into stereotypes. ITVS/Independent Lens and PBS has been brave enough to give us a chance to show their viewers an honest perspective.

A German-born Vietnamese filmmaker, Nadine Truong worked in talent representation and at various production companies prior to earning an education at the world-renowned American Film Institute Conservatory, where she received her MFA degree in directing in 2009. Her directorial credits include: CHOPSTICKS, THE MUSE, ONE NEVER KNOWS, IN THE DARK and INITIATION. In 2007, Nadine was one of eight fellows of Visual Communications’ Armed With a Camera Fellowship for Asian Pacific American artists, and was nominated for the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s Golden Reel Award in 2009 and 2010. Also in 2010, she received the San Diego Asian Film Festival’s prestigious George C. Lin Emerging Filmmaker Award. The proud winner of the Mary Pickford Scholarship for Excellence in Directing, Nadine was one of only three female directors in AFI’s competitive program, and the only fellow to write and direct two thesis films: the coming-of-age dramedy EGGBABY (co-written by Christine No) and SHADOW MAN, a Vietnam War drama. Nadine received her BA degree in Anthropology from UCLA in 2003 and resides in Los Angeles, where she also works as a professional photographer. SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW is her first narrative feature.

S. Casper Wong (Moderator) is a Silicon Valley attorney turned New York based writer, director and producer of both narrative and documentary films.  Her recent feature documentary, The LuLu Sessions, has won 10 international awards and nominations, including Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary, Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary and Emerging Director Awards.  She is the recipient of two screenwriting grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and production grant from New York State Council on the Arts.  She has been representing Roger Corman in his film co-productions with China since its inception in 2011 overseeing all aspects of production with two studios and a CGI team.  She had been corporate counsel for IBM, and has a BS in Biomedical engineering from Columbia University, a Juris Doctor from New York Law and a MFA in Film Directing from NYU Graduate Film program.

The event is co-sponsored by Asian American Women Media Makers and is made possible with support from the Museum of Chinese in America and the Harry K. Ligh Memorial Fund.

About Asian American Women Media Makers

Asian American Women Media Makers is a working group founded by a few filmmakers in the spring of 2012. What started out as a monthly brunch for networking and support to tell our stories in media has expanded into an ongoing conversation to address the issues of underrepresentation and underemployment of our community in mainstream media, and to find ways to empower ourselves as content creators. FACEBOOK