I’m currently working on a buncha film projects including Diacritical, Projecting Asian America, Exit, and The Club.
Exit is here! Leave a comment about whatcha think of this quick scene. It's super-compressed for the web.
Diacritical is a feature length film noir in production. I've been able to book some fucking awesome locations including a Chicago police station, the horse track, this 1940s bank with 50ft ceilings, and many more really great places. The mise-en-scene is spectacular! We’ve got a several scenes left to shoot and I do need some actors/actresses for some bit and background parts. Please write if you’re interested.
Projecting Asian America: The Asian Presence in Hollywood is a project that explores the historical and contemporary imagery of Asians in mainstream American cinema. This documentary will analyze the changing images of Asians in films and how they correlate to historical, social, and political events and issues. We will feature clips from feature films as well as interviews with scholars and academics in Asian American studies and in media and film studies, and persons in the film and acting industry.
I’ve been all over the country interviewing people. Some notes:
Tzi Ma (Rush Hour, 24, many more) recently said yes to an interview. I can’t wait to fly out to LA for this one!
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We had wonderful interviews with Rita Meher and Farah Nousheen. They're doing some great work out on the west coast. It makes me kinda wanna move back there.
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I just got home from interviewing Tatsu Aoki at Northwestern. Very cool, very smart guy. It was a good one. In addition to teaching film classes at Northwestern and the Art Institute, he's the most recorded Asian American jazz musician in U.S. history.
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Shot an interview with Victor Bascara covering the model minority myth and his upcoming book: Model-Minority Imperialism. Look for it this summer.
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I just got back from Oklahoma of all places. It was a strange place to find such a bright light--Jane Park. Her upcoming book, Yellow Future, was most of the focus of the interview. Be sure to check it when it comes out. Really interesting stuff that makes ya think. Thanks Jane!
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Interviewed Lisa Nakamura who wrote the book Cybertypes, as well as a buncha other stuff. She had some great insights and will make the project even stronger. Plus she gave me some leads of possible future interviewees. The only bad thing was that I didn't get to stick around and check out Madison a bit more. But from what I saw, it's a cute town.
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My co-producer and I just got back from San Fran from doing interviews with Deborah Gee (Awesome!) and LeiLani Nashime. Before that it was Minneapolis (David Mura) and Seattle (Archiving).
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Interviewed actor/producer Cyn Dulay and she had some great insights and experiences. Thanks Cyn!
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Mia Park of Chic-A-Go-Go fame was another great interview. The make-up story…awesome! :)
The Club is currently being written and it’s a fucking awesome story. I can’t wait! If done right, this could be a real big one. Cross your fingers for me!
peace.
