FILMMAKER BIOGRAPHIES

J - R

Evan J. Leong (Evolution Jackson)
Music Video: ROUND ROUND - Far-East Movement
Evan Jackson Leong is a 6th generation Chinese American native who graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor of arts in Asian American studies. He was filmmaker of the month for the National Asian American Telecommunication Association, NAATA, in 2002. He produced 9 music videos, broadcast 2 documentaries on PBS nationwide, and continues to have cameos in Justin Lin films.

Maikiko James
HOMELAND, Screenplay
Maikiko received her BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch in May 2005. She has performed at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, the Asian American Writers' Workshop, and the Sage Theatre. She was most recently a resident ensemble member of the Nitestar Educational Theater Program at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan.

Rocky Jo
BUNNY AND CLYDO
A Los Angeles native originally from the lone star state, Rocky's previous works, including his short film "Yubiwa", have been showcased at the New Port Beach Film Festival, the SXSW Film Festival, the Houston World Fest, the Los Angeles Film Festival, the ITASA Film Competition, and the USA Film Festival. He has worked on a variety of projects at various stages for the NFL, NBA, VH1, and MTV. In 2005, he joined the post-production team of the Los Angeles film/commercial production studio, Hornet Inc.

Afua Kafi-Akua
THE DISTRIBUTION MATRIX
Afua Kafi-Akua has worked as a media producer, studio manager, lecturer, media sales and distribution executive for over two decades at many cutting edge independent media companies including Film/Video Arts, Women Make Movies, The Cinema Guild, Antenna Audio, Advanced Media Concepts, and Third World Newsreel. She is currently the Media Resources Manager at York College in NYC. She co-produced the award-winning documentary about violence against lesbians entitled Just Because Of Who We Are, which aired on PBS.

Joseph Kahn
Music Video: GET YOURSELF HIGH - The Chemical Bros. ft. K-OS
Director Joseph Kahn Kahn has worked with diverse artists such as U2, The Chemical Brothers, Blink 182, Eminem, DMX, and Britney Spears. He has directed commercials for Acura, Ford, Vodafone, Budweiser, Miller, Target, Coors Light, Nascar, and Playstation. In 2003, he made his feature film debut with the Warner Brothers tongue in-cheek action film TORQUE.

Eric Khoo
BE WITH ME
Khoo is credited for reviving Singapore's film industry 10 years ago with his provocative "Mee Pok Man" which picked up prizes at festivals in Singapore, Pusan and Fukuoka. He has produced several feature films and TV series and was conferred the Youth Award by the Singapore government in 1999 for his dedication to filmmaking and contributions to society. Eric runs his own production company Zhao Wei Films, based in Singapore.

Kih-Hoon Kim
THE MODE OF DISAPPEARANCE
Kih-Hoon Kim studied fine art and cinema studies at the City University of New York. During that period, he worked for the College Voice, the university newspaper and made documentaries about anti-war movements in New York. THE MODE OF DISAPPEARANCE is his first fiction film. At the moment, he is writing a feature screenplay and making "Vorstellen 1.-The Way of Calling Nietzsche," a documentary about New York and cinema.

Lana Kim & Andy Bruntel
Music Video: BABY C'MON - Stephen Malkmus
Lana Kim is a director/artist who toils away at the bureaucratic heaven known as the Directors Bureau. She loves puppies and instant picture technology. Andy Bruntel is a director/artist who has also directed videos for The Mountain Goats and Rilo Kiley. He enjoys bike rides and taking pictures with other people's dogs.

Tak Hoon Kim
PUBLIC BATH
Tak Hoon Kim is a stop-motion animator and animation director. Most recently, he was the animation supervisor on the American Movie Classic Network Series "The Wrong Coast". He has also worked on MTV Network's "Celebrity Deathmatch" and has freelanced for various commercial and shorts and feature films. He is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, Film & Animation Dept.

David Koh
THE DISTRIBUTION MATRIX
David Koh is currently Head of Acquisitions & Production for Palm Pictures, Chris Blackwell's (founder of Island Records, Island Pictures, Island Outpost) film and music company where he oversees all acquisitions, production, development, co-production, content, and programming. In addition, David's own production and distribution label, Arthouse Films, is currently housed at Palm. Koh was the former Founder & Artistic Director of the Santa Fe Film Festival and is currently Founder & Artistic Director of the recently launched Goldeneye Film Festival.

Pei-Lin Kuo
MICHELOB LIGHT COMPETITION: ZOETROPE
Pei-Lin Kuo is a filmmaker now settled in New York, born and raised in Taiwan. After graduating with a degree in drama, she worked for a production company in Taipei which made music videos, commercials, and television programs. After relocating to New York, Pei-Lin has made 3 short films 'Everyday', 'A.K.A.08494####' and 'Key Chain'. Currently Pei-Lin is actively writing, directing, and producing her own films as well as painting and drawing.

Lucky Kuswandi
STILL
A recent alum of the 56th Berlin Film Festival Talent Campus, Lucky Kuswandi started his career directing unproduced plays in high school. A resident of Jakarta, Indonesia, he graduated from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Filmmaking in 2003. Since then, he has directed five short films and is writing his first feature screenplay, Kaleidoscope.

Julia Kwan
EVE & THE FIRE HORSE
Julia Kwan is a Chinese-Canadian writer, director and producer living in Vancouver, B.C. Ms Kwan's films include CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE, the experimental film, PRIZED POSSESSIONS, the comedy/drama, 10,000 DELUSIONS, and the short drama, THREE SISTERS ON MOON LAKE. Her films have shown at the Toronto Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival among others. EVE & THE FIRE HORSE (2005) marks Ms. Kwan's feature film debut.

Evelyn Lee
PORT AUTHORITY INCIDENT
Evelyn Lee, a Korean American born and raised in New Jersey, makes films that convey political, social, and racial commentary regarding her experiences growing up in America. Evelyn who is 24, graduated from Cornell University and is currently studying towards an MFA in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of the Arts.

Hyung-Suk Lee
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Hyungsuk Lee was born in Korea. He graduated from Journalism & Mass Communication Dept., Yonsei University.

Samuel Kiehoon Lee
5x90: THE WAKE
Samuel Kiehoon Lee is a Korean Canadian filmmaker. Lee has been an emerging filmmaker for several years. His previous work is the award winning short documentary "How to Make Kimchi: According to My Kun Umma". 5X90: THE WAKE is his first short, narrative drama.

Ming Kai Leung
TWO GIRLS
Ming Kai Leung is a graduate of the M.F.A program in film at Columbia University. He has directed several award-winning short films, and has worked as the cinematographer for many others. Many of these films were shown at international venues in Hong Kong, Bangkok, New York and Paris. Leung has just finished shooting two Columbia thesis films and is now preparing to direct his own thesis film in Hong Kong this summer.

Blackie Ko Shou-Liang
CURRY AND PEPPER
Shou Liang was born in China in 1953 before moving to Taiwan. When he was sixteen he had taken up motor sports and had begun racing motorcycles and cars professionally. Noticing that most stuntmen in Taiwan specialized in martial arts, Ko became one of the first stuntmen to focus on stunts involving motorcycles and cars. This area of work allowed him to work behind the camera as a stunt arranger.

Josh Levin
THE DISTRIBUTION MATRIX
Josh Levin is the Chief Marketing Officer for Film Movement. In his role as CMO, Josh is responsible for promoting the groundbreaking Film Movement Series, the DVD of the Month Club for festival award-winning films, as well as for getting Film Movement titles into theaters, festivals, film clubs, film societies, libraries and video store shelves. Josh got his MBA from Columbia Business School, and his BA from the University of Michigan.

Eric Lin
MUSIC PALACE / WHAT REMAINS
Eric Lin is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film Program. Music Palace, his Student Academy Award nominated short documentary, has screened at film festivals worldwide, including the New Directors/New Films Festival in New York. His latest narrative short film, What Remains is currently at festivals. He is developing Why We Pull the Trigger, a feature film based on his short film, WHAT REMAINS.

Frank Lin
AMERICAN FUSION
A graduate of the UCLA Film School, Frank has produced and directed numerous short films, commercials, and digital movies. Frank is an Honoree of IFP/West's Project Involve Program. Frank is attached to direct a film he wrote, LEAVING AMERICA, with producer Harvey Keitel, starring Joan Chen and Sammo Hung.

Karen Lum
SLIP OF THE TONGUE
Karen Lum began filmmaking as a freshman at Skyline High School in a video production class. Her brother, also involved with filmmaking, introduced her to a youth media organization called Youth Sounds based in Oakland, CA. Through this prolific program, she produced a few shorts including SLIP OF THE TONUGE and CULTURE SHOCK. Karen aspires to attend New York University to study film.

Vanessa Ly
HIGH WINDS
Vanessa Ly studied filmmaking at the New School. She directed two short films, FORWARD ESCAPE and SOFT SHOULDER. In 2002 she produced, shot and edited her first documentary film, UPSIDE DOWN, A LETTER TO AMOS GITAI, on the Israeli director's film shooting of Kedma. Her fourth film, MEKONG INTERIOR won two awards at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2004 and was officially selected to 15 festivals.

Karl Maka
THE THIRTY MILLION RUSH (HENG CAI SAN QIAN WAN)
Karl Maka (Mak Kar) was born in China. He emigrated to Hong Kong in 1958, then lived ten years in the US, where he obtained a degree in the sciences, section electricity. With his diploma, he took a job as an engineer at a telephone company. Disappointed, he returned to Hong Kong in 1973 and started a career assisting on international productions like the MAN WITH THE GOLD GUN. Maka along with Raymond Wong Pak-ming and Dean Shek formed their own production company City Cinema. Cinema City produced more than thirty very diverse films.

Steve E. Mallora
Music Video: GOT ME LIKE - P.I.C.
Steve is a filmmaker and musician who graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film and Television Production. He is a director and editor at the New York-based production company, Woo Art International. He has produced motion graphics work for American Playhouse, ITVS and a wide range of music videos as well as written music for Comedy Central, Showtime, The Oxygen Network, etc. His band, P.I.C, has released 2 critically acclaimed albums. Steve's short films which have screened at festivals across the country.

Michelle Materre
THE DISTRIBUTION MATRIX
Ms. Materre's professional background spans 25 years in television, film and video with a concentration on independent film. Her experience led her to become a founding partner and Vice President of Creative Affairs of KJM3 Entertainment Group, Inc. Ms. Materre continues to serve as an independent media consultant to filmmakers and film/video organizations on issues related to strategy, fundraising, distribution, marketing, outreach, and programming and production issues. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of New York Women in Film and Television and the advisory board of Reel New York.

Stuart McIntyre
Music Video: ALL ROADS LEAD TO HERE - Gurpreet & Jugular
Stuart McIntyre co-founded Bijou, a post-production that specializes in commercials, music videos, short and feature films. Stuart has also written a feature film for Killer, is trying to direct music videos for Shad K, Broken Social Scene and Ohbijou, as well as getting an old dream called "Look Mom, No Hands" turned into a short film.

Richie Mehta
Music Video: ALL ROADS LEAD TO HERE - Gurpreet & Jugular
Richie Mehta is a writer/director with four years of experience directing a variety of video and film projects. Trained as a painter, sculptor, and director, Mehta has focused his career on South Asian culture. Mehta's recent shorts, the Hindi-language film AMAL, and the science-fiction film SYSTEM OF UNITS have screened at festivals worldwide.

Jennifer Miller
THICKER THAN WATER
Jennifer Miller, a Communications Major at the College of Staten Island has been interested in media since her early teens and will study Television Production in London this summer.

Rehana Mirza
MODERN DAY ARRANGED MARRIAGE
Rehana is a screenwriter and playwright who co-founded Desipina & Company, a fusion arts company that focuses on the stories of Asian American communities. Rehana's first feature film HIDING DIVYA deals with three generations of South Asian women and the impact of mental illness within the family. She was a 2002 Independent Feature Project trainee, a Leopold Schepp Foundation Scholar and an LMCC Artist Grant Recipient.

Monkmus
Music Video: I WILL FOLLOW YOU INTO THE DARK - Death Cab for Cutie
Monkmus majored in illustration and filmmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD. Since then, he has lived and worked in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Montreal, and Toronto, also producing his independent projects, Orson and Away. His collaboration with Kid Koala soon followed, as well as many short films and commercial projects.

Shosuke Murakami
TRAIN MAN: DENSHA OTOKO
Murakami is a well known TV drama director in Japan. He has a number of numerous successful drama series to his credit.

Min-ji Oh
AN EXTRA TERRESTIAL GIRL WHO IS ON EARTH BY MISTAKE
Oh Min-ji is a student at Bosung High School in Jeonnam. Her first short, An Extra Terrestrial Girl Who Is on Earth by mistake was made with the pre-production support from the Juvenile Media Centre of Namgu, Incheon City. She has also directed another short film A Scene of That Morning.

Minya Oh (A.K.A. Miss Info)
MICHELOB LIGHT JUDGE
Born to Korean immigrant parents in Chicago, Miss Info moved to New York to attend Columbia University. She has written and edited for magazines such as Vibe, XXL, Mass Appeal, Rolling Stone, and Glamour, as well as MTV News and VH1's "Fabulous Life of Hip Hop Stars." She is the author of "Bling Bling: Hip Hop's Crown Jewels" (Rolling Stone/Hyperion Press). She is currently helming her own Saturday morning Hot97 show, appearing every weeknight with Funkmaster Flex, and writing a monthly advice column in Vibe called "Ask Miss Info."

Steven Okazaki
THE MUSHROOM CLUB
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki's diverse filmography includes children's films, documentaries and independent features. His films include Unfinished Business, Living on Tokyo Time, Days of Waiting, Troubled Paradise, Hunting Tigers, Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street and explore the lives of Asian-Americans, social activism and youth issues. He has received an Academy Award, a Peabody, UNESCO awards, Emmy nominations. . At present, he is producing a feature documentary about the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sanif Olek
LOST SOLE
Sanif Olek works closely with leading production agencies in Singapore to direct and produce programs for international television stations and videos for clients such as MediaCorp Television Singapore, TV3 (Malaysia), and UNESCO. award-winning television work that includes top-rated drama series, lifestyle info-eds, music entertainment, social documentaries and current affairs. Occasionally, he works in theatre.

Jit Fong Oon
QUIETLY
Jit Fong Oon was born and raised in Singapore. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Theatre Arts and a minor in Music. He is currently in New York University's graduate film program, working on his thesis film and writing his feature. QUIETLY is his 2nd year film project.

Greg Pak
HAPPY HAMPTONS HOLIDAY CAMP
Greg Pak is an award-winning filmmaker whose first feature, Robot Stories, has won over thirty awards. His screenplay Rio Chino won the IFP Market's Pipedream Screenwriting Award and a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship. Pak's short films, including FIGHTING GRANDPA, ASIAN PRIDE PORN, MOUSE, and PO MO KNOCK KNOCK, have won awards and screened in festivals around the world. Greg also edits FilmHelp.com and AsianAmericanFilm.com.

Don Palmer
THE FUNDING MIX
Don Palmer has worked for the NYSCA since 1986 in the Presenting Program, the Museum Program, and as Director of the Individual Artists Program since 1996. He has also worked as a freelance writer covering jazz, blues, African and reggae music, as well as theatre and film for a variety of local and national publications.

Hye-Jung Park
THE FUNDING MIX
Hye-Jung Park is a media and community activist with more than a decade's experience in local, national and international media organizing. She is currently Program Officer of the Media Justice Fund at the Funding Exchange. She has served on the boards of several artist and community organizations. She has worked on "Homes Apart: Two Koreas", "Will Be Televised," "The Women Outside" and "7 train from Main Street".

Keun-Pyo Park
WAKE
Born in South Korea, Keun-Pyo Park has experience in directing, acting, shooting and editing both narrative and documentary short films and videos on location. His most recent credits include WAKE, MOSQUITO INCENSE, and GETTING TO KNOW. Wake won Kodak Student Award Grand Prize and the American Society of Cinematographer's Student Heritage Award in 2004. Most recently, WAKE played in Cannes as part of the Kodak Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. Park is currently a MFA candidate in film production at the University of Texas at Austin.

Mina Park
TEA DATE
Based in New York, TEA DATE is Mina Park's second short film in recent years. She has worked on numerous independent features, produce several short films as well as translate & interpret for Korean films and directors. Now Mina returns to her main passion: directing. She is currently planning a third short film while writing her her feature screenplay.

Pearl J. Park
AMONG OUR KIN, Works-In-Progress
Pearl J. Park was born in Korea and raised in Florida. She has worked in the fields of communications and graphics production for 14 years. She studied documentary production at Downtown Community Television in New York City.

Samir R Patel
TIME AND THE HOUR RUN
After years of building business experience in multimedia movies and corporate videos, Samir R. Patel received a certificate in filmmaking from NYU where he wrote, shot and directed numerous short films. Upon completing his first feature script, Samir wrote and directed the short film TIME AND THE HOUR RUN. He is currently in post-production as the writer/director of another short film entitled 'Destroyer' and is writing his second feature script.

Peter Phan Long-Cuu
SAME TIME LAST YEAR
Peter Phan Long-Cuu graduated from the University of California Los Angeles in 2004 with a B.A. in American literature and Culture. Same Time Last Year is his first short film. His favorite film is "Happy Together." His favorite directors are Zhang Yi-Mou, Paul Thomas Anderson and Wong Kar-Wai.

Monica Rho
STATIONERY
Monica Rho was born in South Korea and immigrated with her family to Vancouver when she was 13. She graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design where she made two animated shorts, Nightmare and Travel Travel. She has worked in many animation studios in Vancouver and London, England, and was an animator on the NFB film Roses Sing on New Snow.

Joel Ruiz
THE MANSION
After graduating with a degree in Communication from de La Salle University in Manila, Joel Ruiz worked at various odd jobs in film and video production. In 2000 he co-founded Arkeofilms, a video production company that produces independent digital films. He has directed numerous videos for corporate clients, commercials, and music video. His short features have won awards and nominations.

DIRECTORS A - I

DIRECTORS J - R

DIRECTORS S - Z

JULY