Asian American Filmmakers at Sundance Demonstrate Excellence in Storytelling

Asian American filmmakers with CAAM staff and board members at Sundance. Photo by Abraham Ferrer.
"It's really a remarkable time for talent to arise and for stories to be shared all across the way."

Several CAAM staff and board members spent a week in Park City, Utah, at the Sundance Film Festival to raise the visibility and importance of Asian Americans in media and inclusion.

CAAM organized a panel, along with Visual Communications, highlighting Asian American filmmakers called Elevate, Incubate & Demonstrate: Advancing Asian American Artists at the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience – Park City 2017 this past Sunday.

This sold out panel gathered industry leaders to discuss the future of Asian American media and diversity and burgeoning opportunities for collaboration, distribution and expression. CAAM looks forward to bringing you more of these events to meet the growing demands of our diverse community.

“It’s really a remarkable time for talent to arise and for stories to be shared all across the way,” CAAM’s Executive Director Stephen Gong said in an interview with Daily Buzz.

Panelists included Anne Lai (Sundance Institute Creative Producing Initiatives Director), Lisa Nishimura (Netflix, VP, Content Acquisition), Effie Brown (Producer, Dear White People), Brickson Diamond (The Blackhouse Foundation Chair), Grace Lee (Filmmaker, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs), Justin Chon (Actor, Filmmaker, Screenwriter, Gook), and Philip Fung (A3 Foundation Co-founder), moderated by David Magdael (David Magdael & Associates).

Sundance panelists. Photo by Abraham Ferrer.
Elevate, Incubate & Demonstrate Sundance panelists. Photo by Abraham Ferrer.

Stay tuned for a full panel broadcast this May 2017 on World Channel during APA Heritage Month.

Justin Chon, one of the panelists, went on to receive the NEXT Audience Award at Sundance for his film, Gook.

“I feel the most effective way I can make a difference is for me to create, so this is my two cents to the community of creators,” he told the audience at the awards ceremony. “I’m in awe that I’m even here. This is the pinnacle of independent filmmaking. Thank you for allowing us to showcase our film here.”

Many thanks to our panel sponsors: CAAM, RYSE Media, Comcast NBCUniversalAsian Pacific Filmmakers ExperienceVisual Communications, Morning Calm Solutions.