Step into the world of film and entertainment, and it’s not all glamour and glitz. The challenges for minorities is well-known, from the lack of in-depth roles, to outright discrimination, to tokenizing.
As someone who sought mentorship in the ever-changing field of media making, Karin Chien decided to do something about it. Chien created the CAAM (Center for Asian American) Fellowship, a professional mentoring program pairing emerging and mid-career media professionals with veterans at the top of their fields, in 2010.
“It started out as a personal wish for a mentor, which grew into a desire for the community to mentor emerging and established talent,” Chien, a producer, and the director of the fellowship program, said.
When Chien came to CAAM with her idea, CAAM staff recognized this would be a meaningful and necessary way to support the growing Asian American film community. There has been an increase in the number of Asian Americans in various positions in the film and television industry, but the barriers to breaking into the field are still steep. “With the CAAM Fellowship Program, we feel that not only are we helping individuals with their careers, we are also creating an Asian American film community that is nurturing and encourages collaboration,” said Sapana Sakya, Public Media Director at CAAM.
The uniqueness of CAAM’s Fellowship Program is that the application is not limited to writers and directors, but positions across the field of TV and film entertainment—from publicists to TV executives and editors.
The application process is competitive. This year, five Fellows were chosen, including actress/writer Michelle Krusiec, producer Soojin Chung, TV writer Kiyong Kim, filmmaker Soham Mehta, and experimental filmmaker A. Moon. (See below for their bios).
Fellows are paired with high-level mentors in their field for a six-month period.
Krusiec, who starred in Alice Wu’s Saving Face and has also toured a staged solo show, Made in Taiwan, is currently working on a TV pilot about an Asian American family set in Los Angeles and a feature film adaptation of Krusiec’s solo show based on characters from her life, focusing on a mother and daughter relationship. The fellowship will give her a chance to reflect on her career as well as delve further into her writing.
“When you first start, you just (try to break though),” Krusiec, who began acting career at age 12, said. “After doing this for a long time, you have to start deepening and really exploring. What am I putting out there and how do I keep moving forward that reflects what I deeply want in my career?”
Krusiec, and others, note how the Asian American community has embraced them. “You have a community (to support you). You don’t feel like you’re so isolated. You don’t have to be,” she said.
Past fellows include folks like Sonam Chainani, whose mentor was director and writer Jessica Yu. Chainani wrote The School For Good and Evil, published last May, a fantasy-adventure novel that is the first in a trilogy. Universal Studios has obtained the movie rights to the first book. While Chainani started in the fellowship with an interest in directing, it quickly shifted to novel-writing after he received a book deal. “You have intimate contact with experts who are super successful,” Chainani said about benefits of the program. “You have to ability to ask the questions you need, and get the advice you need.”
Mentors participate because they recognize the need for a program like this. Angela Cheng Caplan, a manager and producer, and a mentor in the first year, was looking for an opportunity like this. “The mentorship has been a wonderful and positive experience for me and I would definitely recommend it to industry professionals looking for opportunities to give back to the entertainment community and foster talent,” she said. Other past mentors include Dan Lin, who produced the recent blockbuster, The Lego Movie.
For cinematographer Eric Lin, a fellow from last year, participating in the program helped propel his career and deepen technical skills. His most recent film is Rudderless, a feature film directed by William H. Macy, which was the closing night at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. During his shoots in Oklahoma City on Rudderless, the largest project Lin’s worked on at the time, he would sometimes Skype with cinematographer M. David Mullen, his mentor, with quick questions about lighting and other issues that came up. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor,” Lin said.
The fellowship not only focuses on a short-term project, but developing a long-term career in entertainment and the arts. “What was really great was that it really focused on careers, not projects,” Lin said. “How you manage life as an artist and filmmaker, how to continue growing creatively and push things aesthetically, where you put your energy as an artist and how to sustain that.”
– Momo Chang
Southwest Airlines is a proud sponsor of CAAM’s Fellowship Program.
Meet the 2014 CAAM Fellows at the CAAM Fellows Showcase Sunday, March 16th at 10 am at Pa’ina Lounge in San Francisco’s Japantown during CAAMFest 2014. Join top professionals and the newest stars of the film, TV and documentary worlds in an informal conversation over coffee. Hear about what it takes to maintain a successful and sustainable career as Asian Americans in the entertainment landscape, and how to keep working in an ever-changing media environment. Learn more about the CAAM Fellowship, a professional media mentorship program. The event is free and open to the public.
SPEAKERS
Mentors: Steve Tao (TV Producer, Bad Robot), Claire Aguilar (ITVS) and Angela Cheng Caplan (Literary Manager, Cheng Caplan Company). Fellows: Soman Chainani, author of The School for Good and Evil and director, and Johanna Lee, TV writer. Visit the Facebook Page for more information.
2014 CAAM FELLOWS
Soojin Chung recently produced ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013 generating buzz throughout the industry. The LA Times called it “one of the most provocative movies ever seen” and Variety said, “Its cult status will remain immortal.” Chung’s feature film follow-up will be HUNGRY FOR LOVE. Previously, Chung produced numerous award winning short films that have screened at festivals worldwide such as THE 8TH SAMURAI and PORTRAIT FOR LEONORE as well as worked as an editor on eight major feature films including Park Chan-Wook’s Venice winner LADY VENGEANCE. After graduating from the American Film Institute, Chung participated in the IFP Trans Atlantic Partners Program, Film Independent’s Project Involve and Berlin Talent Campus (Tokyo).
Actress/Writer Michelle Krusiec is best known for her starring role opposite Joan Chen in the romantic comedy Saving Face, directed by Alice Wu. The role garnered her a Best Actress nomination for the Chinese Language Oscar, also known as the Golden Horse. On stage, Michelle starred in the Broadway international tour of David Henry Hwang’s play Chinglish(Berkeley Rep/South Coast Rep/Hong Kong Arts festival). Michelle, a UCLA Professional Program alum in Screenwriting, is currently adapting her solo show Made in Taiwan into a full length feature and half hour pilot Made in Taiwan premiered at the 2002 HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival, the 2003 LA Women’s Theatre Festival, the 2005 New York Asian American Theatre Festival, and the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival and Fringe Encores. Michelle’s numerous film and TV credits can be found at www.MichelleKrusiec.com along with info regarding the launch of season 2 of her web series Nice Girls Crew.
Kiyong Kim was born in Korea and grew up in Los Angeles before going to art school in Boston. He studied Illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art, and took creative writing classes at Emerson College where he first discovered what a script was. After graduating, he moved back to Los Angeles and focused on writing and directing. His first script, “Brobot”, placed 4th in the Slamdance Screenwriting Competition. Since then, he’s written and directed short films that have won contests, played at festivals, and have been licensed for distribution. Kiyong decided to focus on television writing, and was chosen for the 2010-2011 Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship, and the 2012-2013 NBC Writers on the Verge program. He’s one of those writers that like to write at coffee shops. Once, he thought the girls next to him were the most ridiculous LA stereotypes ever, then he sipped his latte and went back to work on his screenplay.
Soham Mehta is an award-winning filmmaker who strives to make work that provides avenues for different communities to better understand each other. FATAKRA, Mehta’s graduate thesis film, was awarded the Student Academy Award, the Directors Guild of America Student Award, and over a dozen jury and audience awards while playing at over seventy-five film festivals worldwide. Other short films directed by Mehta include SURVIVORS, RELEASED, and REVENGE OF THE DESIS. Mehta also cowrote the feature film WHERE’S THE PARTY, YAAR? starring Kal Penn. Mehta comes to film from an extensive background in theater. He founded Shunya, a theater troupe dedicated to providing a voice to the South Asian American experience. Born in India, Mehta’s family immigrated to Texas when he was just four years old. He received both his undergraduate degree in theater and his MFA in film from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is developing two feature films: RUN THE TIDE (written by Rajiv Shah) and RELEASED (co-written with Charles Bowe).
A. Moon is an experimental film and video maker who is interested in female subjectivity, compromised identities, and problems of knowing. Inspired by the goals and methods of the cinematic avant-garde, political modernism, and feminist filmmaking of the 1970s, her work attempts to subvert generic conventions and express the experiences of those rarely granted mainstream cinematic representation. Her work has screened in eight countries on three continents, and she has been the recipient of awards from the Princess Grace Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, and numerous film festivals. Her recent work focuses on hybrid or transcultural identities and the commonalities between people who’ve experienced different sorts of dislocation. She also continues to use analog optical printing techniques to explore and expand the meaning of already existing stories and images.
2014 CAAM Fellowship Program
Under our newly minted James T. Yee Talent Development Program, we are excited to launch the application process for the new and improved CAAM Fellowship Program. Since 2012, what used to be a stand alone James T. Yee Fellowship for documentary makers is now a part of our CAAM Fellowship Program. The CAAM Fellowship Program caters to both fiction and non-fiction talent. Our goal remains to nurture a community of makers and professional mentors from within the Asian American media microcosm.
Furthering CAAM’s work to nurture Asian American media professionals and advance the field of Asian American media, the 2014 CAAM Fellowship Program will connect talented and dedicated individuals with leading professionals in the field. The CAAM Fellowship Program is unique in its field-wide approach seeking to develop the talents and skills of a range of media professions including filmmakers, actors, programmers, and executives.
Participating fellows will have access to the leading Asian American talent in film, television and digital media. Each fellowship will be individually tailored to best fit the needs of the fellows and advisors. Fellowships will range from fully integrated collaborations to regular feedback on current projects to an ongoing dialogue about professional development. Furthermore, fellows will have the opportunity to connect with the larger community of Asian American media professionals at CAAM’s annual film festival CAAMFest and a CAAM Fellowship Program retreat hosted by CAAM for all participating advisors and fellows.
The CAAM Fellowship Program is made possible with special support provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Comcast Foundation.
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