When a group of us – which included Arthur Dong, Freida Lee Mock, Chris Tashima, and David Magdael – launched a protest against the Academy about its 2016 telecast’s offensive jokes against Asians, it unleashed what seems to be a veritable movement for the Asian-American community. Many of us signed a letter that went viral, and then …
Reception for Asian Academy members, sponsored by East West Bank Read More »
My head’s still in the clouds from Telluride, my favorite of all film fests. The intense bursts of nature and culture combined are intoxicating. What stays with me most, besides the scenery and my late night puzzle making (a tradition at the Henson/Pressler household) is Angelina Jolie’s film, First They Killed My Father. She is …
Saw “Detroit” at Academy last night. I found myself occasionally averting my eyes and almost groaning in emotional pain. The camera doesn’t avert though. It stays through the whole grueling ordeal so you can experience what it was actually like to be there. Every shot was impeccable. Every performance was impeccable. Difficult to watch but …
“We have to do the real stories now. The world is in crisis. I wanted to tell a story about a hero who believes in love….it’s terrible when so many artists are afraid to be sincere and truthful and emotional.” Thank you, Patty Jenkins!!! Link: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/movies/wonder-woman-gal-gadot-patty-jenkins.html?referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com
The influence of popular culture cannot be underestimated. A show like FRESH OFF THE BOAT — highly popular not just among Asians – does at least as much to humanize our race as any legislation possible could. Congrats to #@randallpark, @Hudsonyang, @Melvinmar, @ForrestWheeler and @Lucille Soong and entire cast and crew of Fresh off the Boat for receiving the …
Asia Society Annual Gala Honors FRESH OFF THE BOAT Read More »
Thank you, Beijing, for the beautiful weather, the more than tolerable air, the healthy restaurants, the stylish decor, the out-of-bounds art, the flute-playing taxi driver, the top economist by day/rapper by night, and last but not least, the wonderful circle of filmmaker friends. I was so fortunate to catch Zhang Yimou and Jiang Wen on …
Beijing with Filmmaker Friends Zhang Yimou and Jiang Wen on their Movie Sets Read More »
My amazing mother throughout the ages. Born in 1919, raised in Hunan, China, she likes acting and sports. She receives a scholarship to study in the US, while China is in turmoil, and has to undergo military training. It takes her almost a year to get here, on boat, via India. Meets my father at …
We’re less than 48 hours away from the Academy Awards, and our votes were due about 36 hours ago. So the worker bees at Price Waterhouse are clearly tallying away our votes. This year proves to be a very unusual one. There truly is no very clear frontrunner in the best picture category. The …
Last Friday at 5 pm Pacific Standard Time was when our nominations were due for the Academy. To re-iterate, as a member of the Producers’ Branch, I get to nominate “Best Picture” candidates. (Others nominate in their own branches.) There is a list of hundreds of films that were released in 2015 to choose from, …
