MAY 2022                                           Issue 3              Vol. 2

Happy AAPI Month!

Dear MiFILM community, 

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! As the West Coast Director and a Chinese American immigrant, I’d like to share some films/series that have spoken to me at different points of my life and I recommend that you check them out!

• X-Men, the Animated Series - Jubilee was the first Chinese American character that I had ever seen on the screen since moving to America. I was a kid at the time and I felt proud every time I saw her on the screen. Plus she can shoot fireworks from her hands! PS - I had a crush on Psylocke in 3rd grade.

• Better Luck Tomorrow by Justin Lin - Growing up in a majority white town, there weren’t many examples of Asian Americans aside from the other kids in Chinese school. This movie was the first time that I saw characters on the big screen that looked like me that I related to. I felt seen for the first time. A monumental film.

• Survive Style 5+ by Gen Sekiguchi - This bizarre Japanese film has been in my top 10 since the day I saw it. The art directing in this film is INSANE and the story is so ridiculous. “What is your function in life?” This film is really hard to find but I just found it on youtube! If you give it a watch, please let me know what you think! 

• In Between Days by So Yong Kim - I saw this on PBS one night when I was surfing channels after moving to New York City. Having recently arrived, I had trouble finding friends and meeting like-minded people and the alienation that the main character felt was immensely cathartic for me at the time. It’s about a teenage Korean immigrant navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.

• Minding the Gap by Bing Liu - I watched this film on the plane prior to it winning the Oscar. I was just looking for something that would pass the time and thought it was a fun doc about skateboarding. The film ended up being so much more and I didn’t even know it was made by an Asian American director. The documentary touches on growing up in middle America, friendship, masculinity, abuse, immigration and family.

• Columbus by Koganada - I watched this film during the pandemic and it inspired me to write my debut feature about my own hometown. Before his debut film, Koganada made video essays for the Criterion Collection so he’s well versed in form, content and structure and the influences of his predecessors such as Ozu and Bergman are apparent.

• Minari by Lee Isaac Chung - This Korean American film speaks to the immigrant story and really resonated with me. It brought up so much emotional trauma with my own personal immigration and made me realize a period of heavy disciplining from my father was actually due to his own personal business failings rather than having anything to do with me. A film that gives you your own revelations? Now, that’s a good film.

• Also make sure to watch Turning Red by Domee Shi and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once by the Daniels - both AMAZING films. 

If you’ve watched any of these films, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the #filmmakerslounge slack channel!

To my fellow AAPI tribe, rejoice and reflect. Center our joy. Take up space. Be Kind. Lift our community up. To the rest of the community, thank you for your support and allyship! Let’s continue making positive change with our stories!

Trevor Zhou

West Coast Director

Minorities in Film

Francis "Frankie" Rubio's

short doc, RECORDING FOR DODIE will be premiering on

World Channel June 14th

. If there’s one thing you should know about our community, we STAN our members – maybe a little bit too much! So we’re going to need you to join us by tuning in to World Channel and flooding Frankie with all the love on this amazing, heart–warming story about a personal journey.FRANKIE WE LOVE YOU! ❤️

About the FilmA Filipino daughter struggling with depression finally reunites with her COVID-19 survivor father at his nursing home after 14 months of being physically apart.

ICYMI: 

Jobs

ISO the following roles for a paid 1 day shootGAFFER - W/ basic lighting kit a plus. Looking for 4 led panels and diffusion. SOUND - w/ lav’s and boom for B-rollLocation: Manchester, New Hampshire Transportation per diem Date(s):  Week of June 6th or June 13thNon-unionThis is a Political run and gun multi-location on behalf of Avisa Partners.

Please send me an email with day rate and avails for the above dates, along with any equipment packages you have to Lauren Grant at [email protected].

Resources & Grants

Calls for submissions for the 2022 Gotham Week Project Market have been extended to Friday, June 3rd! This is your last chance to join a meetings-driven forum connecting you to key industry executives for development, financing, or distribution. Participants walk away with career-spanning relationships. The sections still are open are: 

• Narrative Series, for fiction scripted series including short forum, half-hour, and hour-long.

• Spotlight on Documentaries, for non-fiction filmmakers with features or series.

• Audio Series & Originals, for audio projects of any length or genre, or audio-specific components of existing work.

Please note, to apply to the Gotham Week Project Market, applicants must be a member of The Gotham community. New members joining The Gotham at the Pro or Essential level can use the code GWPM22 for 25% off the annual membership fees. In addition, as part of our efforts through our Expanding Communities initiative, we're excited to offer an additional 20% off of the application fee with the code EC22Gotham! 

Shondaland x SeriesFest Women Directing Mentorship Deadline: July 8th SeriesFest and Shondaland are proud to have partnered for the past three years on the Women Directing Mentorship -- a competition designed to discover aspiring female directors with a unique voice and provide a launchpad for their career. The Women Directing Mentorship is anchored with the prestigious opportunity to shadow a director for an episode of a Shondaland original series and a $5,000 stipend to use during the duration of their mentorship. The recipient of the inaugural mentorship, Rachel Myers, shadowed director Tessa Blake on Episode 306, “Ice Ice Baby” of the Shondaland series, Station 19 (ABC).The creator selected for the Grand Prize will shadow a director for an episode of a Shondaland production and will receive a $5,000 stipend to use during the duration of their mentorship. 

Link to Apply: https://www.seriesfest.com/submissions/women-directing-mentorship

Thanks to The Royal Bank of Canada and their partnership with our Inclusion Initiative, submission fees will be waived for Cycle 4 of the Women Directing Mentorship Program.  

Sundance Institute 2022 Documentary Fund Fall Cycle

Deadline: June 6, 2022The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (DFP) supports independent nonfiction films from all over the world. Films may be in any language, but we ask that proposals are written in English and that visual materials be subtitled in English.The DFP prioritizes films with budgets under $1,000,000 USD. Creative and editorial control must be held by members of the films’ key creative teams.Link to Apply: https://apply.sundance.org/prog/2022_documentary_fund_fall_cycle/ 

Cinematography Incentive For WomenDeadline: June 5, 2022The AFI Cinematography Intensive for Women (CIW) is a tuition-free, four-day workshop designed for aspiring cinematographers committed to their journey toward a professional career as cinematographers, who have some on-set experience working in the field and are looking for additional training to help them advance in their education, craft and career.Link to Apply: https://conservatory.afi.com/cinematography-intensive-for-women/ 

SHOOT: The New Directors ShowcaseDeadline: June 30, 2022SHOOT is pleased to announce that SHOOT's 20th annual worldwide search to discover the best up-and-coming directors -- who, based on their initial work, show promise to soon make major positive contributions to advertising and/or entertainment in its traditional and emerging forms. This global search is conducted by SHOOT's editorial staff with input from agency and studio creatives & heads of production, as well as commercial and entertainment production company heads and established directors.Link to Apply:  https://nds.shootonline.com/enter-nds 

The Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art GrantsDeadline: June 14, 2022This program provides up to $20,000 for projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories with environmental art projects that inspire thought, action, and ethical engagement.Link to Apply: https://www.nyfa.org/awards-grants/anonymous-was-a-woman-environmental-art-grants/ 

ACE Artist in Residence ProgramDeadline: June 15, 2022Location: Alta, UtahThis residency, open to artists nationwide and all creative disciplines, provides seven days and a $1,000 spend to reflect, relax, and create in the inspiring mountains of Alta, Utah. Residents will receive a $1,000 stipend for supplies, food, travel. Application fee: $10Link to Apply: https://altacommunity.org/artist-in-residence

Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual ArtistsDeadline: June 30, 2022This $10,000 grant, awarded to draw attention to an existing body of work, sheds light on the under-recognized contributions of Black trans women visual artists and provides critical support to their continuing work.Link to Apply: https://www.queer-art.org/illuminations-grant 

Stochastic Labs Summer ResidencyDeadline: rolling basisLocation: Berkeley, CaliforniaThe Stochastic Labs offers fully-sponsored residencies to engineers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs from around the world. Residencies include a private apartment at the mansion, co-working and/or dedicated work space, shop access, a $1,000 monthly stipend and a budget for materials.Links to Apply: https://stochasticlabs.org/residencies/

NARS Studio Relief ProgramLocation: Brooklyn, New YorkDeadline: rolling basisNARS offers a program for artists who are in need of a temporary studio space and unable to afford it. The subsidized studio space is available for 3 months, and is a work-space only.Link to Apply: https://www.narsfoundation.org/studio-relief-program-1 

Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency GrantDeadline: rolling basisDo you have an unanticipated opportunity to present your work? Did you incur an unexpected expense that you didn’t budget for? The Foundation for Contemporary Arts offers Emergency Grants between $200 and $3,000 for visual and performing artists. They review applications once a month, so you can quickly take advantage of momentum or solve any budget errors.Link to Apply: http://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/grants/emergency-grants 

Gottlieb Emergency Grant ProgramDeadline: rolling basisThis emergency grant provides financial assistance to painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation.Link to Apply: https://www.gottliebfoundation.org/emergency-grant 

Eyebeam Center for the Future of JournalismDeadline: rolling basisThe Eyebeam Center for the Future of Journalism (ECFJ) is a grant-making program that supports artists producing innovative and revelatory journalistic work for major media outlets. Grant support will range from $500 to $5,000.Link to Apply: https://www.eyebeam.org/ecfj-apply/

Upcoming Events

June 16th at 6PM join us for a Meet & Greet with Larry Brown, Larry D. Brown II, also known by the stage name Bobby Drake, has been a music producer for himself (having won the Independent Music Awards “”Best Spoken Word” album) and other singer songwriters and artists for over 15 years! He’s looking forward to meeting filmmakers working on developing musical scores for their current films.

• Food for Thought:  This month's Town Hall centered themes of Mental Health in BIPOC Communities.  With Frankies film debuting,  our members discussed creating levity in hard hitting narratives they are currently working on. "How do we introduce comedic relief in dramatic narratives?" and "With everything that is going on in the world today, does the world need more feel good comedies not rooted in trauma?"

Join us on Thursday, June 30th for our next Town Hall! To receive an invitation, make sure you’re in our Slack channel.

Tired of missing out on these awesome opportunities?

J

oin our community

. 

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