Creative Portfolio

I have made several films, including the award-winning documentary, Homecoming, about my grandmother from Malaysia. My films have been screened internationally at film festivals, art galleries, public libraries, and conferences. I also taught documentary filmmaking courses at the University of California, Los Angeles; films from those courses are screened at film festivals and shown in Asian American Studies college classes.

(from) A Community of Friends

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A Community of Friends

A Community of Friends, a film showcasing determination and perseverance, is about a community's struggle to build a public library in Los Angeles Chinatown. In 1997 after lobbying the LA City Council and rallying the Chinese American community for seven years, a "community of friends" realized their dream of a library in their neighborhood.

Homecoming

Set in the Chinese diaspora, Homecoming tells a personal and universal story. The film explores the filmmaker's relationship with her grandmother from Malaysia. It is an intimate video diary that weaves family photographs and home movies with contemporary video as it explores the displacement and loss felt by immigrants and their descendants when leaving a homeland and settling in another country.

(from) Homecoming

Awards

• 2005 Platinum Remi Award, Best Short Documentary – Houston World Fest, TX
• 2005 Best Documentary Award – Berkeley Video and Film Festival, CA

Film Festivals (selected)

• Baltimore Women’s Film Festival, Baltimore, MD | October 2007
• International Festival of Cinema and Technology, Jacksonville, FL | October 2007
• Boulder Asian American Film Festival, Boulder, CO | February 2007
• Poppy Jasper Film Festival, Morgan Hill, CA | November 2006
• Alogonqiun Film Festival, Warrington, PA | October 2006
• Big Bear Lake International Film Festival, Big Bear, CA | August 2006
• Asian Pacific American Film Festival of Dallas, Dallas, TX | August 2006
• GLOBIANS Potsdam World and Culture Documentary Film Festival, Germany | August 2005 – Opening Night Film
• VC FILM FEST, Los Angeles Asian American Film & Video Festival, CA | May 2005
• S.L.A.P. (Salt Lake Asian Pacific) Film Festival, Salt Lake City, UT | April 2005
• DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, Eugene, OR | February 2005

Special Screenings (selected)

• “Housing Memory” – A Graduate Student Conference, University of Toronto, Faculty of Information, Ontario, Canada | March 2009• 2008 ALISE (Association of Library and Information Science Educators) Conference, Philadelphia, PA | January 2008
• 2007 American Library Association Spectrum Leadership Institute, Alexandria, VA June 2007• Grant H. Brimhall Library, Thousand Oaks, CA – A Public Library Community Event celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month | May 2007
• “Public Eyes / Private Lenses: Visualizing the Chinese in Indonesia and North America” – An International Workshop, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada | February 2007
• SCOR (Student of Color or Rackham) Professional and Graduate Student Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI | February 2006
• Bergamont Station, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA | June 2005
• Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) National Conference, Los Angeles, CA | April 2005
• UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, James Bridges Theater | January 2005
• Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan | June 2004