Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for HBO
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When: Saturday, September 25, 2021 @ 7PM
Hot Spot: Los Angeles, CA (Location on Members Only)
Deets: HBO Asian Pacific American Visionaries is a short film competition sponsored by HBO that provides emerging directors of Asian and/or Pacific Islander descent the opportunity to showcase their work.
Judged by a panel of HBO executives, industry leaders, and fellow APA filmmakers, the competition seeks to identify cinematic storytellers who offer unique perspectives of the Asian Pacific American experience. The theme for the 2021 APA Visionaries Short Film Competition is “Taking the Lead.” Films should portray Asian Pacific Americans as being at the forefront of a given narrative, embracing the spirits of trailblazers, heroes, and luminaries through a unique lens.
In addition to receiving cash prizes, the three films will be selected to make their premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in September 2021 and offered the opportunity to license their film to premiere exclusively on HBO and stream on HBO via HBO Max.
Film premieres will be at HBO's sole discretion.
About Jessi Gi
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Jesse Gi is a second generation Korean-American writer, director whose stories focus on extraordinary endurance, sacrifice, and unflinching ambition influenced by his immigrant family and community. Jesse graduated from USC's film program and has worked across studios from Lucasfilm, Warner Bros, and CBS.
Jesse wrote, produced, and directed festival selected short films, Beam, a grounded sci-fi, action drama about a teleporting thief, and Neh, a comedy-drama about a Korean-American with no fluent Korean language skills. Jesse is currently preparing his next project, The Show, a suspenseful drama about a rivalry between two high school baseball players.
About Urvashi Pathania
Urvashi Pathania is a writer/director based in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. with Honors in Film Studies from Columbia University and her M.F.A. in Film Production from USC. Her films explore emotions as pathways to knowledge. In 2021, Urvashi was selected for the Google Assistant Storytelling Fellowship in partnership with The Black List. She is also currently in Lena Waithe’s Writers’ Lab. Urvashi’s pilot script, Taj Mahal Restaurant, was recommended and tweeted by The Black List.
About Jess X. Snow
Jess X. Snow is a non-binary film director, artist, poet and community arts educator who creates queer Asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time. Based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY), currently, they are currently an MFA thesis student at NYU Graduate Film as an Ang Lee Scholar.
They bring their background in social movement art, poetry and trauma-informed healing into their film work which has been supported with grants and fellowships from the Tribeca Film Institute, BAFTA, the Smithsonian, and the National Film Board of Canada. Their short films Afterearth, Safe Among Stars and Little Sky screened internationally at over 45 film festivals. Currently they are writing their first feature.
Spotted: Daniel Dae Kim, Jamie Chung, Jimmy Yang, Eric Nam, Jesse Gi, Urvashi Pathania, Jess X. Snow
Hint for the Average Socialite: This event is strictly invite only.
Check out how to score free premiere passes.
The 2021 APA Visionaries films will be available on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, September 27.
What’s Trending: #HBOVisionaries #HBOMax
