December 5, 2018
Los Angeles
The Courage Under Fire Award from the International Documentary Association honors documentary filmmaker Stephen Maing, at the IDA's annual awards, December 8 in Los Angeles.
Maing is honored for his explosive documentary exposing the New York police department's racially discriminatory policing practices.
A class action suit by twelve minority whistleblower officers revealed the NYPD's practice of pressuring minority officers to issue predetermined numbers of arrests and summonses per month, often in communities of color it classified as 'high crime.'
Stephen Maing is an Emmy-nominated, Brooklyn-based filmmaker. His 2012 feature documentary, High Tech, Low Life, chronicled the gripping story of two of China's first dissident citizen-journalists fighting state-monitored censorship, and was broadcast nationally on PBS.
His short film The Surrender, produced with Academy Award winner Laura Poitras, documented State Department intelligence analyst Stephen Kim's harsh prosecution under the Espionage Act, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary.
He has directed numerous films for Time Magazine, The Nation, The New York Times, The Intercept, PBS and Field of Vision; his New York Times Op-Docs documentary, Hers to Lose, was awarded a World Press Photo Award for Long Features.
Maing is a Sundance Institute Fellow, a John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Reporting Fellow, and an IDA...
Unveiled at town hall honoring 50th anniversary of Chinese for Affirmative Action
San Francisco Bay Area newscasters, editors, reporters, producers, podcasters, filmmakers and pioneer internet content creators came together to mark the emergence of Asian American journalists in mainstream news media where there none before 50 years ago.
Hollywood
September 15, 2017
by Suzanne Kai
The controversial practice of whitewashing movies has been going on for nearly a century in Hollywood.
In the 1930's even the starring role of the Charlie Chan movies, scripted to be a Chinese man, was given to white actors pretending to play Chinese men.
Fast forward to 2017 - Ed Skrein, an English actor and rapper, wins the "Hellboy" movie role of Major Ben Saimio, a character of Japanese heritage in the original comic books.
Social media erupted negatively to his casting.
Unlike actors who won and defended their roles which were originally written as Asian characters, such as Scarlett Johansspn (Ghost in the Shell), Tilda Swinton (Doctor Strange), Matt Damon (The Great Wall), and Emma Stone (Aloha) Ed Skrein gave his role back.
Ed received favorable social media reaction, and Daniel York, writer for Time Magazine wrote this commentary Skrein is setting an example other actors should follow. If only more people in the industry had his integrity, courage and common humanity.
Ed Skrein issued the message below.
Skrein is best known in America for his role as Daario Naharis in the third season of Game of Thrones, and his roles in The Transporter Refueled, and Deadpool. Now he is known for
"It is clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people, and that to...
by Suzanne Kai
July 5, 2017
A year after the 2016 Oscars ceremony host Chris Rock made stereotypical jokes out of the Asian American kids on stage - Asian actors are still fighting for parity and roles.
Actors Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, co-stars on the CBS series 'Hawaii Five-0' since 2010 asked for equal pay to that of their white co-stars, Alex O'Laughlin and Scott Caan.
According to Variety, CBS' final offer was 10 to 15 percent lower than what O'Loughlin and Caan are paid.
Grace played Kono Kalakaua, and Daniel's character was Chin Ho Kelly. They acted in all of the 168 episodes of the series.
Daniel Dae Kim posted on his Facebook page on July 5, 2017: (excerpt from a longer message to his fans)
By now many of you have heard the news, and I’m sad to say it is true. I will not be returning to Hawaii Five-0 when production starts next week. Though I made myself available to come back, CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue.
As sad as it feels to say goodbye, what I feel most is gratitude. I am so deeply thankful to our crew, writers and everyone associated with the show – and especially the cast, who have been nothing but supportive through this entire process. They and the crew have been my second family for seven years and I wish them nothing but success for season 8 - and beyond.
I also want to say thank you to Peter Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and everyone at CBS. I will...
Beverly Hills, CA
Congratulations to all of the 2013 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invitees.
"These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today," said Academy President Hawk Koch. "Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy. Invitees who accept their invitation to join will be eligible to vote in the annual Oscars.
The 276 invitees for 2013 include 12 names with Asian surnames that could be informally determined from the official Academy list.
The 2013 invitees include actors Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh, CEO of Warner Bros Entertainment Kevin Tsujihara, documentary filmmaker Michael Chin, and composer and music director Joe Hisaishi who is a frequent collaborator to animation director Hayao Miyazaki ("Ponyo,""Spirited Away").
In 2012, the overall list was 100 names shorter than 2013's. Only 7 people with Asian surnames made the 2012 list of 176 invitees including (Actor) Michelle Yeoh (“The Lady,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), (Cinematographer) Larry Fong ("Super 8,” “300”), (Cinematographer) Toyomichi Kurita ("Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family," "Waiting to Exhale"), (Director) Wong Kar Wai (“My Blueberry Nights,” “In the Mood for Love”), (Music) Ryuichi Sakamoto (“Love Is the Devil,” “The Last...