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Girl! (High Five Slap)
2008-10-13 1:00PM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
2個評論

That's what Alex and I kept saying to each other in our sisterhood of the traveling pants weekend at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. All I can say is - it was just what the doctor ordered. We were both fuming from stuff that had happened last week and were ready for a getaway. Hookah in Glendale was not enough to take away our pain. First though, we had to stuff ourselves silly in San Gabriel valley - we discovered our new favorite dessert - passion fruit ice jelly drink - I had so much of it, I was literally in physical pain from it nearly bursting out of my stomach. Then we met our friend, Tina, and her boyfriend for a Chinese breakfast (fried bread strips dipped into steaming hot sweet soy milk, thin slices of marinated beef, pickles, and cilantro wrapped in a crumbly sesame cake.) Again, I ate until I was in physical pain.We drove down and tried to check into our hotel, a Best Western, but the clerk at the desk told us our reservation had been canceled by someone else! Turns out it was the festival staff - they had switched us over to the Town and Country hotel, a blast from the past (rat pack cool - palm trees, bright yellow seat cushions and white iron chairs, brown block lettering signs) where all the festival events were taking place. On top of that, they were paying for the hotel room. Cool daddio!We checked in at the festival hospitality suite and met some of the very friendly festival staff, and ate some of the food they provided there - they had all these interesting asian chips and crackers, and juices from the korean market - pear juice, muscat juice up for grabs. And we partook. We sat there, and truly felt we had arrived. Just imagine, I said to Alex, when we met five years ago at the House of Blues at Steve's party and the film was just an idea. Now it's real, and here we were, sitting poolside, enjoying the fruits of our labor.5 long years! Turns out, all the other documentary filmmakers we met said the same thing - "It took 5 years. It was hell." "Everyone kept asking me when I was going to finish the damn thing." But, just like after a long labor - once the baby is born, the pain doesn't seem to matter.Later on that night we attended the gala, and danced to 80's songs (Hungry like the wolf! Hungry like the wolf! Thanks Timo) at the karaoke night.Sunday was the big day. I kept telling Alex, "We could be the only 2 people at the screening," because I truly did not know who was going to show up. Much to our delight, the festival did a great job marketing and getting sponsors, and there was a great turnout by a multicultural crowd. They laughed, they cried. They asked good questions afterwards.On our way back home, Alex and I got into an animated discussion in the car. She was really struck by the statistic that Kristina talked about in the film, about suicide rates among Asian American young women. We talked about the pressure that we felt growing up to be proper, perfect, and poised - like a Miss Chinatown, and how we all had this mask on that hid our true feelings - and how this can drive you crazy! We talked about how life had taught us to reveal more of ourselves and peel away that mask, a sometimes painful process that was ultimately liberating.The day before Alex asked me whether I would make another film. I say, no way. Somehow by the time we got to talking back in San Gabriel Valley and after another order of passion fruit jelly ice, we decided that we wanted to try to make a narrative feature film with a similar theme! Stay tuned...
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Upcoming Screenings
2009-02-17 2:16PM (1 個評論)
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Why?
2009-02-08 4:36AM
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San Diego Asian Film Fest Oct. 12th
2008-10-03 5:14AM
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New Film
2008-06-04 11:17AM (1 個評論)
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Opening Blog
2008-06-04 10:54AM
统计信息
- Stephen Christopher Liu is a social entrepreneur and media executive...Stephen Christopher Liu is a social entrepreneur and media executive. Over his career, he has been successful at spawning, building and scaling a number of innovative enterprises -- both online and offline.
In his latest venture, he serves as the CEO and “Chief Social Capitalist” at Privy, an invitation-only niche social network and online/mobile travel platform targeted at a select group of transpacific executives and key influencers. Through Privy, Stephen has committed to support a handful of Asia-related causes including the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE) and Liberty in North Korea (LiNK).
Prior to Privy, he founded and was President of one of the early streaming video-enabled B2B digital marketplaces catering to the global film and television distribution industry called Reelplay, a Forbes-recognized Top 200 B2B Company. At Reelplay, Stephen was personally responsible for raising close to $6 million in venture capital from a number of Silicon Valley and Hollywood heavyweights, including Softbank Venture Capital and WaterView Advisors, run by Frank Biondi, Jr. (former CEO at Viacom, Universal Studios, and HBO). Moreover, Stephen was able to convince a large portion of the industry (over 25,000 film/tv professionals representing over 30 territories worldwide) to join the Reelplay community.
Prior to Reelplay, Stephen was in consulting and banking. He served as Managing Director of a boutique strategy consultancy alongside a handful of USC business school professors called Change Associates, where he advised senior executives from corporate giants like DaimlerChrysler and Xerox, to media and entertainment nonprofits such as Marketplace Radio and the USC School of Cinema/Television. He began his career at Wells Fargo Bank, where he rose to Assistant Vice President and managed a $60 million portfolio in the Premier Banking Group.
While working a full schedule, Stephen founded the Asian Professional Exchange (APEX) in 1993, served as the organization's founding President from 1993 to 1997, and led the organization from a concept on a napkin to one of the largest Asian Pacific American organizations in United States, now with over 9000 members. Fifteen years later, Liu still remains active in APEX today serving as Chairman of the Board.
His involvement with the Asian American community inspired him to create an informal, not-for-profit 5,000 member social gathering group called Drinks 'n Chatter (DnC) which raises financial support and awareness for mainly Asian American community-based organizations. Since 2004, DnC has helped raised over $40,000 for several worthwhile non-profits.
Stephen owns interests in several other businesses including One Pixel Motion, a digital branding studio specializing in motion design and interactive media; HPI Emblem, a vertically integrated China-based emblem manufacturer serving the U.S. decorated apparel, fashion, promotional products, recognition and uniform markets; and Xing Xing, a Beijing-based venture-backed digital animation company specializing in 3D and Flash animation for film, television and games.
With all this on his plate, Stephen still finds time to serve on the boards and committees of various local community and entertainment organizations. Some of these include, past and present: Asian Excellence Awards Committee, FF Fraternity, Loyola Marymount Media MBA Advisory Board, LMU Center for Asian Business, Junior Achievement Asian Advisory Board, LA Asian Pacific Film/Video Festival Hon. Advisory Board, Golden Gate University Center for East/West Entrepreneurial Studies Board, East West Players New Theatre Campaign.
His varied accomplishments earned Stephen the honor of named “Local Hero” by KCET/Union Bank in 2009 and an “Emerging Leader” by the Asian Pacific Community Fund in 2008. He was also recognized by the Boy Scouts of America as a “Distinguished Citizen” and Goldsea as one of the “Top 40 Young Asian American Professionals”. Most recently, he was honored to give the 2008 graduation commencement speech at the Asian Pacific American Studies School at Loyola Marymount University.
In addition, Stephen is an active commentator on technology, media and Asia -- having spoken at such events as: PPAI, SAAC, Red Herring on Hollywood, Internet Content West, Broadcast Worldwide, IFP, eMediatainment World, Digital Media Wire, CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum and the Softbank Venture Forum (partial list).
Stephen recently produced his first feature documentary film entitled “Yours Truly, Miss Chinatown” which was funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) and will be playing on PBS in the near future. He received his MBA in Organizational Behavior and Operations Management from the Marshall School at University of Southern California (USC) and lives in Hermosa Beach, California.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenchristopherliu
- 職業: 電影/電視監製 , 雜誌編輯 , 每餐點評家
- 性別: 男
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