On May 13, in honor of AAPI Heritage Month, the Eastern Diversity Steering Committee meeting featured the virtual panel Authentically AAPI: Outside the Box and Across Borders.
In an insightful conversation moderated by IDA Award-winning Director Li Lu (A Town Called Victoria), Chris Quintos Cathcart, the founding Co-CEO of Unapologetic Projects; Jean Tsien, an Oscar-nominated (Island in Between) and Emmy-winning (76 Days) Producer and a governor of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; and Christine Yi, the Manager of Creative Equity Fund & Narrative Change at Gold House, shared their expertise on spotlighting diverse stories via various formats to reach mainstream success, and strategies on releasing creative content that pushes for positive and sustainable change.
During the discussion, Quintos Cathcart shared that she started as an actor, but at the time there were no parts for her. She wanted to figure out where a younger version of herself could have more opportunities playing multi-dimensional parts. She feels fortunate to have access to funding to help storytellers get their projects made.
Explaining how her organization chooses the stories they tell, Yi revealed, “The options we get are through the access we get through our various programs. We have a multi-year program at Sundance to fund underrepresented projects. We also piloted the Gold Pitch series at TIFF where we have a stage and have filmmakers come and pitch. Over half of our attendees connect with someone at those events. The stories we choose should have the right level of commercial appeal and that we have chemistry with filmmaker because this is someone we will work with throughout their project.”
Tsien gave advice to filmmakers on how to navigate these uncertain times politically and within the industry and stated, “There is no shame in going on Medicare, no shame in taking non-directing work.” She advised Directors to take editing jobs, “just don’t give up. This is storytellers time of retreat, time to refuel,” so that they can be ready to tell stories when the time is right.
About the Committee:
The Eastern Diversity Steering Committee represents the concerns of Guild members of African, Asian, Native American, Arab-Middle Eastern or Latino descent residing in the East. Committed to improving the employment opportunities, working conditions and the skills of ethnically diverse Guild members, the Committee sponsors workshops, seminars, round-table discussions and networking events to showcase the talents of its members, recognize their contributions and increase their visibility in the industry. The Committee’s current Co-Chairs are Directors Seith Mann and Bertha Bay-Sa Pan and UPM Canella Williams-Larrabee.
