Three Columbia Films Premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Three films, written and directed by students and alumni, premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, running September 25 to October 30. They are, Lonely Blue Night, written, directed and edited by alumnus Johnson Cheng '20, produced by alumna Apoorva Charan '18 and associate produced by alumnus Ewing Luo '18, Death of Nintendo, written and produced by alumna Valerie Castillo Martinez '16 and edited by alumnus Cyril Aris '17, and Mirror, written and directed by student Christina Yoon and produced by alumnus Jungyoon Kim '20.

Mirror is screening virtually through October 31. The trailer is available here and the interview an Christina Yoon for NPR Atlanta's City Lights programwith NPR can be found here. Mirror is about a Korean woman who’s insecure about a large scar on her cheek. When she’s in public, she hides the scar under a mask. In an attempt to get the scar removed, she visits a black market hospital known as “Hallelujah Hospital.” She wants to remove the scar, but she’s pressured to have her entire face changed. Song is faced with the dilemma to either undergo surgery or learn to love the skin she’s in.

Christina Yoon is a Korean American writer, director, and editor from New York and Atlanta. After graduating from NYU Tisch, Christina worked in South Korea where she directed branded content for Johnnie Walker and worked in creative development for Korean music videos and web dramas. Her short films have been official selections at numerous film festivals including Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, and more.

Jungyoon Kim is a film producer currently based in New York City. He has produced narrative films in South Korea, Taiwan, and the US. These films have showcased at festivals such as Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Busan International Film Festival. Prior to enrolling in the Creative Producing MFA program at Columbia University, Jungyoon worked on Emmy Award-winning television shows such as Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent as a production coordinator. Jungyoon is also a veteran who has served in the Republic of Korea Army as a sergeant and a squad leader.

Lonely Blue Night premiered last month as part of HBO's Asian Pacific American Visionaries showcase. Johnson was recently interviewed about the film for HBO, and it is available for streaming on HBO Max. It also screened virtually at the AFI Film Festival from October 16 to 22, in the Short Film Competition. Starring Diana Lin from The Farewell, Lonely Blue Night is a portrait of a Chinese family in which the consequences of a mother’s decision to leave her daughter in the care of an American homestay family are slowly unearthed when they reunite for a family/business dinner on one lonely blue night.

Johnson Cheng is a Chinese American writer/director hailing from the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County. After receiving his BA in International Relations, he joined Columbia University’s MFA Film Directing/Screenwriting program. His short film, Iron Hands, premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and his films have collectively screened at over 100 international film festivals, including Tribeca, TIFF Kids, Reykjavík, Nashville, and Palm Springs. He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award (Cary Grant Film Award) and an alumnus of the NYFF Artist Academy, Telluride Student Symposium, Reykjavík Transatlantic Talent Lab and VC’s Armed With a Camera Fellowship.

Apoorva Charan is an LA-based producer who started her career at FremantleMedia Singapore, where she worked on several television series, including Asia’s Got Talent, before pursuing her MFA at Columbia University. During her time at Columbia, Charan produced multiple short films. Her credits include Life Coach, licensed to Gaia TV, Distance, which premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival, and Interiors, which premiered at TIFF 2018. Charan’s producing projects include Gulaab, a feature film set in Pakistan, which participated in the Open Doors Hub at Locarno and AKRA, a limited series set in coastal India.

Ewing Luo is a former investment banker turned filmmaker. Ewing has written, directed, and produced Peacemaker from Nanking, an International Emmy Award winner for the “Women Peacemaker” category of the year 2017. Her short film Summer with Monkey King has competed and screened in over 10 countries worldwide, and won the Best Family Film award at Vkratze!, Days of German & Russian Short Films in Volgograd, Russia, and the Best Narrative Award at SFC Women’s Film Festival in New York City. Her producing credits include The Last, the Sundance award-winning director Jeff Lipsky's 7th feature film which premiered at Chicago Jewish Film Festival, A Toy Car, and ill.

Death of Nintendo also recently screened at the Asian American International Film Festival and the Urbanworld Film Festival, and it will screen at the Hawai'i International Film Festival from November 5 to 29, and the San Diego Asian Film Festival from November 7 to 16. Martinez was recently interviewed about the film for Film Independent. Centered around teenage friendship and burgeoning self-exploration—the beginnings of romantic relationships, family drama, and video game obsessions, Death of Nintendo comes from a deeply personal place for Martinez, who grew up in the Philippines. 

Valerie Castillo Martinez is a Filipina-American writer and producer. With her recent work playing in top festivals such as Venice, Toronto, Busan and winning multiple awards around the globe, she is an original and innovative emerging talent in the creative and producing space. She has an MBA from Wilmington University, an MFA in Film from Columbia University in New York and is a US Air Force veteran. She started IndieFlip to make films on underrepresented communities and subjects with cross cultural themes.

Cyril Aris is a Lebanese Director & Screenwriter and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His feature documentary, The Swing, 2018, premiered in Karlovy Vary and won awards in El-Gouna, Rome, London, Budapest and Tunisia. His fiction short, The President’s Visit, 2017, premiered in Toronto at TIFF and won awards in Dubai, Nashville, and the National Board of Review. He is in development for It’s a Sad and Beautiful World, recipient of a development grant from the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderun in Germany, selected at the TIFF Filmmaker Lab, the Nantucket Screenwriter Colony, the CineGouna platform in Egypt, a residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris, and winner of the ART award at the Beirut Cinema Platform.