MAEGAN HOUANG — Writer & Director

Maegan Houang is a writer and director from East Lansing, MI. She grew up watching Hong Kong movies her father showed her on repeat. The films offered a glimpse into the culture of her extended family that lived thousands of miles away.

Maegan has directed several acclaimed music videos. Her video for Mitski’s “Happy” was featured as #3 Best of the Year in Fact Magazine. Tom Breihan of Stereogum said that if he had made a best music video directors of 2016 List, her name would be #1. Her video for Skylar Spence’s “I Can’t Be Your Superman” received a Vimeo Staff Pick and was nominated for a UKMVA. Her work has been featured in 1.4, Noisey, Videostatic, Promo TV News, Shots Magazine, and Fangoria among others. She recently finished working on the Starz show Counterpart as a staff writer on Season Two. Website here.

EMMY EVES — Production Designer

Emmy Eves is a production designer and art director based out of Los Angeles. After receiving a BFA from the Pratt institute in Fine Arts with a double major in Fine Art and Film, Emmy worked in the art world and fashion industry In NYC and London before moving to LA to pursue production design. Feature credits include And While We Were Here, Life Happens, Shoot the Moon and 2nd Take. She has also worked on commercials for clients such as Nike, Lowes, Fender, GAP, and Mattel as well as on music videos for Beach House, Ra Ra riot, Raphael Saadiq and Banks. She enjoys the uniquely collaborative and immersive creative process of production design and seeks to continue to work across a wide variety of media platforms.

VANESSA ELLIOTT — Producer

Vanessa Elliott is a Filipino-American producer and director with a lifelong passion for filmmaking. After receiving a degree in Film and Media at the University of California, Berkeley, she moved to Los Angeles to launch her career in film production. Over the past 7 years she has produced shorts, music videos, commercials and documentaries for companies like Netflix, Vice Media, Radical Media, Pulse Films and MOCAtv. She currently works as a Production and Development Executive at Delirio Films, a boutique production company that specializes in character-driven, feature documentaries.  Vanessa seeks to produce and direct films that inform, inspire, and place characters above all else.

ROBERT OUYANG RUSLI — Composer

Robert Ouyang Rusli is an artist & composer based in Brooklyn, NY. He is a recipient of the 2017 Van Lier Fellowship for Music Composition. He recently scored the award-winning 2017 Trinidadian film Moko Jumbie that premiered at LA Film Festival, and the 2017 documentary Corridor Four which won Best Feature Documentary at Washington West Film Festival. His score for the feature documentary Good Game won Best Original Score at the IndieCapitol Film Festival in 2015. Rob has composed music for films, exhibitions and art projects featured in the Queens Museum, BAM Next Wave Festival, BAMCinématek, Dixon Place, and Ensemble Studio Theater.

KIEU CHINH — Lead

Kieu Chinh is a legendary Vietnamese-American actress with over five decades of international contributions to the motion picture industry.  She has appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows such as M*A*S*H and The Joy Luck Club. She has received numerous accolades and awards including:  Best Actress of South Vietnam (1969) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vietnamese International Film Festival (2003), San Diego Film Festival (2006) and San Francisco Film Festival of the Globe (2015).  

She is also the president, co-chair, and co-founder of the Vietnam Children’s Fund (VCF) along with journalist Terry Anderson.  This non-profit organization has built more than 50 schools in Vietnam providing education annually for more than 30,000 students. Website here.

CHRISTOPHER RIPLEY — Cinematographer

Christopher Ripley is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer. He has shot award-winning short films, features, music videos and commercials throughout the US and globally.

Christopher is a member of IATSE Local 600.

Website here.

GUS SPELMAN — Editor

Gus Spelman is a Chicago-based editor whose work has won awards from Cannes Lions, The Webbys, and NYTVF, among others. In a former life, Gus was Senior Producer and Editor at the Onion, and helped launch the website Clickhole.

Website here.

JOHN J. LOZADA — Producer

John J. Lozada is a Colombian filmmaker who moved to the United States in 2005 to pursue a career in graphic design. After working in the hospitality industry in Miami for over 10 years, he realized his true passion was to become a producer. He went back to school at the Miami Media School and got a degree in Radio and TV production. He has worked as a production manager on numerous short films, TV shows, and feature films. This is his third project as a producer.