Charles Son

Charles Son is a director based at Pictures in a Row, a production and editorial company in Hollywood, California. He has worked on a broad range of projects including narrative films, documentaries, and commercials. In addition to directing, he is an award-winning commercial editor as well as a music video cinematographer. He began his filmmaking career by making short films with his parents' camcorder as a young kid in suburban Ohio. Those films have all mysteriously disappeared into a shoebox in a basement somewhere — never to be seen again. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Eugene Lee Yang

Eugene Lee Yang (also known as ELY) is a narrative filmmaker who works as a freelance director, editor, and choreographer for music videos and commercials. ELY is known for his unique cinematic point of view, often seamlessly blending narrative, dance, and contemporary social issues. He founded his own production company, The Menagerie, in 2012 where he serves as Executive Producer and Creative Director, working with a diverse array of music artists and organizations. He was the Grand Prize winner of the LG Fame US contest, received an Honorable Mention in the Vanity Fair/Banana Republic commercial short film awards, and was a Fellow in Film Independent’s Project Involve program. Eugene received his B.A. in Cinematic Arts Production from the University of Southern California.

Evelyn Lee

Before Evelyn Lee could walk, she was crawling around with crayons in her hands attacking any clean wall she could get to. That passion eventually led her to attend the MFA program in Animation at Cal Arts where her thesis film, Kanizsa Hill, won several awards and screened at various festivals.  She has worked at several postproduction and animation studios where she worked on numerous features films, television episodes, and commercial spots as a visual effects artist, a designer, and an animator.  She recently began to direct viral spots and branded short films for various clients while developing her script for a feature film.  She attended the 2012 Berlinale Talent Campus and was a Film Independent Fellow in 2013.

G Erin O'Brien

Genevieve Erin O'Brien is a Queer Vietnamese/Irish/American artist, culinary adventurer, community organizer, and educator. O'Brien lives and works in Los Angeles and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She holds an MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  In 2009, O'Brien was a Fulbright Fellow in Vietnam. O'Brien uses performance, video and installation to explore notions of “home” and “homeland”.  Her conceptual and durational performances, one-woman shows, as well as installations and videos have been presented at galleries and public venues both nationally and internationally.  She believes in unicorns and also loves noodles and dumplings.

Justin Tan

My name is Justin Tan, a Malaysian-American comedian/filmmaker, based in LA. At seventeen, I produced my first feature film, which has played at festivals worldwide. I received my BA in Film Directing from UCLAʼs School of Theater, Film, and Television and have worked as a PA/Writers PA on NBC’s “The Office,” “Guys with Kids,” and Foxʼs “New Girl.” Most recently, I worked at 20th TV as the Development Assistant to Ruben Fleischer. As a comedian, I was a Finalist in the Laugh Factoryʼs Laugh Bowl competition and perform improv comedy weekly at The Improv Space.

Masami Kawai

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Masami Kawai is a filmmaker and activist. She participated in Film Independent’s diversity program, Project Involve, and was a selected director in the Francis Ford Coppola One-Act play series. She is currently working on a documentary about her father, who was a Los Angeles based artist from the Pacific island of Amami and was part of the L.A. minimalist movement. She is also developing a feature script about a Korean-American family set against the 1992 L.A. uprising. She received her MFA from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and BA from Hampshire College.

Nicole Miyahara

Nicole Miyahara is a filmmaker from the Silicon Valley who specializes in documentary and ethnographic media. She holds a BA in anthropology and recently completed a MA in visual anthropology at the University of Southern California. There she produced and directed “The Making of a King,” which examines the experiences and challenges of drag kings in Los Angeles. Her future plans are to pursue a PhD in Anthropology and Media Studies. In her spare time she enjoys exploring Los Angeles, making jewelry, and a tasty Manhattan.

Soo-Hyun Chung

Soo-Hyun Chung was born in Seoul, Korea and began working in the film and television industry in the mid ‘90s. She is a 2008 Film Independent Screenwriters Lab Fellow for her screenplay, Groupie. For ten years, she was a senior writer/director in the MTV On Air Promos department, where her work won her a Creativity Gold. She was the writer/director for many of the most popular MTV Artist of the Week series, a ground breaking effort to bring music back to the channel. These artists included: Tegan and Sara, MIA, Yelle, Gossip and Santigold. While still a student at NYU, she wrote the lead piece for the Village Voice’s “Rock and Roll Quarterly” about her experience as a Korean female on tour with Ice-T. She also worked in publicity for nine inch nails and Marilyn Manson, while writing for magazines such as Mixmag, Surface, Big, One World, and more.

Raymond Lai

In 2011, Raymond Lai graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Production. His thesis film, the award-winning live-action/animated sitcom pilot At Your Convenience, which he co-wrote and directed, has screened at festivals across the country.  He is currently developing his first feature, the coming of age dramedy Kaiman’s First Cut, which was selected for Project Catalyst at the 2013 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and is also directing and producing a documentary about the World Chinese Basketball Invitational Tournament, an annual basketball tournament for Chinese men and women over the age of 40.

Rahat Mahajan

After finishing my schooling at a British boarding school in the Indian mountains, I shifted base to the city of Mumbai to pursue my studies in Mass Media. After working extensively with the renowned Indian filmmaker ‘Vishal Bhardwaj’ as an assistant director for almost tree years, I also had the opportunity to edit theatrical trailers for three Bollywood films and numerous television advertisements, write plays and make my own independent Documentaries, Short Films and Music videos - a few of which have secured awards at festivals in the international arena. I’m presently honing my filmmaking skills at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena.