AWC Spotlight | So Young Shelly Yo

AWC Spotlight | So Young Shelly Yo

So Young Shelly Yo is a first-generation, Korean American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her short films have screened and received accolades at film festivals around the world, including LAAPFF. As an AWC fellow, she challenged herself with making a short documentary after a number of widely-screened and award-winning narrative shorts.

Read more about Shelly’s AWC fellowship experience, her first feature film, and what she has been up to!

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AWC Spotlight | Kristina Wong

AWC Spotlight | Kristina Wong

Performance artist, comedian, writer, and Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama, Kristina Wong describes her aesthetic as “subversive, humorous, and endearingly inappropriate”, Wong employs humor to address difficult subjects, social issues, and amplify marginalized experiences.

Read more about how AWC shaped the future of Kristina’s performance work and what projects she has been working on.

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AWC Spotlight | Jeff Man

AWC Spotlight | Jeff Man

A Maryland-raised, Los Angeles-based filmmaker, Jeff Man attributes his success as an artist to the community and friends he made through VC and his 2012 AWC Fellowship. After writing and directing Santa Claus (2017), which received a Special Jury Mention at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, Jeff is excited to continue his career and direct his first feature-length film in 2023.

Read more about how participating in AWC, LAAPFF, and being a Digital Histories instructor shaped Jeff into the person and artist he is today.

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AWC Spotlight | Brandon Soun

AWC Spotlight | Brandon Soun

As a second-generation Cambodian American raised in Cambodia Town, Brandon attributed his passion for filmmaking to its ability to empower communities. When Brandon Soun made his short documentary Cambodia Town: Not for Sale in 2019, he did not expect it to become the first of a trilogy.

Read more about Brandon, his love and ties to the community, his learnings during the making of these short films and what the community can achieve when people come together.

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AWC Spotlight | Shaun Vivaris

AWC Spotlight | Shaun Vivaris

Shaun Vivaris, a New York-raised and Los Angeles-based filmmaker, has found his community after his 2016–2017 Armed With a Camera Fellowship. A natural storyteller and formerly aspiring novelist who makes genre-bending fantasies that have screened at multiple international film festivals, Shaun strives in his works for authentic Asian American characters and stories beyond mere representation.

In light of the release of his first feature film Lisa Mania on August 23, we checked in with Shaun and discussed his career since his AWC Fellowship, the making of Lisa Mania, his creative process and how he found a community through VC.

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