“Celebrating APA Heritage Month, Frame by Frame”
Flushing Town Hall today announced the selected films to be honored at this year’s Crazy Talented Asians & Friends animation shorts showcase, “Celebrating APA Heritage Month, Frame by Frame,” a hybrid in-person and YouTube live stream event on Friday, May 13th at 6:00 PM (EDT). The evening program also features a live conversation with the artists to share their stories.
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Flushing Town Hall is excited to continue promoting works by emerging and professional Asian-heritage artists with the return of Crazy Talented Asians & Friends. Asian/Asian American artists and their stories need to be heard and cherished, especially in these times,” says Ellen Kodadek, Flushing Town Hall’s Executive & Artistic Director. “We have been a strong advocate of arts equity since 1979, supporting local, immigrant, national, and international artists. We develop partnerships and collaborations to bring people together by presenting arts and culture from around the world. Highlighting Asian/Asian American perspectives and talents is an important part of our mission.
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This year’s selected animation shorts, representing the top 3% of the several hundreds of submissions, were chosen by a panel of seasoned professionals for their extraordinary storytelling, art direction, animation, production, and sound design. In addition to their creative visuals and soundtracks, these films present a range of stories and experiences as diverse as the APA community itself. These include, among others:
Dog Person, is about a daughter who came to understand why her father raises their dog differently, by Chen-Yi Liu.
Hopper’s Day, tells the story of a tiny cricket’s struggle in achieving its dream of bringing water to the thirsty grassland, by Jingqi Zhang.
In Notice Notes, with the vibrant chili red pepper notice notes, you will never lose a thing, by Winnie Lu.
Perfect Restaurant, tells the story of a fly wreaking havoc on a family's dinner at a restaurant, by Aiken Chau
The Last Stop, is about a lone commuter trapped in a speeding train, by Bervyn Chua
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This year’s Selected Animation Shorts are listed below. The program on May 13th will only screen some of the selected films, due to limited time.
● “Dijiang’s Tale,” Junyan Liu
● “Dog Person,” Chen-Yi Liu
● “Dream,” Giang Hoàng
● “Fish Head,” Jocelyn Tang
● “Grandmother’s Beautiful Boy,” Lauren Gregorio
● “Hopper’s Day,” Jingqi Zhang
● “In Tandem,” Samar Chen
● “JUNK, “ Rose Kang
● “Notice Notes,” Winnie Lu
● “One Way Ticket,” Jia Ron Li
● “Perfect Restaurant,” Aiken Chau
● “Reconnection,” Rebekah Chew and Tong Xin Zhou
● “Revival,” Diszy Lee
● “Sincereality,” Arufa@
● “The Best Friend,” Clara Chou
● “The Gate,” Kino Jin
● “The Last Stop,” Bervyn Chua
● “Timmy’s Monster,” Agnes Ho
● “Tin Harr Taai Ping,” Chun Hei Mok
● “Unsaid Words,” Stark Xin Zhao
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This year’s jury is led by Ms. Hsiang Chin Moe, an artist and educator with experience in higher education, production, technology, and management. In addition to being the BFA Animation Chair at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she also serves on the board of Women in Animation as the Chair for Education where her direct focus is to provide the support and resources for students as well as educators to reach the goal of empowering and advocating for people of underrepresented gender identities in the art, technology, production, and business of animation, inspiring excellence and justice in all facets of the industry. The jury panel also includes (in alphabetical order):
● Ching Ho is a visual artist, motion graphics designer and video editor based in New York City. Her work investigates the relationship between visual perceptions and sound experiences using various media and techniques. Her works are not constrained by any one style, ideology or medium, due to her multicultural background influences and supports her diverse aesthetic.
● Gonzalo Janer is a Colombian character animator and motion graphics artist, currently working at Nickelodeon and teaching animation at ESPOL (Guayaquil - Ecuador). He is passionate about programming and the technical aspects of animation: making art through code and scripting tools to aid his workflow.
● Rebecca Kuo is a visual effects artist, currently the Pipeline Technical Director at Industrial Light & Magic in Sydney Australia.
● Min Liu is an animation artist based in New York. She focuses on hand-drawn cel animation. Her style is unique and with a dark sense of humor. In 2019, she created her first solo exhibition TANGIBLE in Dumbo, New York. Her clients include Adult Swim, Vans, Google, LELO, Texas Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Calvin Klein, MTV, and more. Her works were showcased in several exhibitions and programs in New York, Europe and Brazil.
● Chi-Sui Wang, Executive Curator of Kuandu International Animation Festival, also an Associate Professor at Taipei National University of Arts. Professor Wang’s artwork have been shown in several solo exhibits in Taiwan and in the UK.
● Wendy Cong Zhao is an independent artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She has been working and teaching in the animation field since 2011. She started her career as an editor and compositor at Signe Baumane’s Studio. She also worked as the senior producer at Bill Plympton Studio. Her animated documentary "My First Sessions" was published by The New Yorker. She recently directed two music videos for Verve Records, including “Cheek to Cheek” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
“It is my greatest honor to celebrate the APA Heritage Month for the third year by collaborating with the festival. Year to year, along with the jury panel, I get to enjoy and cheer for all the amazing stories in the art form of animation created by the Asian/Asian-American filmmakers near and far. Their visions and creativity are what drive our global culture forward. I am very grateful all the industry professionals can join me put this amazing lineup together and I truly hope the audience would denjoy this journey of imagination, whether it’s in-person or online”