Author: Quentin Lee

Born and raised in New York City’s Chinatown, Chinese American Jameson (“Jami”) Gong moved to Hong Kong in 2006 to care for his aging mother. The very next year, he founded TakeOut Comedy, Asia’s first full-time stand-up comedy club. As TakeOut Comedy celebrates its milestone 19th anniversary in Hong Kong, CHOPSO sits down with Gong to discuss his enduring comedic legacy bridging America and China.

On April 7, 2026, a group of parents from my son’s elementary school submitted a formal complaint regarding a racial slur incident at Camp Pali. The incident occurred during a Grade 5 sleep-away camp attended by graduating students from Mark Keppel Elementary, where Korean American students from the Dual Language Immersion (DLI) class were targeted. This event was the boiling point of a systemic issue regarding the general treatment of Korean American and DLI students by both faculty and peers. The incident triggered an independent legal investigation, and we have just received the official report detailing the findings and allegations.

As Jay Diaz’s debut feature Angeleno prepares to make its world premiere at the Los Angeles film festival Dances With Films on June 20, 2026, I took the opportunity to interview director Jay Diaz and my friend Kevin Huie, who produced the film together on a shoestring budget. Kevin is also a fellow member of both the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy. Bringing an independent feature to its world premiere at a major film festival is no small accomplishment, making their achievement all the more impressive and worthy of celebration.

On Sunday, May 31, 2026, I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Across the Industry, an AAPI Heritage Month Celebration, a networking party hosted by fellow Producers Guild of America and Television Academy members Augie Max Vargas and Narumi Inatsugu at Rideback Ranch. It was a truly inclusive and inspiring afternoon, where I reunited with friends I first met in the industry more than 30 years ago, including Steve Tao, Michael Goi, and Adele Yoshioka, while also connecting with a new generation of rising talent such as actor Aidan du Chiem, actor Elizabeth Trieu, and intimacy coordinator Olivia Ku. As a filmmaker who has worked in this industry for over three decades, what a wonderful way to wrap up AAPI Heritage Month 2026.

Being a member of the Television Academy has given me the privilege of watching as many American television series as possible during Emmy® FYC season. I stopped watching television after coming to the U.S. for college because I didn’t own a TV. It wasn’t until Netflix began streaming in the 2000s that I started watching television again. We are truly living in the golden age of television. I probably wouldn’t have returned to watching TV if not for streaming, which allowed me to binge entire series at my own pace. I honestly don’t understand how people once waited an entire week for a new episode to air. What a waste of time!? Here’re my favorite television series this Emmy® FYC Season.

Today, I moderated the Q&A for the world theatrical premiere of Kintsukuroi at the historic Gardena Cinema, hosted by Judy Kim, alongside an enthusiastic and deeply moved audience. It was also my first time experiencing the 130-minute historical epic on the big screen, and as a double immigrant to Canada and later America in the 1980s, the film resonated with me on a profoundly personal level as a double immigrant to Canada and then America. More than a story about the complex and diverse Japanese American communities impacted by internment during and after World War II, the film speaks powerfully to generations of Asian Americans and immigrants navigating identity, displacement, survival, and belonging in North America.

As an independent filmmaker, I watched Kerwin Berk’s 130-minute historical epic Kintsukuroi — made on a bare-bones budget of just USD $30,000 — and was so deeply impressed that I decided to take it on for distribution. I also chose to present its world premiere theatrical screening as a benefit event for Judy Kim’s family-owned Gardena Cinema on Saturday, May 16 at 2:30 p.m. As a fellow indie filmmaker, I truly believe audiences deserve to experience not only Kintsukuroi, but also Berk’s debut features Infinity and Chashu Ramen. In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, both films will begin streaming worldwide on May 19 via AAM.tv.

In 2016 — perhaps even earlier — while I was developing my now-defunct Chinese feature Morning, Paris! in Beijing, I met Ludi Lin, then a starry-eyed young actor with unmistakable charisma. Over the past decade, we’ve stayed close as friends, and honestly, I’ve rarely witnessed an actor’s trajectory evolve with such dynamism, discipline, and sheer cinematic momentum. When Ludi decided to venture into stand-up comedy, I introduced him to my comedy partner-in-crime, Keith Nahanee, who invited him to perform live at Vancouver’s Rez Comedy showcase. Later, when financing finally aligned for Season 3 of Comedy InvAsian, Ludi was one of the very first people I called about joining the ensemble.

As a filmmaker and a fan of Japanese media since my childhood in Hong Kong, I haven’t encountered a more compelling and cinematic work from Japan in years—until Netflix’s Straight to Hell, a nine-part series now streaming worldwide. As a film student, I’ve studied masters such as Kurosawa and Ozu, and I was reintroduced to the power of Japanese cinema during the first wave of J-horror in the late ’90s, with films like The Ring, The Grudge, and the Tomie series. After that, there seemed to be a two-decade void—until Straight to Hell, where cinema, television, and the internet converge in a near-perfect union.

Queer Canadian filmmaker Desiree Lim banded with three queer youths to launch a new podcast, redefining what queer thriving looks like. Queer Becomings: Beyond Survival spotlights bold, brilliant voices who have moved beyond simply surviving and into lives shaped by the courageous act of self-discovery.