Category: Entertainment

In a hip-hop class at Millennium Dance Complex, I met Diane Paloma Eskenazi, a veteran animator who casually mentioned that she founded her company, Golden Films, in the 1990s and has been producing and directing animated films for more than three decades. Her remarkable career instantly caught my attention, and I knew there was a story worth telling. Inspired and intrigued, I reached out to Eskenazi for an in-depth interview with CHOPSO.

Festival co-director Quentin Lee has announced the promotion of Melissa Dawn Johnson to festival co-director, where she will now run the festival alongside Lee. In addition, Yale alumna and producer Emma McAteer has joined the team as a programmer for Yale in Hollywood Fest.

Co-created by filmmakers Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee, Comedy InvAsian—the first and only stand-up comedy television series of its kind—is now filming its third season. The first two seasons are currently available on AAM.tv, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Tubi. CHOPSO took the opportunity to speak with Canadian Screen Award–winning showrunner and creator Quentin Lee about the series.

Veteran actor and comedian Jason Stuart shared with me the final cut of his short film, Redlining, which he wrote, directed, and produced. Exploring race and LGBTQ+ identity with wit and bite, Redlining is a compact gem that truly sparkles—and one you’re likely to encounter on the festival circuit at upcoming LGBTQ+ film festivals. I took the opportunity to sit down with Stuart to discuss the film and catch up on what’s next for him.

When the city is quiet and you finally get to curl up in bed during the holidays to binge all the B-movies you’ve been meaning to watch… here are some of my favorite holiday scary movies!

On Facebook, I saw my director friend Yusaku Mizoguchi win Best Director at the City of Angels Film Festival for his feature Sae, a touching drama about a Japanese student who decides to overstay her student visa in the U.S. in order to pursue a life as an artist. As an international student myself, I felt deeply connected to Sae’s perspective and reached out to Yusaku for an interview.

When I was making my feature The Way You Dance in Vancouver earlier this year, I was invited to a Royal Bank of Canada event in partnership with the Whistler Film Festival. There, I bumped into Cassandra Naud and Emily Tennant, the two leads of Influencer, a thriller feature I had caught on Shudder. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was a Canadian production shot in Vancouver—and that both lead actors were Canadian as well. I remember Influencer as a smart, character-driven thriller centered on a psychopath (played by Naud) who takes over the identities and assets of her victims, all of whom are influencers.

As I was programming and moderating a Q&A for Yale in Hollywood Fest, I asked Arnold Setiadi, director of Something Good Going On, whether the…

I’ve long been fascinated by writer-director Dax Phelan, whose debut feature, Jasmine—starring Jason Tobin—was an award-winning hit on the festival circuit. Ten years after its premiere, I’m excited, as a fan, to catch up with Mr. Phelan about what he’s working on now.

Each year, Fresh Fear recommends 10 horror features—new, classic or rarely seen—available now on streaming to binge for Halloween! Here’s our October 2025 list: