Category: Interview
5th Annual Yale in Hollywood Fest Drops Trailer on Youtube
Dropping the trailer on Youtube today, Yale in Hollywood Fest will launch their fifth edition global virtual film festival streaming free to the world from…
Interview with Randi Liberman, LA-based Dancer and Choreographer from Montréal
I first met Randi Liberman when she was subbing for dancer Hero Thomas’ class at Los Angeles’ Millennium Dance Complex. I enjoyed her choreography so much that—because I couldn’t make her regular class—I’ve decided to take private lessons from her. Originally from Montréal and now working as a dancer, choreographer and teacher in Los Angeles, Randi currently dances for pop artist Ava Max, teaches hip hop dance at Millennium Dance Complex and choreographs for various rising music artists. I took the opportunity to interview her about her rising career.
Writer Adi Tantimedh Dishes on His Three Decades of Writing Career
Writer Adi Tantimedh and I first met at the 1995 Vancouver International Film Festival through British film critic Tony Rayns. Adi was at VIFF with his NYU MFA thesis film while I was there with my “first feature” Flow, a feature compilation of my short films made at UCLA Film School. The fictional filmmaker character in Flow resembled Adi so that many people at the festival thought Adi was me; and hence this doppelganger relationship at a film festival was how we connected. Almost three decades later, I caught up with Adi whose podcast series Sanctuary will be released this month on August 19 by Voyage Media.
Creator Koji Steven Sakai Explores Dreaming in His Latest Podcast Series Elucidity
As a collaborator with Koji Steven Sakai, a prolific screenwriter, creator and producer, I interviewed Koji on his first fictional and latest podcast series Elucidity which Voyage Media has just dropped on Apple Podcasts among other major podcasting platform.
First Time Canadian Screen Awards Winner Quentin Lee Dishes on Creating Comedy Invasion and Rez Comedy
On the evening of Wednesday May 29, 2024 in Toronto, filmmaker Quentin Lee and his producing partner Cindy Au Yeung won the 2024 Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Special for their series Comedy Invasion’s episode “Rez Style,” beating out three other CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) productions. CHOPSO sat down to chat with Quentin on the evening of them leaving for Vancouver to prep and shoot their latest stand-up comedy feature, Rez Comedy, the first all Indigenous and all Canadian stand-up comedy feature film.
Colette Vosberg Talks about Unusually Normal, Her Documentary on Three Generations of Queer Women in Canada
World premiering at the upcoming Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto, Colette Vosberg’s documentary feature Unusually Norman brilliantly portrays “the gayest family” in Canada that spans three generations of queer women. CHOPSO takes the opportunity to speak with Colette about her queerly brilliant documentary feature before its world premiere
Canadian Screen Awards 2024 Nominee Quentin Lee Broke the Stand-up Comedy Monopoly in Canada
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s nomination of independent creator Quentin Lee’s Comedy Invasion series for Best Comedy Special broke the Canadian stand-up comedy monopoly long held by Canadian Broadcast Corporation, better known as CBC. For the freshly established category of Best Comedy Special, the three other nominees all belong to CBC. Rejected by Canadian broadcasters from development to distribution, creator Quentin Lee funded the 8-part series by themself and distributed the series through their own niché streaming platform, Asian American Movies aka AAM.tv. As a supporter of independent cinema and media, CHOPSO took the opportunity to speak with creator Quentin Lee on their surprising nomination at the Canadian Screen Awards 2024.
Rika Ohara’s The Heart of No Place
Rika Ohara’s experimental feature “The Heart of No Place” imagines the life of Yoko Ono after the death of John Lennon. Rika herself plays the titular character Y. in her feature directorial debut that won accolades on its initial film festival circuit screenings. As the feature drops today on AAM.tv, I have interviewed Rika on her looking back at her own feature film.
Nathaniel Dolquist Created Hulkling and Wiccan
On Saturday, March 9, 2024, I was invited to the world premiere of the fan fiction web series Hulkling and Wiccan, produced by and starring a fellow Yale in Hollywood colleague, Nathaniel Dolquist. Unfortunately, when I got out of the Polish Golden Award event for my former UCLA professor Jerzy Antczak late, arriving at the Hulkling and Wiccan premiere, I had already missed the screening. Nevertheless, Nathaniel was kind enough to send me a screener the next day and I was immediately a fan after watching the full 6 part mini web series which has a running time 12 minutes or so. With a nod to contemporary television like Modern Family and the superhero cinematic genre, despite being a fan fiction series, Hulking and Wiccan created a genre on its own where the superhero genre meets LGBTQ cinema.
The Evolution of Chink, the Re-release of the Controversial Serial Killer Thriller
On the brink of the re-release of Chink, the low budget thriller about the first Asian American serial killer, CHOPSO talks with producer Quentin Lee who was the brainchild behind this feature film originally released in 2013. Directed by their UCLA film school buddy Stanley Yung, Chink world premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival winning Jason Tobin, who plays the titular protagonist, a Breakthrough Performance Award. Chink also won Best Thriller Feature Film at Burbank International Film Festival.
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