CONTACT ME

(Note: For advice, please see my FAQ below. Also due to multiple projects, I may not respond quickly. Thank you for understanding. And if I don’t reply within several weeks, I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO send a follow-up email.)

FOR LIQUOR STORE DREAMS INQUIRIES:
email LiquorStoreDreams@gmail.com.

FAQ: Questions I Get Asked Frequently

Q: How did you make your film, LIQUOR STORE DREAMS?

A: First, I made a short film called Liquor Store Babies which you can watch now on Vimeo. I made it while I was part of Visual Communication’s Armed with a Camera program which required me to make a 5 minute short film. After it went through the festival circuit, people urged me to make a feature length film which I honestly didn’t know how to even do as someone who had no connections to the film business. So I started a kickstarter and raised an initial $30,000 to jumpstart production. While we were in production, an investor reached out to us to donate money. After I filmed for a few days, I hired my editor, Christina Sun Kim, to edit a sample so I could submit to grants for the next 3 years. After more than 20+ rejections, a few years later we got the Sundance Documentary Grant which allowed us to continue filming and editing. I also got into the CAAM Fellowship where I was mentored by Nanfu Wang. Her guidance was instrumental to the development of our film. And then after we heard that we got into the Tribeca Film Festival, we received the CAAM Doc Fund. Everything was such a learning lesson for me as this was my first feature length film! There is no right way to do things but your own way. But what helped me was building a community, talking to a lot of filmmakers who made films before me, and staying true to my vision.

Q: How did you find distribution with your film, LIQUOR STORE DREAMS?

A: Once we knew we were going to premiere at Tribeca, we spoke to several film sales companies that we thought would best fit our film. We ended up partnering with The Film Sales Company who sold films like Andrew Ahn’s Spa Night, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 (and so much more!) because they understood the vision and messaging of our film. We wanted someone who would be able to accurately sell our film. After months of talking with many different companies, we struck a deal with PBS POV, which premiered a year after the Tribeca premiere. A month after the PBS POV premiere, we put the film on TVOD: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Video, + Kanopy.

Q: What’s the single most important thing you learned when making your film?

A: There’s a couple of things that helped me make a film 1) Building a community, finding mentors, and getting into fellowships/grant programs was very important 2) You are your own targeted audience so don’t compromise on your vision, keep going, get notes, but ultimately, you are making this film for you. If you do that, eventually you will find your audience. 3) We had a rule when editing: if I was just one second bored or confused, we would cut it out. It helped because we all have short attention spans and we want to get to the point of the story!


Q: Are there any fellowships, programs, or organizations you'd recommend checking out that had a big impact on your career when you were first starting out.

A: There are so many pockets of community on Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc. For BIPOC documentarians, join Brown Girls Doc Mafia via FB, Asian American Documentary Network on their slack. If you’re a writer, join/form writing groups who will keep you accountable no matter what.

There are so many fellowships, mentorships, and orgs out there that are willing to help. I definitely recommend applying to Visual Communication’s Armed with a Camera and CAAM's Fellowship. Getting mentorship is really important and it was one of my favorite parts of my journey so far.

And I haven’t personally been involved in these fellowships but heard many great things:

- Directors: 18-25, apply to Sundance Ignite
- Doc editors: Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship
- AAPI Directors: Submit your shorts to HBO Visionaries
- AAPI Screenwriters: apply to CAPE New Writers Fellowship

Don’t wait till you’re “ready” to apply to these programs and just go for it! I applied to every fellowship, mentorship, grant, etc AT LEAST 3 TIMES before I finally got a yes. Try to not let rejection get you down because I believe things always happen when it’s the right time. And with every rejection, ask yourself how can I get better? and DO THE WORK! Truth is, I know I didn’t get into these program the previous years because my work was just not there yet.

Another way to get mentorships if you can’t get into any programs is by reaching out to people who you admire, you can find anyone’s emails these days. Linkedin, twitter, instagram DMs are great. Email them and ask them if they would have time to provide any mentorship. Be very clear in your asks (ie: give feedback, shadowing on set, getting advice) and commit to it.

Q: Any advice to emerging filmmakers?

A: 1) Just start filming and do things before you’re ready. Even if you don’t have all the state of the art equipment, just start filming. Especially for documentary, they are very forgiving even if your footage doesn’t look the greatest. At the end of the day, it’s the story that matters the most. 2) Find people that match your working style and who understand your vision. Don’t try to work with people who are so experienced and think that’s all that matters. Find your people you can grow with. 3) Stay true to your voice and vision. And make it specific. The more specific the story is, the better and more universal it will be.


Q: What inspired you to go into the creative industry? And did you always want to do what you're doing now?

A: It’s two things and it sounds super corny but 1) I wanted to create change in the world 2) be a voice for my people. When it comes to filmmaking, I can change perspectives and people through my storytelling. Honestly, I didn’t know I would get into filmmaking especially because I never knew that it could be a viable or even sustainable career. I just knew in my teens that because I was really bad at school that I would need to play to my strengths 1) I’m good with people 2) I loved movies. From then on, I just studied, consumed every film, and created anything and everything that I could within my means.

On another note: life is very unpredictable and I feel like one person shouldn’t be tied to just one thing, hence why I’ve pursued many interests (ie: filmmaking, social media, film programming). You will have many careers in your lifetime so things will always evolve. You don’t have to know exactly what you want to do early on. The only advice I give to people who want to find their dream job is 1) write down the things you’re good at 2) careers you like and from there, try to find where those two intersect.

Q: What are your favorite films?
A: Here is my letterboxd!