Bacon Wrapped Date

Back in 2009 I set out to make a documentary about Foodies living in Los Angeles. Through that documentary, I got inspiration to make a short film about two food bloggers who meet for the first time and fall in love as they try to one up each other in their taste in hidden gems around town. This film is called Bacon Wrapped Date and it is dedicated to all the food fanatics, foodies, people who hate being called foodies, food bloggers, chefs, and people who just love to eat. 

It is finally available to download on iPad (not yet available on other iphone platforms). I do not have an iPad but if you do, please download it, watch it, and let me know what you think. The app itself is free and Bacon Wrapped Date is only $1.99. It's our first distribution deal!

After two years of filming largely in the food scene, I can't say that I've gotten thinner! However, I can say that I know that my calling is in the film + food equation and I hope to bring informative documentaries and fictional narratives to you. I just ask that I get as much feedback while I'm still learning so that I can learn from my own productions and from readers like you. 

More info on Bacon Wrapped Date Here.

Interview with the Actress, Hong Lei, Here.
Read my food blog called Slate Food, which is updated frequently, Here.

Troy Davis

Troy Davis was executed today. This marks a day in history when a country that prides itself on freedom, justice, and progress took a huge step back.

If you don't know about Troy Davis' case, I did a video about him a while ago:
http://wherethelinesblur.blogspot.com/2009/06/troy-davis.html with a full blog post about it.

I can't stop thinking about how this incident is going to change the way people see America - both the citizens as well as the international media that have been watching to see how the U.S. would handle this case. I'm sad that he didn't walk free. This incident should show us how broken the legal system is and how we have to change the system that lets people who kill their kids walk free while innocent victims get the lethal injection.

First Anni

Currently editing away my latest film, called First Anni.

Synopsis: A newly wed husband forgets to get his wife an anniversary present and his stay at home brother tries to help only to realize he may have overstayed his welcome.

Runtime: 10 min
Produced by: David Ngo
Written by: David Ngo
Directed by: Jin Yoo-Kim
Director of Photography: Alejandro Martinez

Edited by: Jin Yoo-Kim

Cast: Laura Quenzel, Jeremy Lawson, Chris Wolfe

Hopefully this film will be finished and polished by the end of this summer!

The Raw Truth

Everytime I tell someone I'm in film school, the first thing they ask is how much longer I have left. Well, to answer that question, the program itself is 3 years but that doesn't count the time you take to make a thesis. There are many ways to still get out of film school in 3 years (you can write your way out, edit your way out, etc. if you don't want to direct a thesis). You can also direct a narrative (546) or a documentary (547) and USC selects 3 each semester.

This semester, I get to direct one of these, a documentary, about the raw food movement in LA. But, I STILL don't get to graduate in 3 years because I forgot to use my summers efficiently and I basically have thus far only taken 28 out of 52 credits. I'm hoping that switching over to the new curriculum is going to help me out a little because as much as I love film school, I'm dying to get out there and get paid for doing what I love.

Anyway, before I go on and rant more about my not graduating in 3 years horribleness, here's the project's website that I'm doing this semester in case you want to follow it.

http://therawtruthmovie.tumblr.com/

It's not as updated as it should be but you can get a good glimpse of it. Check out the sexy Adam and Eve photo shoot! ;)

The final screening is on December 10, 2010 so save the date!!!

Here is a trailer that Billy Sullivan and Barbara Steele (our editors) cut together. PW is rawfood. Enjoy.

The Raw Truth Trailer from The Raw Truth on Vimeo.
PS. The statistics are higher than that actually. 75% of Americans are overweight.

Understudy, the Movie

We are wrapped with Polar Opposites and now I'm on to my next project, producing a USC thesis this summer called "Understudy."

Understudy is a dance film, which is why I gravitated towards it. Better yet, it's going to show off salsa funk, a new fusion dance movement that combines salsa, hip hop, jazz, etc.

The director, Cristina Malavenda, is an editor-director and she did a 547 documentary called No Kill, which has been extremely successful and has had a great run in festivals and now it's even going to be shown on KCET next week. She's an extremely talented editor and director so I'm really excited to work with her.

Maritte Go, my fellow producer, is in my semester at USC School of Cinematic Arts, and she was a dancer/actress all her life so it's really fun working with her. Plus, she's just an awesome person.

Desi Jevon is the choreographer and is so talented, innovative, and a great teacher. I'm writing this blog post as we are casting right now, watching him work with eight people at the same time, doing both the girl and boy moves, never losing patience.

This movie is going to be dazzling and amazing. At this point in the process, we are just starting to cast. Next week, we will be casting the actors and actresses. Hopefully, we will find great dancers this week that we will be calling back for the acting process.

At the same time, we are raising funds to make this film. Please watch me, Marty, Cristina, Desi talking about the film and what we are hoping to accomplish and if you can find it in your heart to invest in the arts, please support us. We are all trying to do something innovative, visually compelling, with a story of an underdog trying to make it in competitive LA.

Our fundraising page where you can donate as little as $5 to be credited in a film (you can see your name come up in the end credits! What a great souvenir for the price of your daily coffee).

The Trailer

Fundraising page

Docs on Food

When I interned at Causecast, I had the pleasure of watching Food Inc. when Causecast helped with one of their theatrical screenings with Participant Media. Since then, I saw this film take off, and even get nominated for an Oscar for feature documentary. Today, Robert Kenner, the director of the film, came to our documentary class to screen and talk about his journey and the challenges he faced making this documentary.

Since watching Food Inc., making my Foodie Nation doc last year (which is still a work in progress - ahem, I need editors to help me edit it), reading books like Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Politics, Fast Food Nation, Health Food Junkies, watching documentaries like King Corn, Super Size Me, along with some raw food documentaries, I'm now more than inspired to continue embarking on this food + documentary journey.

Last night, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, backed by Ryan Seacrest Productions, launched and is getting a lot of hype. Jamie is undertaking the huge effort to overhaul the school cafeterias in Huntingon, VA. He's being met with a lot of resistance but he's really brave for doing this. Along with Michelle Obama's efforts to fight childhood obesity and even with corporations starting to "go along" with the organics movement, our eating habits are slowly changing and SHOULD be changing.

If you haven't seen Food Revolution, you can catch the first episode here.

All this food and film and activism talk is making me really excited!! Three things I really love.

For next semester, I'm hoping to pitch a documentary about the raw food movement. Please let me know if you have any comments for me. I pitch on April 16th! I'll be making an oral pitch as well as a video pitch. As of now, I'm looking for medical doctors to comment on the raw food movement and raw foodists who are trying to repeal the laws banning raw milk.

MANAA Scholarship

I forgot to mention that at the end of last year, I won the 2009 MANAA scholarship.

It was really a great surprise that I got the scholarship and just in time, too! I'm going to be using the money to finish the film I started this summer as a work of love. It's currently in post-production right now and in desperate need of ADR and sound design. With this money, I can make this film come into completion. The film is about two Asian Americans falling in love over, what else? Food.

MANAA is a great organization that continues to strive for Asian American representation in the media. Without organizations like these, where would Asian American filmmakers be?

Thank you, MANAA.

Read the full interview here.