The Korea Society, the Asian American Film Lab, and the Korean American Film Festival of New York, working together to promote multi-cultural collaboration, are delighted to present Unfinished Works, a program that featuresperformances and videos that showcase Korean and Korean-American stories, writers, and themes. The evening’s selections will feature works by Willem Lee and Savanna Washington.
Willem presents a staged reading of his co-written (with Mayuran Tiruchelvam) script, Nic of Time, which is a coming of age comedy about Nic, a jaded and bitter man, who travels back in time to undo the moment that has plagued and defined his past. Savanna screens an excerpt from her documentary, Playing Frisbee in North Korea, which captures the hardship of daily life in North Korea especially around the issues of freedom and food insecurity.
Film Lab’s Unfinished Works coordinator, Lorna Nowve, will moderate the event in the Film Lab’s signature style, welcoming audience participation in the creative process and directing interaction with the writers and filmmakers. Don’t miss this opportunity to see amazing new talent—come and enjoy the show!
Thursday, November 6 , 2014 | 7 PM
This event will take place at The Korea Society.
This is a FREE event, but please register in advance here. If you have any questions, please contact Claudia Pak or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
Contemporary Culture programs are generously sponsored by CJ
About the Artists
Willem Lee is a New York based filmmaker and recent graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Film Program with a focus on directing. His thesis film, The End of the World, premiered at 2012 Columbia University Film Festival and was awarded the IFP Audience Choice Award. It was also the recipient of the Best Short Film Award at KAFFNY. It has gone on to exhibit at festivals in the U.S. and abroad. He also produced Amateur Dictator, which was awarded Jury Honors and Student Selects at this years Columbia University’s Film Festival.
Willem recently returned from his second trip to North Korea where he was the cinematographer for documentary film director, Dai Sil Kim-Gibson. He is currently working on a number of feature film scripts, including a multicultural and generational NYC multi-narrative drama entitled Abba’s Orphans, Syndicate, a thriller (with co-writer Mayuran Tiruchelvam), and Paris Syndrome: A Traveler’s Dilemma, an existential film noir.
Willem has taught film directing at Columbia University and guest lectured at School of Visual Arts and Sacred Heart University. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Gordon College.
Mayuran Tiruchelvam is a screenwriter and producer of narrative and documentary films. He is a 2014 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow. His feature screenwriting and producing debut, The Girl Is In Trouble, executive produced by Spike Lee, was a selection of the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival’s All Access program, and will be released in 2015.
With producing partner Gerry Kim, Mayuran produced To Be Takei- a portrait of actor, activist and pop-culture maverick George Takei, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Mayuran is also producing the documentary Farewell, Ferris Wheel – an examination of the fading American carnival industry and its reliance on guest worker visas, which was funded by Latino Public Broadcasting and ITVS. For Ferris Wheel, he received a Film Independent Documentary Fellowship.
Mayuran has line produced independent feature films including The Mend, starring Josh Lucas and directed by John Magary, and Deniz Seviyesi, a Turkish-US production funded by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Mayuran’s short form productions, including Derby Kings, The Boundary, and Domestic have aired on HBO, PBS, and at festivals including the Los Angeles Film Festival, Starz Denver Festival, Palm Springs ShortsFest, Urban World, and Amnesty International Movies That Matter.
While earning an MFA at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School, Mayuran received the Arthur Krim Memorial Award for Excellence in Producing and the Entertainment Partners Best Producer Award. He served as a Fellow in Producing, Post-Production, and Television Writing. Mayuran earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He worked as a human rights observer in Latin America and a community organizer against the prison industrial complex in New York.
Savanna Washington received her M.F.A. in Directing from City College in New York. While attending City College she was awarded a Colin Powell Graduate Fellowship, the first filmmaker to be honored. As a community activist and activist educator, Savanna has used her life to effect change. Ms. Washington has over 15 years experience as a writer, director, and activist. As part of her activism, she was the Founding & Managing Editor of the Adams Avenue Herald, a community newspaper in San Diego. She was awarded a Puffin Grant for her film work on urban greening and was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Korean Issues & Insights Endowment for her current documentary, Playing Frisbee in North Korea.
She is currently an Assistant Professor at City University of New York, teaching Video Arts Production, Screenwriting, and Intro to Contemporary Media. She resides in Harlem.
Asian American Film Lab
The Asian American Film Lab (Film Lab) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to the promotion and support of gender and ethnic diversity in film and television through free monthly educational and outreach programming and the acclaimed annual 72 Hour Shootout filmmaking competition (www.asianamericanfilmlab.org) . This annual competition has inspired hundreds of filmmakers by helping nascent talent take brave steps towards a filmmaking career. The Film Lab was formed in 1998 by collaborative of New York-based filmmakers whose goals were to hone their craft and to share their knowledge, experience and resources. The membership has grown to comprise professionals, artists and other talented individuals who all share the common goal of creating great film and promoting all filmmakers of color, with a focus on Asian Americans, and the visibility of their stories and characters in film and television.
The Film Lab's Unfinished Works program constitutes its longest running program, ongoing for 15 consecutive years. Unfinished Works allows writers to workshop, in a structured and constructive environment, unfinished plays, screenplays and television scripts.
The Film Lab is run under the direction of President Jennifer Betit Yen. The Unfinished Works program is coordinated through Lorna Nowve. Acting and Advisory Board members include Aaron Woolfolk, Eric Lin, Bea Soong, John Woo, Erik Lu, and James Kyson.
Asian American Film Lab
KAFFNY is the first and only film festival in New York City showcasing the diversity of Korean American and Korean diasporic perspectives in film. Since its inceptions in 2007 at the Anthology Film Archives, KAFFNY has continued to broaden its focus on emerging filmmakers to include international films by Korean and as well as non-Korean filmmakers.