Director Justin Lin is running a short-film contest, and recently announced the members of the jury and the top 15 finalists. The contest is now its second iteration, the first being held in 2010. It was announced on March 10 at the annual CAAMfest for the Asian American Media to celebrate, music, food and Asian-American films.
Joining Lin in the jury for this year's contest are "Star Trek Beyond" co-writer Doug Jung, actors Jadyn Wong ("Scorpion") and Danny Pudi ("Community," "Powerless"). Senior VP of Programming Talent Development and Inclusion of NBC Entertainment and Universal Studios, Karen Horne is also on board, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The 15 finalists are: Tom Choi ("Singularity"), Kristine Gerolaga ("Hit or Miss"), Lawrence Chen ("The Majestic Mr. Jesse"), Shea William Vanderpoort ("Ice Cream Dreams"), Jason M. Klein ("Sketch"), Jeff Gadigan ("Paper Children"), Matthew King ("Prey") and Angela Park ("Lily"). The rest of the finalists are Rommel Andaya's "Socks for You!," Faroukh Virani's "Daddy Day," Leon Cheo's "Nuts," Elaine Loh's "Scare Me," Julia Chang's "Wingman," Andrew Pang's "Swing" and Hiroshi Hara's "Real."
The Interpretations Initiatives competition is sponsored by NBCUniversal and ComCast who approves the premise that all entries must stick to the four-line script written this year by Tony-winning David Henry Hwang. The contestants are free to interpret the script in any they want but entries could broaden the script so that one may come up with a comedy, another with a fiction story while another with an action film, or even animation.
Running the competition is Lin's Asian-American entertainment organization and culture website You Offend Me You Offend My Family. The three winners will be monitored by Lin and they will get the chance to direct a project produced by YOMYOMF on a NBCUniversal or Comcast or a similar platform.
Fifteen finalists were picked from the initial 160 entries by a screening committee. Two winners will be selected by the five-person jury while one will be voted by the audience. The winners will be announced at the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival at the Directors Guild of America on Oct. 19.
Interpretations Initiatives gives aspiring Asian-American filmmakers a chance to express their creativity. The "Star Trek Beyond" director believes there is a talented filmmaker out there who does not know how to get started, NBC News reported.
Most of the winners from 2010 continue to work in the industry and Lin keeps in touch with some of them for collaborations. This year's entries were accepted from March 31 to June 17.
Watch below one of the YOMYOMF's commissioned samples starring Pudi.
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