PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER
Robin Lung
Robin Lung is a 4th generation Chinese American who was raised in Hawai‘i. She has a 15-year history of bringing untold minority stories to film. A graduate of Stanford University and Hunter College in NYC, Lung made her directorial debut with Washington Place: Hawai‘i’s First Home, a 30-minute documentary for PBS Hawai‘i about Hawai‘i’s historic governor’s mansion and home of Queen Lili‘uokalani (aired December 2008). She was the associate producer for the national PBS documentary Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority (aired October 2008), Hawai‘i unit producer for acclaimed film Vivan Las Antipodas!, unit producer for NOVA’s Killer Typhoon, and producer/director for numerous short documentaries for the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation. She was selected as a documentary fellow for the 2015 NALIP ARC female filmmaker residency.
PRODUCER/EDITOR
Shirley Thompson
Shirley Thompson is a veteran documentary editor, writer and producer based in Honolulu. She is best known for the PBS documentaries she has produced: Breadfruit and Open Spaces (2013), Eating Alaska (2009), Special Circumstances (2006); as well as edited Pidgin: the Voice of Hawai‘i (2008), Surfing for Life (2000), and It’s Elementary (1996). These films have won Emmys, Peabodys and dozens of Best of Festival Awards, and have aired nationally on public television. She is an expert long-form storyteller and film finisher. As a Latina and a child of immigrants born in New Orleans, Louisiana, she has a life-long commitment to building bridges across cultures and communities. Shirley is the owner of Shirley Thompson Editorial.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Douglas K.T. Ho
Douglas K.T. Ho is the president/owner of Classic Coins Hawai‘i and a leader in Hawai‘i’s Chinese American community. After attending Notre Dame University, Ho served in the Vietnam War, where he was awarded medals for valor as a captain of an artillery unit on infamous Hamburger Hill. Ho’s extensive business career includes working as a portfolio manager and analyst in precious metals, and running several businesses in China.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Kimberlee Bassford
Kimberlee Bassford is the award-winning producer, director, writer and editor of Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority, a national PBS documentary that premiered in October of 2008. Her directorial debut Cheerleader (2003) won the Student Academy Award in Documentary and CINE Golden Eagle. Born and raised in Hawai‘i, Ms. Bassford has a Masters in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley and is the owner of Making Waves Films LLC.
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Frank Ayala
A graduate of the Cinema, Film & Broadcasting program at San Francisco State University, Frank Ayala has been involved in video production for over seventeen years. Honored by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences with the Exito Escolar Award for Hispanic-American achievement in producing and editing, Frank has shot, produced and edited numerous shows for television broadcast and online streaming.
Stanford Chang
Stanford Chang is a veteran producer, editor and cinematographer based in Hawai‘i and has worked on hundreds of television shows, commercials, and documentaries. His documentary credits include Pidgin: the Voice of Hawai‘i, and Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority.
Ron Darby
Ron Darby has over 20 years of experience in television production as a producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. The recipient of three Telly Awards, he has a broad range of experience in both educational and commercial television. Ron is the Hawai‘i‑based DP and Editor of two long-running HD television series currently being broadcast on OC16 (“The Pet Hui” and “Island Driver TV”).
Ann Kaneko
Ann Kaneko is an award-winning independent filmmaker, selected as Best Emerging Feature Documentary Director at the New York Asian American International Film Festival for her Fulbright-supported film, Against the Grain: An Artist’s Survival Guide to Perú. Kaneko has shot and edited segments for the Newshour with Jim Lehrer and produced media installations for the Skirball Cultural Center, Japanese American National Museum, Getty Center and SEIU-UHW. She participated in the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and received an MFA in film directing from UCLA.
Andrew Truong
Andrew Truong is a world traveler whose work has been featured by Apple, Complex Mag, and Hypebeast. With experience analyzing light in over 25 countries, he is able to fabricate any mood to enhance a story. His travels are what allow him to continue to find new stories and practice his craft.
SHADOW THEATER DESIGNER
Larry Reed
Larry Reed is one of the few Americans to be trained in wayang kulit, Balinese shadow theatre and performed in this tradition around the world over the last 35 years. In the early 1990′s, Reed invented an ingenious shadow casting method, which integrates the traditional shadow theatre techniques, cinematic effects and modern theatre and dance styles. He founded ShadowLight Productions in 1972 to nurture indigenous shadow theater traditions and to explore and expand the possibilities of the shadow theatre medium by creating innovative interdisciplinary, multicultural works.
VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR/ANIMATOR
Chris Do
Chris Do is the Emmy-winning founder and executive creative director of Blind, Inc., a digital design studio with an emphasis on storytelling and image making. Mr. Do’s work has been nationally and internationally recognized. His “Black and White” video for a Gap campaign brought animated special effects to shadow theater in stunning ways, and he will take that technique to a new level on FINDING KUKAN.
CHOREOGRAPHER
Wan-Chao Chang
Wan-Chao Chang is the director of the ethno-contemporary company Wan-Chao Dance and creates contemporary works rooted in traditional dance forms. She received nomination for Outstanding Choreography by the Isadora Duncan Dance Award in 2011.
COMPOSER
Miriam Cutler
Miriam Cutler has been scoring and performing music for over 20 years. She specializes in documentary scores and was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy for her score to The Desert of Forbidden Art.
HUMANITIES ADVISOR
Mary Lui
Mary Lui is an Associate Professor of American Studies and History at Yale University. She has written and lectured extensively on Chinese Immigration, Women and Gender, Interracial Sexuality and Cultural Diplomacy in the 1940’s.
HUMANITIES ADVISOR
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu
Judy Tzu-Chun Wu is a Professor of Asian American studies and history at the University of California, Irvine. Her research and teaching focuses on analyzing intersecting social hierarchies, such as those based on race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship.
HUMANITIES ADVISOR
Shana Brown
Shana Brown is an Associate Professor of history at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. She is an expert on the intellectual and cultural history of 20th century China.
FILM HISTORY ADVISOR
Betsy McLane
Betsy McLane holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in Cinema: Critical Studies. She is the author of the book A NEW HISTORY OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
FILM HISTORY ADVISOR
Ed Carter
Ed Carter is the Documentary Curator at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has been researching Kukan for the past six years. He has a Masters of Arts in Cinema Studies from New York University and has organized numerous documentary exhibits and screenings in the United States and China.
