2017 Jury Members
Lisa Lu is an internationally renowned veteran of film, television and stage, working in the United States and China across a multitude of English and Chinese productions. A three time recipient of the Golden Horse award for Best Actress, she has shown great versatility in her style, allowing her to take on a large scope of productions ranging from modern drama to Chinese Opera and Southern Kun Qu. Her numerous famous roles include Disney's The Joy Luck Club, Bernardo Bertolucci's Academy Award winning The Last Emperor and the Shaw Brothers' Empress Dowager. Lisa was also featured in 100 Chinese Motion Picture Stars in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Motion Picture Making worldwide and recently named an honorary citizen of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. Her latest film, Crazy Rich Asians, will be released by Warner Brothers in 2018.
Lisa Lu, Jury President
SERGEI BODROV, OSCAR NOMINATED DIRECTOR
Sergei Bodrov is an internationally known Russian film director, writer and producer who enjoys working in remote locations, such as Namibia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Two of his films, Prisoner of the Mountains and Mongol, were nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. He is a DGA, WGA and Academy member.
Tuba Buyukustun is a Turkish TV and film actress. She graduated from The Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in 2004, with a degree in Stage and Costume Design. Through her various roles she has been able to reach a worldwide audience and she was the first Turkish actress to be nominated for an IEMMY at the 42nd IEMMY awards for her role in the TV Show 20 Minutes. Since 2014 she has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and also acts as an Advocate for Children's Rights.
TUBA BÜYÜKÜSTÜN, ACTRESS (TURKEY)
Cade Carradine was born on July 19, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, USA as Cade Richmond Carradine. He is an actor, known for Deadwood (2005), TheKid (2013), Seduced (2016), Prettyface (2016) and SuperHigh (2017). Cade stars in the Festival's Opening Night Film, Ayla: The Daughter of War.
CADE CARRADINE, ACTOR
Thomas Lim is a prominent filmmaker in the Macau film industry. Originally of Chinese-Singaporean descent, he is best known for writing and directing the Macau film Roulette City which was commercially released in theaters in Asia and garnered over 100 mainstream press reports. His second directorial feature film Sea of Mirrors (shot on iPhone) is currently in post production. Lim is also an acclaimed actor, playing leading roles in Chinese TV drama series such as The Game, which aired on national TV in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
THOMAS LIM, ACTOR/DIRECTOR
Michael Nouri has enjoyed a long career spanning film, television and theatre. He was most recently seen in Discovery Channel’s mini-series Manhunt and will next be seen on TV in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Series: Versace/Cunanan and opposite Kevin Costner in Yellowstone. Nouri’s film work includes Flashdance, The Proposal, Invincible, The Terminal, Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah, Billy Crystal’s 61*, Lovely and Amazing, Finding Forrester, starring opposite Sean Connery, Easy Rider: The Ride Back, Goodbye Columbus, Black Ice, Fortunes of War, To The Limit, and The Hidden, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Avoriaz Film Festival.
MICHAEL NOURI, ACTOR
HA PHUONG CHU TRAN, VIETNAMESE ACTRESS, SINGER AND PHILANTHROPIST
Ha Phuong is a highly successful Vietnamese singer as well as a producer and star of the film Finding Julia. Profoundly grateful for all her opportunities in life, Ha Phuong has been actively giving back to those in need, especially disadvantaged youth and orphans in the U.S. and Vietnam. She also generously supports the Arts and in 2005 created Ha Phuong Productions, a company that produces selected music and film projects. Another charity, the Ha Phuong Foundation, is dedicatedto helping aspiring young singers fulfill their dreams. Ha Phuong has pledged that all profits from her film, music and other creative endeavors will be used to support the work of the Ha Phuong Foundation. Although Ha Phuong grew up in Ho Chi Minh City, she has lived in the United States for the past 15 years.
CAYLEE SO, FILMMAKER & DIRECTOR OF CAMBODIA TOWN FILM FESTIVAL
In 2011 Caylee So was awarded the Zonta’s Women in Film grant for Most Promising Young Filmmaker. In 2012 she received her MFA in Film Production from Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and also won prizes for Best Picture and Best Director at her school’s Cecil Awards. Caylee was the winner of the Director’s Guild of America’s 18th annual Best Female Student Director award and the winner of the Linda Mabelot’s New Directors/New Visions Award. In 2013 she co-founded the Cambodia Town Film Festival in Long Beach, California and currently sits on the honorary committee of the Cambodia International Film Festival in Phnom Penh. She is the writer, director and producer of upcoming films In the Life of Music and DonutLAnd.
Emmy-winning Nathan Wang is one of the most successful composers in Hollywood and Asian cinema. Prolific and versatile, he has written music for Jackie Chan films and Steven Spielberg documentaries as well as for Disney, DreamWorks and Sony live-action and animated works, many of his compositions having been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera and the Chicago Symphony. His most recent original film scores include Kung Fu Panda where he worked with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, and Kung Fu Yoga, starring Jackie Chan. He has just finished a 72 episode Chinese television series about the life of General Yue Fie.
NATHAN WANG, MUSIC COMPOSER
Nancy Wang Yuen is the author of Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism (2016), the first book to examine the barriers actors of color face in Hollywood and how they creatively challenge stereotypes. She also pioneered the first study of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on television and the 10-year followup study, TOKENS ON THE SMALL SCREEN: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on Prime Time and Streaming Television. Dr. Yuen is an expert scholar and speaker on race and media, appearing on BBC World TV and NPR and in the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. Dr. Yuen is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Sociology Department at Biola University.
NANCY WANG YUEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND AUTHOR OF REEL INEQUALITY: HOLLYWOOD ACTORS AND RACISM