AAPI Heritage Heroes was a special created by the hands of our community, for our community, by The Asian American Foundation. TAAF AAPI Heritage Heroes is a creative, inspiring program that centers six heroes from our diverse community and shares the stories of their work, their world and their wish for the future of our people.
In six short films, each directed by inspiring AAPI auteurs, we’ll dive into the world of the honoree, exploring not only their contributions, but the AAPI culture that made them. Woven together by celebrity presenters, comedy musical performances, the TAAF AAPI Heritage Heroes special will be a celebration of the ‘everyday extraordinary’ heroes in our lives. Heritage Heroes are people who illuminate the world. They power our communities and light the way forward. These are the people who face the darkness and just say, no.
If you’d like to nominate a hero or suggest a director please email info@taaf.org.
Justin Phongsavanh is a Laotian American Javelin Throwing Olympian who has managed to lead with bravery under difficult circumstances.
In 2015, Justin was shot by a mentally ill veteran who attacked Justin and his friend in a McDonald’s parking lot. The incident left Justin paralyzed from the waist down. After the incident, Justin felt he had two options…. To either kill himself or live life to the absolute fullest and attain all of his dreams. He did just that. Justin went on to win the Bronze Medal in Javelin Throw at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Justin not only attained his dreams of being in the Olympics, but he is also a positive force in his community. He regularly talks to school children about disability and diversity inclusion. Adopted at a young age after his biological parents were incarcerated, Justin is also committed to supporting adopted children who suffer trauma.
We are filled with tremendous pride, respect, and joy when we see a member of the AAPI community showcasing excellence while representing our country on the international stage. It's a win for our community, and Justin brought us that win. But he's so much more than an accomplished athlete. His personal history is an example of a person living life to make the world a better place than he found it.
The way Justin champions AAPI representation and diversity inclusion through his accomplishments is just one aspect of his service to the AAPI community. What's critical is his drive to look around and give back. Justin found success in things he does well but he's making sure that he's bringing others with him. That's a hero in our book. Our job as storytellers is to advocate for our community. We believe that we need to document Justin's story to honor his contributions and help amplify his mission because it's so important to be inspired and see examples of others overcoming challenges and, importantly, taking care of others.
— Julian Kim and Peter S. Lee
Jebby Productions
Julian Kim and Peter S. Lee are a filmmaking duo from Flushing, Queens, New York. They’ve been friends since high school, bonding over love for Starcraft, Linkin Park, spicy deli beef patties and iced coffees even during frigid New York winters.
But it was their passion for filmmaking and shared mission to tell relatable stories that bloomed into a working partnership. Their collaborative filmmaking approach in narrative short films, documentaries, and other video projects eventually allowed them to create "Happy Cleaners", their debut narrative feature-length film about their Korean American immigrant experience. Embraced by audiences for its authentic storytelling, the film garnered numerous honors at various film festivals, including "Emerging Filmmaker Award," and "Audience Choice Award.” The film’s reception further fuels the duo’s ambition to depict meaningful stories that are for all audiences.
DIRECTOR
Julian Kim
DIRECTOR
Peter S. Lee
NICE SHOES PRODUCER
Isabel Gomez
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Mike Fraser
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Nathaniel Pinheiro
COLOR BY
Nice Shoes
COLORIST
Phil Choe
FEATURING
Tamera Shinn
SOUND DESIGN
Zach Scheitlin
AUDIO MIXER
John Baker
EDITOR
Julian Kim
LAYA are an audacious group of New Jersey high school students who turned racist school bullying, tragic shootings, and feelings of not belonging into an opportunity to fight for AAPI history in NJ state school curriculum.
This story follows five high school students in New Jersey of Korean, Filipino, Indian, and Chinese descent who had a major role in passing a New Jersey state bill to include Asian American history in every school’s curriculum. The film will also feature Dr Kani Ilangovan of Make Us Visible, NJ who supported and guided the LAYA students to helping achieve their goals.
In this short mixed-media film, we follow a collective of high school students (LAYA) and a local organization (Make Us Visible NJ) as they come together to create a mandate for the AAPI curriculum in New Jersey public schools.
— Shruti Ganguly
honto88 | @shrutiganguly | @honto88
Shruti Ganguly is a filmmaker and writer based between New York City and Oslo. Shruti was a member of Obama’s ECCO committee of 30 leaders and creators in entertainment, chairing its Asian Caucus, and is on the Creative Council for Emily's List. She has produced several feature and short films (including Spirit-winner H., and the Nora Ephron Prize-winner INITIALS SG) that have premiered at Sundance, Venice, Tribeca, Telluride, and Berlin.
Shruti is currently writing “Secret Daughter” for Amazon Studios, which will star Priyanka Chopra and Sienna Miller, directed by Cannes-winner Anthony Chen, and sold “DeathSpa”, a psychological horror about a bachelorette party that goes wrong to Sony Pictures International.
Shruti created “Flossy”, a half-hour comedy with writer/comedian Kerry Coddett, with EP Robin Thede, set up at Warner Bros, and she will be an EP and writer on the half-hour TV series “Brown Baby” (based on the eponymous memoir by acclaimed British novelist, Nikesh Shukla), which is in development with Bad Robot/Warner Bros and will star Himesh Patel.
Shruti has directed and produced branded content, short docs, music videos and commercials, ranging from clients like Nike, Netflix, Michael Kors, MUNCH, and so on, through her production company honto88, based in New York City. In the Fall of 2021, Shruti started a new company - Prism Entertainment - with producers Megha Kadakia and Priya Giri Desai to focus on high-quality, South Asian-focused film and TV content.
Previously, Shruti worked at NYLON, MTV, and Conde Nast, producing the CLIO-winning 73 Questions series. She is a co-founder of the Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective born out of the Women's March that brings together artists and activists to use music and joy as an act of resistance. Shruti is a published writer (Nevertheless They Persisted, Penguin) and a contributing writer for The Juggernaut. Shruti received her Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, and went to NYU's dual MFA/MBA program at Tisch and Stern. She hails from India, by way of Oman.
DIRECTOR
Shruti Ganguly
PRODUCER
Polina Buchak
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Saniya Mirwani
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Chris Low
GAFFER / AC
Arnold Finklestein
LOCATION SOUND MIXER
Vera Quispe
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT / DRIVER
Anthony Morillo
POST PRODUCER
Rachel Kessler
POST ASSISTANT
Candace Mitchell
EDITOR
Dani Okon
COLORIST
Alexia Salingros
SOUND DESIGN + MIX
Evan Joseph
VFX / GRAPHICS
Dani Okon
Suki Terada Ports is an unstoppable Japanese American NYC elder who has been a tireless activist for the AAPI Community for decades. She has fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s, school integration, prison reform, female healthcare equality, HIV/AIDS prevention and support, and recently she actively opposed the Muslim Ban.
Her tenacity and passion make her a true AAPI Matriarch who has inspired generations of activists and leaders. Over the decades, Suki has woven a network of Asian American mentorship and empowerment.
Suki Terada Ports is not prone to whimsy. Born in the Harlem neighborhood where she still lives, we join her as she takes the bus downtown to a lunch where a conversation of action, identity, and belonging emerges between three generations of AAPI activists and storytellers. Nothing comes easy in this city of New York. Suki is proof of this. And yet, the air is full of possibility, drive, and, yes, what can be changed.
— Grace Evangelista
M.G. Evangelista
Writer-director M.G. Evangelista was born in Manila and raised in the Bay Area. Their NYU thesis short film, FRAN THIS SUMMER, is an LGBTQ summer love story that premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest before playing in thirty film festivals worldwide. Other short works, INA NYO, LA GLORIA, BLOOD HANA, and VR piece WATER MELTS, have also played internationally, including at Toronto's Inside Out, Rotterdam, Miami, and Palm Springs. Their debut feature film, BURNING WELL, currently in development, has just been invited to attend the renowned Torino Feature Film Lab 2022. It is a recipient of the Tribeca All Access grant, a WIF x Sundance Finance Intensive Fellowship, and an Array x Google production grant.
FEATURING COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTORS
Julie Azuma, Jess X. Snow, and Robert C. Winn
DIRECTOR
M.G. Evangelista
PRODUCERS
Simone Ling and Robert C. Winn
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Lorena Duran
EDITOR
Alan Wu
SECOND CAMERA
Daniele Sarti
SOUND RECORDIST
Alistair Farrant
SOUND DESIGN AND MIX BY
Sung Rok Choi
UPM
Ting Liu
TITLE DESIGN & ANIMATOR
Diana Torres
COLORIST
Stephanie Park
STILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Simone Ling, Ting Liu, and Robert C. Winn
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL PROVIDED COURTESY OF
Julie Azuma, M.G. Evangelista, Jim Hubbard (NYC Pride - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), Japanese American Association of New York (JAANY), Corky Lee Estate, S.H. Nakazono, Suki Terada Ports, Jennifer Takaki (‘Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story’), Robert C. Winn
MUSIC
‘Airport' (Empty By Design OST) by Robert Ouyang Rusli
‘Searching' by Duce Williams & Ian Post
'Sleeper Valley' by Ardie Son
VERY SPECIAL THANKS
H.L. Doruelo, Vincent Gillioz, Tao Leigh Goffe, Sam Jung, Azadeh Khalili, Carmen LoBue, Terry McGovern, S.H. Nakazono, New York Women’s Foundation, Camille Emeagwali, Ashley Morse, Heidi Potter, Ben Shupp, Sasha Wijeyeratne, Chinatown mural team for ‘In the Future Our Asian Community Is Safe’ by Jess X. Snow in collaboration with W.O.W. Project NYC and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and Alice Kukui Noa, Louie, Mana and Rye
Founder Justin Foronda, born and raised in Historic Filipinotown, honors his roots through his passion for food, culture and music. From his eclectic background as a bboy, registered nurse and musician to his coveted family recipes he grew up eating, HiFi Kitchen is a melting pot of tasty nostalgic flavors and imagination.
In this energetic portrait of a film, we’ll explore Justin Foronda’s many passions, from serving up delicious meals at his restaurant, HIFI Kitchen, continuing to serve as a health care professional in the field of nursing, to discussing his passion for his Filipino heritage as a “hyphenate“ American—all seen through his philosophical lens of breakdancing.
This personal look into Justin’s life exemplifies the idea that Asian Americans are never one specific thing, and the love of one’s community is a strong motivator for good.
— Jason Park
Website
Jason Park has written, produced, and directed several short films that have played at international film festivals including BJ’s Mobile Gift Shop, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and is streaming on Mailchimp Presents. It is also part of the 2021 Sundance Short Film Tour.
Park is currently prepping for his first feature film, Transplant, a project he co-wrote and will direct, which will be produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi & Forest Whitaker at Significant Productions.
Park is a 2020 Sundance Feature Film Fellow. He is one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” of 2021.
DIRECTOR
Jason Park
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Brandon Hoeg
PRODUCER
Elaine Tunnat
B-CAM
Jason Park, Elaine Tunnat
1ST AD
Alexander Han
LOCATION SOUND MIXER
Chase Yeremian
EDITOR
Zoe Kraft
MUSIC SUPERVISOR
Josh McCausland
COLORIST
Sam Howells
SOUND DESIGN
Austin Rowe, Khory Davenport
Thiện Nguyễn is a fisherman in New Orleans East, Louisiana. In 1982 he helmed a boat of 84 refugees from Vietnam to Malaysia, where he stayed in a large refugee camp for two years. Having been a seafarer in Vietnam since 1975, he was eventually able to find work at sea when he resettled in New Orleans. He now owns two big boats and has specialized for years in long line fishing: he disappears out into the Gulf for weeks at a time, with the help of one or a few deck-hands, returning with mainly bluefin tuna. We honor not only Mr. Thiện, but the entire community of fishermen who have continued to provide the country with Gulf Coast seafood despite the many environmental and political challenges they have faced, such as the BP oil spill in 2010.
Thank you to TAAF for giving us the opportunity to spend time with the fishermen and capture this very unique and special moment in the Vietnamese American story. Much of our time producing this work was spent in ways that allowed me and my producing partner Khai Nguyen to talk to our elders, hear their stories, understand more about how they got here, what they've been through, and get to know these heroes as they truly are. Coastal Louisiana has been through way too much and it seems to be more and more difficult to find hope for the communities who have, whether for a few decades or for generations, called it home. For me, observing, documenting and savoring the mere fact that Vietnamese fishermen are here and have been part of Coastal Louisiana's tumultuous story over the last three decades ... that's a full story in itself.
— Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill
Marion Hill Visuals | Instagram
Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill is a Vietnamese-British filmmaker. Raised mostly in the U.K. and in France by a Mother from Saigon and a Father from Shropshire, Marion has found her own home in the American South: in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Marion has directed several short films and music videos, and her first narrative feature film Ma Belle, My Beauty premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and received the NEXT Audience Award. She is passionate about collaborative creative process and cultural nuance. Marion is currently writing and developing her second feature film, which centers three dynamic women of a Vietnamese family in New Orleans.
DIRECTOR
Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill
PRODUCERS
Khải Nguyễn Rachel Witwer
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill, Zac Manuel
MUSIC
Dylan Trần
EDITOR
Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill
SOUND MIX
Marion Hoàng Ngọc Hill
COLORIST
Bradley Greer
POETRY BY
Trần Lê Khánh
READ BY
Amy Le
TRANSLATION
Bruce Weigl
STRING QUARTET NO. 1
on Việt Themes Composed & arranged by Dylan Trần
I. FISHING PERFORMED BY
Gabrielle Fischler, Kurt Munstead, Bruce Owen, David Rosen, Dylan Trần
II. SEEING CLOUDS REFLECTING IN THE LAKE PERFORMED BY
Roza Lachegyi
Police officer Mike Lambert in Honolulu goes above and beyond his law enforcement duties and consistently shows up for the tight-knit community.
Major Mike Lambert has been on the police force for 19 years. In his early years, he did as he was told… he forced homeless people to leave the streets with no other option. But over the years, he couldn’t accept this harsh reality, he had to do something more, so he created the HONU program (Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons) – an organization that provides temporary housing to the unhoused population utilizing a mobile navigation concept. Every 90 days a mobile shelter is built in a different area of the community to house the unhoused. It works for both the unhoused and the residents of neighbors because it is temporary and will move out of the location giving locals piece of mind and “spreading out the burden”. HONU teams also work with social worker and specialists to provide proper assistance to the unhoused in need.
Participating in Hawaiian culture does not have to be connected to traditional practices, like performing hula, reciting chants, or farming kalo. Culture can be an authentic everyday way of life, where you give back to Hawai‘i more than you take.
Hawai‘i Police Major Mike Lambert exemplifies these values. He works in a profession that can be very uncaring, and at its worst destructive, but instead of maintaining the status quo, he has chosen to be a leader in the community, helping the most vulnerable among us, and affecting change at all levels of the Police Department and State.
He is a role model for me and all Hawaiians who are compelled to give back to this land that sustains us, and in doing so he is helping to transform Hawai‘i into a shining example of a caring community for the rest of the world to see. I am honored to help tell his story.
— Alex Bocchieri
Website | Instagram
I was born in the Hawaiian diaspora, and grew up knowing I had roots in Hawai‘i, but I didn’t always feel Hawaiian enough to claim my ancestry. Over the years, most of them now living in Hawai‘i, I’ve come to learn that participating in culture isn’t a birthright, it's my choice. I can show my Hawaiian ancestry on paper, but I can’t claim to be Hawaiian unless I am rooted in Hawaiian values, the most important of which is our responsibility to mālama, which means nurture that which sustains you. I am inextricably tied to Hawai‘i because this land provided for my ancestors, and so I have the kuleana, or responsibility, to do work that sustains this place, that gives back more than what I have taken.
Alex is a filmmaker who currently lives and works in Honolulu, Hawaii.
PRODUCED BY
1001 Stories
DIRECTOR
Alexander Bocchieri
SCRIPT BY
Catherine Mariko Black
SCRIPT BY
Alexander Bocchieri
EDITORS
Alexander Bocchieri
EDITORS
Johnathan Nguyen Walk
1ST AC/DIT
Kaeo Kepani
GAFFER
Zachary Tom
KEY GRIP
Ethan Mora
SOUND ENGINEER
Tobi Nova
COLORIST
Abraham Williams
STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER
Kristle Backe
TITLES
Kaho Otake
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Joshua Pokraka
FEATURING
Nainoa Lambert, Treston Putt, Khloe Lynn Wescott, Kaho’omaka Lambert, Nohealani Wescott, Arie Lambert, Keighton Putt
SPECIAL THANKS
Honolulu Police Department, Academy, Officers, and Recruits
