ABOUT TALK TO HER
Talk to Her is a 12 minute film about love, acceptance, and missed opportunities. It tells the story of a young man trapped in a culture clash where traditions stunted his quest for personal happiness. The film explores the complicated relationships between Michael, a second generation Chinese American man; his mother, Mrs. Yue and; Julianne, his girlfriend of two year whom he plans to propose. After a twist of fate, Julianne accidentally discovers Michael's secret love affair with a man. Will Michael be able to face the truth with his love ones, or most importantly himself before it's too late?
Writer/director Leon Le's idea for Talk to Her was inspired by a true story he read a while ago about a young Chinese woman in China coming home one afternoon to discovers her newly wedded husband was having an affair with her own brother. While tradition can scaffold a strong cultural unit, it can also imprison those unable to see beyond its sooted beams. The story remains relevant today while the cultural milieu of the Asian man continues to instill the ultimate responsibility for the man to carry on his family name, pressuring many gay men into marriages ending with broken families and devastated hearts.
CREATIVE TEAM
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LEON LE (Writer/Director/Editor) is a self taught filmmaker/photographer. After 13 years working as a professional dancer/actor/singer for theaters, national/international tours, Off-Broadway to Broadway; he has appeared in numerous TV series and features films in Vietnam, he finally decided to take a stab at filmmaking. His latest short film Dawn, which he wrote, directed, edited and produced garnered positive attention at more than 20 national/international film festivals. In 2012, it won Best LGBT Short, Best International Short, and Best Director awards. And in 2013, Dawn was nominated for Best Short Film, Excellent in Short Filmmaking, and the Iris Prize film award.
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CHRISTOPHER BIRK (Producer) Christopher Birk created the production company Alpha Tree Productions in 2011. Since then, several projects have been completed and even more are in the works. In post production is the web-series Mental Issues, a comedy show about what really goes on between shrinks and their patients and in production is Helicopters - a new play that was received very well at its first workshop production in May this year. It's now being developed into a full play. Already finished is the ghost story Willa, based on Stephen King's short story. This film is doing festival runs this year.
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MATT GUERIN (Associate Producer) is a Toronto-based screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote and produced the award-winning short film The Golden Pin, which won the Best Canadian Short award at Toronto's Inside Out Film Festival, before serving as Additional Writer and Associate Producer on director Cuong Ngo's award-winning feature debut Pearl of the Far East. He also works at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a researcher. His recent credits include Associate Producer for Leon Le's Dawn, and is currently in pre-production on a feature film version of The Golden Pin.
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SHAUN CLARK (Director of Photography)Shaun Clarke is a filmmaker based in Boston, MA. He graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, with a B.F.A. in Film & Television production, and received an M.F.A. in Media Art from Emerson College in May 2012. He also studied cinematography at the internationally acclaimed FAMU school in Prague, Czech Republic. Shaun has worked as a cinematographer on numerous projects over the past 10 years. His work has ranged from short narrative films, to commercial spots, to feature-length documentaries. He’s known for his creative but disciplined approach to cinematography, and his professional approach to his work on productions and sets of all sizes. Shaun has also produced a number of projects over the years. Most recently, he was the Associate Producer of “Give Me the Banjo,” a feature-length documentary broadcast nationally on PBS in November 2011. Narrated by Steve Martin, “Give Me the Banjo” was viewed in over 3 million households during its premiere broadcast. Shaun also has extensive experience teaching film and video production to a diverse mix of students. He is currently an adjunct professor at Emerson College, teaching an introductory-level film production course. He has previously lectured and taught both adults and teens at New York Film Academy, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Bentley College, Cambridge Community Television and Cambridge Ringe & Latin High School.
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RONOBIR LAHIRI (Composer) holds a BA in Theater and Literature from Yale University. He formally trained on the sitar in North Indian Classical Music under the guru-ship of Deepak Choudhuri, a preeminant disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar, in Calcutta, India. In 2000, he was awarded the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Sound Design for a production of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink. Other theatre scores include The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here, What Alice Found There for the Williamstown Theater Festival. He began his career scoring to picture with HBO, composing the 2007 Cinemax Yearender. The following year, the promo he scored for HBO Sports was awarded the 2010 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Promotional Announcement. In the past year, he has scored 7 short films, for NYFA, USC Film School, and several independent production companies. He is resident composer for Hand Crank Films, having scored over 50 short films and commercials for that company, two of which were awarded Addy Awards in 2012. He has self-produced two albums of Indian-fusion sitar music, titled Broad Strokes, and Joy for Silverlake. In 2009, he was Music Director for the Franco Dragone-produced circus, India!, which toured Germany. As MD, he led a 14 piece band with his sitar in the music of A.R. Rahman, Sting, and Peter Gabriel. In 2011, he was invited to Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Academy, where, along with Otis Sallid and Aaron Jones, he composed the original musical, The Moon. He’s also an accomplished stage and screen actor, with numerous primetime television credits, and has played the title role in The King and I in 5 major productions, including Broadway and the West End.
THE CAST
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ZILONG-PU (as Michael)
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(Still images from Talk to Her)Grew up in a small town in China. After discovering his love for acting and music he moved to Paris and attended the European acting school “Cours Florent”. While in France, Zilong appeared in a variety of French theater, concert and TV shows, independent films, music television videos, as well as commercials for Pepsi and Amnesty International. He came to New York to study Musical Theater in 2011. His main focus is performing pop music, musical theater, plays, film and television. He has starred in several independent films in New York and many are currently playing in the festival circuit and his credits on television include the show “Stepford Wives” for ID Discovery Channel. He has become rooted in the New York theatre community and has participated twice in the International New York Fringe Festival and was featured in “The New York Times” for his new musical show “RENT A WHITE GUY”. His has a commitment to cultural diversity and performed the opening number of this year’s "Taste of France" exclusive cabaret show in Bryant Park, Manhattan.
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CHARIS CHU (as Julianne)
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(Still images from Talk to Her)Charis Chu is a filmmaker, actor and model from Hong Kong. Recently graduated from New York Tisch School of the Arts, she is a director and producer for more than 8 short films and 2 music videos. One of her short films “Race” won an Award of Merit in the 2013 Los Angeles Women’s Independent Film Festival as well as Honorable Mention Winner in 2013 International Film Festival for Peace, Inspiration and Equality. In New York, she worked on various productions such as a 2014 film, “The Revenge of the Green Dragons,” directed by Andrew Lau and produced by Martin Scorsese; 2012 Superbowl commercial “O2”, starring Beyoncé; as well as 2012 “Sprint” commercial, starring NBA player, Kevin Durant. Apart from filmmaking, with more than six years of acting and modeling training, she appeared in numerous productions on both stage and screen including, again, “Revenge of the Green Dragons”; New York Yangtze Repertory Theatre’s production, “The Empress Dowager”; 20th century Fox film “The Other Woman”, starring Cameron Diaz; and Hong Kong Academy of Performing Art’s musical “Footloose”. Charis also starred in commercials of highly established brands such as “Apple”, “Nikon Coolpix Asia” and “Converse”.
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WENDY HUANG (as Mrs. Yue)
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(Still images from Talk to Her)Min-Wen "Wendy" Huang is from Taipei, Taiwan. She is an accountant, a financial manager, a business owner, an art consultant and an actress. Some of her TV/Films credits include Fortune House, Allure (short film), KC Global Workshop, Elementary (Season 2), SMASH, The Wolf of Wall Street, Royal Pains, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, American Express USA OPEN, 666 Park Avenue.
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KENWAY HON WAI K. KUA (as Jon)
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(Still image from Talk to Her)
Kenway Hon Wai K. Kua is a dancer, choreographer, singer, actor and musician. He is proud if his Hawaiian, Chinese and Portuguese heritage and visits family often in Hawaii and Hong Kong. On Broadway, he has performed in Wicked, The Frogs. Tours: Mary Poppins, Flower Drum Song. Regionals: Pacific Overtures, Cinderella and Aladdin. He has also appeared in commercials and print campaigns for Timberland, Curve, Microsoft and K-Swiss.
INTENTION
Raise budget of $7500.00 for the project.
3 day shoot in mid November and have rough edit by end of year 2013.
Finish post production and get the film ready for film festivals in beginning of 2014.
Possible development of the short film into a full length feature.
BUDGET
With a passionate, devoted team and a wonderfully talented cast, we have all the components of making a beautiful film. And with the help of donations and investors, we will able to make this project a reality. Staying within budget is a big challenge when filming but we are doing a large amount of pre-production work to make sure we will stay within the budget.
The budget of $7500.00 will go towards the following:
*Director of Photography
*Set designs/props
*Crews
*Equipment Rentals
*Sound Designer
*Hair/Make-up Artist
*Location Rentals
*Permits
*Insurance
*Catering
*Transportation
