CREW

STEPHANE GAUGER | WRITER / PRODUCER / DIRECTOR

Born in Saigon, Vietnam and raised in Orange County, California, Mr. Gauger received a bachelor arts degree in theatre and French literature at Cal State Fullerton. Mr. Gauger subsequently worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia.

His feature directing debut, OWL AND THE SPARROW, shot on location in Ho Chi Minh city, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival 2007 and has gone on to win over fifteen awards at international festivals, including the audience award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the emerging filmmaker award at the Denver Film Festival, and the best narrative feature at the San Francisco Intl. Asian American Festival. At the 2009 Golden Kite Awards in Hanoi, Owl and the Sparrow received the critic choice award as well as the best foreign co-production award. Mr. Gauger was featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 new faces of 2007. He was also nominated for breakthrough director at the Gotham Awards in New York City and the John Cassavetes award at Independent Spirit Awards. His music documentary VIETNAM OVERTURES, about a music exchange program between Norway and the music institutions of Vietnam, premiered at the 2008 Hawaii International Film Festival.

DANNY DO | PRODUCER

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Mr. Do attended Orange Coast College and Cal St. Long Beach for Visual and Performing Arts. In 2006, He was invited back to Vietnam to work on the behind the scenes to the action feature, THE REBEL, directed by Charlie Nguyen. He went on with his career working within his community; Saigon Television as their Chief Editor and Van Son Entertainment as an Writer/Editor/Director. In 2008, Danny ventured into online media and teamed up with “Justkiddingfilms” and helped generate over 100,000 subscribers with many viral and funny videos. Danny founded Digital Dime and is currently working with Fusion3media to directed/write/produce. “Hometown”, a music video he directed, features the OCS, Glasses Malone, Jay Rock, and XO and was shown on MTV and World Star Hip Hop and generated over 30 million views.

ELIZABETH AI | PRODUCER

Elizabeth Ai was born in Tennessee, grew up in Illinois, attended the University of Southern California and continues to reside in Los Angeles. She went on to work for New Line Cinema, Merv Griffin Entertainment, William Morris and founded an art-based non-profit group for LAUSD inner-city youth called, Reaching to Embrace Arts. Since then, she has been writing and producing short films, music videos, reality web content, documentaries and narrative features. DIRTY HANDS: THE ARTS & CRIMES OF DAVID CHOE, a documentary she produced won the 2008 Grand Jury Prize at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, as well as the Special Jury Prize at the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival. Elizabeth worked with side by side with Stephane Gauger in Maui in 2009 to produce a period piece on French Post-Impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin called FINDING GAUGUIN. Recently, a master thesis short narrative she produced, CROWN PRINCE OF HEAVEN, was selected to premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner and is a 2010 Weisman Award recipient.

ANDERSON LE | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Born and raised in Hawai’i, Anderson Le studied Asian Studies and American History at Arizona State University, and ultimately received his B.A. in Communications at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He has written numerous articles on Hallyu (the Korean Wave), the work of Vietnamese-American filmmakers, and Asian American cinema.

For over a decade, Le has worked diligently in the global promotion of Asian cinema as director of programming for the Hawaii International Film Festival, presenting over 2000 films to an aggregate audience of almost 750,000 strong. Le has consulted for other film festivals, including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, as well as the Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco Asian Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival in New York City and the Cinemasia Film Festival in Amsterdam. He has served on juries for the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival and most recently, the Singapore International Film Festival. In 2010, Le is consulting for the 1st annual Vietnam International Film Festival (VNIFF), slated for mid-October in Hanoi.

RYAN HOANG HUBRIS | PRODUCER

Ryan attended Santa Clara University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance and Spanish.  A year after, he earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration, specializing in intergovernmental management (IGM,) from the University of Southern California (USC,) one of the top 3 schools for Public Administration in the United States.

He has served as the Senior Advisor to V Home Group, President and COO for Bridgecreek and the Executive Vice President of Lee’s Sandwiches International. With his extensive knowledge and experience, Chanh Phuong Films has asked him take the helm as its Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. In addition to his executive posts at Chanh Phuong Films, he has also served as one of the Executive Producer for “Clash (Bẫy Rồng,)” the highest grossing action film in 2009 in Vietnam. The film also screened at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

KENNETH NGUYEN | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Mr. Nguyen holds a B.A. degree from the University of Southern California in Visual Anthropology with a minor in Cinema Studies. He held positions in the film industry working at several screen literary agencies and film production companies before venturing out to develop and produce film projects on his own. He is one of the founders of Wave Releasing, a Vietnamese language film distribution company where he manages marketing and business affairs for the company.

MICHAEL ESTES DINH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Michael is a proud native Texan, born and raised in Houston, and runs a family business that has employed Vietnamese immigrants and assisted them in their integration into American society for over two decades. This sense of appreciation and respect is what draws him to the opportunities emerging in modern day Vietnam. He is inspired by famous Houstonian Industrials like Dominique De Menil (Schlumbeger) and Howard Hughes who were prime examples of how Industry and Business can compliment and support the Arts.

JIMMY NGHIEM PHAM | PRODUCER

Mr. Pham graduated from CSU Long Beach and earned a BA in Film Directing in 1997 and currently oversees the production and creative direction for Chánh Phương Films. His entertainment career began in the early 1990’s. He joined Cinema Pictures in 1995 and during his years with company, he directed and produced music videos, sitcoms and live concerts held worldwide.

Recognizing a significant void in the film industry and a great market potential, he expanded to Vietnam in 2004 under the name of Chánh Phương Films. Once the company was legally formed, he immediately began the production of The Rebel. The Rebel went on to garner 2 international awards: Audiences Awards 2007 (Vietnamese International Film Festival) and the Grand Jury Award 2007 (Asian Pacific Film Festival.) In Vietnam, The Rebel swept the country by being the first non-government film company to win 5 awards at the Golden Lotus Award 2007. He went on to producing 14 Days, Owl & The Sparrow, Clash and several popular TV series in Viet Nam.

RICH LONG NGUYEN | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Rich Long Nguyen (b. 1971) settled with his family in America as a child. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. In 2002, Rich co-founded BN Magazine, a Vietnamese lifestyle magazine, that circulated throughout 20 of the most populated Vietnamese cities in the United States.

He returned to Vietnam in 2007 and founded the company FAT Media, a media company specializing in building the Vietnam Film and Television industry through product placement and investment. In 2009, he was the Executive Producer of the blockbuster Vietnamese film Bay Rong (Clash).

TAWNY TRUC NGUYEN | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Mrs. Nguyen earned a BS in Business Administration from CSU Fullerton in 1992. Mrs. Tawny Trúc Nguyễn began producing music videos, concerts and comedy skits for local companies in the United States since 1992. She has held many positions and explored all aspects of production both in front of and behind the cameras.

She is the co-founder of Chánh Phương Films with Jimmy Nghiem Pham. While she also has a passion to be a great filmmaker, her best contributions have come from the administration of and strategic positioning for the company. She is focused on producing commercially viable projects while supporting filmmakers who have unique creative visions and appealing stories to tell.

ALEX VO | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Mr. Alex Vo, a business school graduate and IT executive, is a lifelong movie buff. His early experience in cinematography was a try-out for Good Morning Vietnam, with Robin Williams. Although he didn’t land one of the supporting roles, that experience gave him a lifelong passion for the arts. Mr. Vo’s latest project involvement was with Clash, one of the highest grossing film released in Vietnam thus far. Mr. Vo resides in Southern California with his wife, Helen and their two kids, Remy and Hennessy.

CARSON VO | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Carson Vo graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1997 with a dual concentration of Information Systems and Accounting. He worked as an Oracle Software specialist for various technology companies in Chicago during the “dot com” boom before pursuing a career in the Real Estate industry as a broker and investor in Las Vegas. His fascination for the arts and film industry leads him to start looking into the growing film industry in Southeast Asia. Now with a few projects in the works, he feels there is a great potential and an upward trend in this marketplace. Carson currently resides in Las Vegas with his wife, Angela and their two sons, Kaiden and Keanu.

RICKY COLE | CHOREOGRAPHER

After graduating high school, Ricky starting coaching and choreographing for Valencia High School in California, winning numerous competitions including Nationals. He subsequently spent two years choreographing for Cal State Long Beach Pac Modern. Some of the crews he’s danced for include Super Friends, Non-Stop, Sick Step, Culture Shock LA, and Chill Factor. Some of his televised appearances have been America’s Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, and Mad TV. He has traveled internationally to judge hip hop competitions. Saigon Electric was his first trip to Vietnam, working with the local dance crews there.

VIET MAX | CHOREOGRAPHER

Viet Max is one of the first Hip-hop dancers in Vietnam and is currently working as a leader of PEACE UNIT, a hip-hop community in Vietnam. He has traveled  all over the world to perform, compete,  and workshop in countries such as France, Thailand, Singapore, and China. He started b-boy dancing in 2001 and competed in many professional competitions from 2002 to 2006, garnering many top prizes. In 2006, he moved from Hanoi to Saigon and founded BIG SOUTH – one of the top crews in Vietnam. He is currently considered the best B-Boy in Vietnam with top rankings in many hip-hop competitions.

DJ SLIM| MUSIC COMPOSER

DJ Slim started his music career in 1992.  He is considered one of the top Vietnamese DJ/Producers in America. Catered to the young hip audience, a veteran of electronic dance and hip hop production, Slim spent many years fine-tuning his music winning formula, producing for films and commercials through his company Empire Recordings.

PETE NGUYEN| MUSIC COMPOSER

Pete Nguyen has had an innate affinity for musical expression since childhood – adept at guitar, singing, piano, and percussion. He began banging on pots and pans at an early age, and learned to play songs by ear on a cheap Yamaha synthesizer and his mom’s acoustic guitar while his parents were at work. While he was a communications major at Cal State Fullerton he began a solo singer/songwriter career, penning the local hit “Temperature” and collecting tips at local coffeehouses. He then became the lead guitarist/vocalist of LA based rock band Thomas’ Apartment, enjoying gigs all over America and a Wong Fu Productions music video for “Temperature”. He celebrates a lifelong love of film music by scoring independent films – starting with Stephane Gauger’s OWL AND THE SPARROW, and continuing with SAIGON ELECTRIC. He currently resides in Irvine, CA.