Thomas Lauderdale & Pink Martini

Project: Forever, Chinatown   Role: Original Music and Score

Thomas Lauderdale was raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana. He began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison.  When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who to this day continues to serve as his coach and mentor. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and Oregon Ballet Theatre (where he collaborated with choreographer James Canfield and visual artists Storm Tharp and Malia Jensen on a ballet based on Felix Salten’s Bambi, written in 1923).  Active in Oregon politics since a student at U.S. Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt. Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded the “little orchestra” called Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing and public broadcasting. In addition to his work with Pink Martini, Lauderdale collaborates with international superstar and singing sensation Meow Meow, the surf band Satan’s Pilgrims and novelist/writer Tom Spanbauer. In Spring 2008, Lauderdale completed his first film score for Chiara Clemente’s documentary Our City Dreams, a portrait of five New York City-based women artists of different generations. In 2008, he performed as the featured piano soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland under the direction of Roger Doyle, and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini. In 2011 Lauderdale again appeared as the featured soloist with the Oregon Symphony, this time under the direction of the tremendous Carlos Kalmar. Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony and Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Penelope Wong

Project: Forever, Chinatown     Role: Associate Producer

With 25+ years in marketing & branding, Penelope Wong was CEO of Wong•Wong•Boyack (acquired by Havas), a relationship marketing firm, with clients NIKE, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo, SF Giants, Visa, sina.com, and Disney. Previously with Ogilvy & Mather Direct, other clients have included Pixar, Mattel, and Amex. She also developed and personified the brand “Jennifer Wong” for The Franklin Mint.

An author/writer on the subject of everything from food to fashion and change management, Wong is now focused on film. She is Associate Producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentary short “Last Day of Freedom,” a key investor in Projector (a start-up bringing together leading filmmakers, brands, and non-profits in a new way), and a consultant on a bio-pic being developed around several MFK Fisher memoirs. An award-winning screenwriter for “The Shanghai Café” (based on her grandfather’s spending 10 years in San Quentin for a murder he did NOT commit), she is at work on a narrative short about her parents titled “The Other Wife.”

She serves on the board of San Francisco Film Society, Oakland Museum of California, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and the Greater San Francisco YMCA. She and her husband, Tim Kochis, reside in both San Francisco and Santa Barbara.

Dorothy G.C. Quock   

Project: Forever, Chinatown | Chinatown Cultural Preservation Project    Role: Researcher; Field Producer

Born in San Francisco Chinatown, Dorothy’s ancestral heritage led her to probe into multi-cultural study, as well as American Chinese history.  With a travel / tourism degree, and International Tour Management Institute certification, she led 19 groups to People’s Republic of China, besides living there months at a time.  In addition during 1982 to 1990 assisted colleagues on trips to Cook Islands, East Africa, South America.  In recent years Dorothy has traveled not only in USA, but countries around the globe.  She is currently a Tour Manager for S.F. Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours since 1991.  Because of her inter-personal communication skills as a “people person”, combined with her cross-cultural sensitivity, Dorothy brings knowledge and experience to collaborate with Good Medicine Picture Company.

Harry Chuck

Project: Chinatown Rising    Role: Producer, Cinematographer, Director

Former Youth Director and later Executive Director of Cameron House, Harry was an early mentor for hundreds of Chinatown youth including author/activist Gordon Chin. Harry was the catalyst in Chinatown’s fight to save the Chinese Playground from being developed into a parking garage, leading to the formation of the Committee for Better Parks and Recreation in Chinatown. He was co-founder of the Chinatown Coalition for Better Housing, which led the fight to develop the Mei Lun Yuen affordable housing project. He was appointed by four separate mayors to city commissions which included the Public Housing Authority and Juvenile Justice Commission. Harry was one of the first Asian American religious leaders to speak out for same-sex marriage. In 1981, he earned his MA from the SF State University’s Film Arts Department where he served as a p/t student assistant in film history. His footage for this film was shot as a student/activist.

Joshua Chuck

Project: Chinatown Rising   Role: Co-Producer, Assistant Editor

Josh grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and has worked in the community for over 16 years as a youth worker, filmmaker, and fundraiser. He has produced, shot and edited short films for the past 16 years, mostly sharing the stories of individuals who symbolize the rich diversity of the city, as well as organizations advocating for the needs of the underserved. He currently directs the UPS Community Internship in San Francisco, an intensive community immersion program for UPS Upper Management, which focuses on the Chinatown, Tenderloin, and Bayview neighborhoods. He enjoys international travel, often spending months at a time overseas. To Josh, the best part of travel is learning about other cultures, meeting inspiring individuals, and playing basketball with the locals.

Anson HO

Project: Chinatown Rising    Role: Cinematographer; Editor

Anson is a San Francisco native rooted in the Chinatown community. While serving in the US Navy he found his passion in film and tv when he produced and filmed his own closed circuit television show on his naval ship, USS OLDENDORF. He followed his passion by moving to Los Angeles and worked on various short films, music videos and documentary projects. Notable projects included sundance film FINISHING THE GAME as an associated producer and thereafter worked on Universal's Studio FAST & FURIOUS as an assistant to the director both directed by Justin Lin. He also help develop and film numerous webseries and comedy sketches on a Youtube Asian American channel called YOMYOMF which gained over 35 million views within a year. As a traveling cinematographer, he's film documentaries all over China, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Mt Everest base camp. He is currently working on a feature film narrative called SNAKEHEAD as a 1st Assistant Director.

Andres Torres-Vives

Project: Istinma/To Rest; INDIAN    Role: Director/Co-writer

Andrés Torres-Vives was born in Chile, raised in New York, received his MFA in film directing at UCLA, and is currently a film professor at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institure for Arts and Design. Torres-Vives has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Filmmaking, a prestigious Jacob Javits Fellowship, a Motion Picture Association of America Award in directing (MPAA), three scholarships from the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, a McNamara Foundation grant and the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Prize in Directing. His films have played at multiple film festivals, including the HBO/New York International Latino Film Festival, the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, the Morelia International Film Festival and broadcast on KCET-LA’s Fine Cut Series. Torres-Vives lives in Los Angeles, CA, and has worked extensively on immigrant, refugee, LGBT issues; as well as teaching video and photography to incarcerated minors. (work sample here)