SHOOTING + PRODUCING
Big Fight in Little Chinatown
Documentary feature by Karen Cho, EyeSteelFilm
Cinematographer
All across the globe, Chinatowns are under threat of disappearing – and along with them, the rich history of communities who fought from the margins for a place to belong. Big Fight in Little Chinatown is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, this feature documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are facing active erasure. Big Fight in Little Chinatown documents the collective fight to save Chinatowns across North America.
Premiered at DOC NYC, 2022. Winner of the People’s Choice Award at RIDM (Montreal International Documentary Film Festival).
Indonesians Are Trying to Make Crypto Halal
VICE News Tonight
Producer, Reporter
Cryptocurrency is booming in Indonesia, with millions of Indonesians looking to crypto investments as a way of making quick money after two years of pandemic-fueled economic decline. But in the world’s most populous Muslim country, religious authorities have spoken out against the risks of cryptocurrency, and declared crypto transactions against the rules of Islam.
VICE News investigates the religious dilemma at the heart of crypto’s future in Indonesia, speaking with Islamic clerics, working class Indonesians attempting to use crypto to supplement reduced incomes, and a Sharia financial planner who champions the compatibility of Old Testament religion with this latest financial technology.
Year of the Dog
VICE News Tonight on HBO
Director of Photography
Chinese New Year isn’t just a holiday. It's the largest annual human migration on Earth. And to Yang Jianguo and Liu Mingchun, it's the only time they get to reunite with their children 1000 miles away. VICE News followed the couple on a 30-hour train ride from Shenzhen to their home in Sichuan for their yearly family reunion.
This 26-minute, observational documentary was awarded the Overseas Press Club of America’s David A. Andelman and Pamela Title Award for “Best international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition.”
Demand and Supply
VICE News Tonight, MUNCHIES
Producer, Reporter
Food delivery in China is a super-charged version of the rest of the world: a few swipes and taps on your phone, and in around half an hour, a uniformed delivery person will be at your door with your food. Getting delivery can actually be more affordable than cooking at home. But the ease and convenience of food delivery in China relies on millions of gig-worker delivery people, who often confront considerable danger with little protection or support.
This piece explores the advanced world of Chinese food delivery in a post-pandemic world, following a delivery driver racing against inhuman algorithms to make ends meet.
[US VPN required to view]
China's "Psycho Boom" from Life in Lockdown
VICE News Tonight
Producer, Reporter
Mental health has long been a stigmatized topic in China. Under Chairman Mao’s rule, psychology was dismissed as a bourgeois self-delusion, and was even banned until the 1970s. But since the early 2000s, growing interest in mental health has created what’s known as a “psycho-boom”: more and more Chinese are talking about their mental health struggles and seeking treatment. The trauma of pandemic lockdowns in China has further helped open up conversations on mental health—breaking down stigmas, but also giving mental wellness a new lifestyle cachet.
Moshe Safdie: Habitat in Nature
Hi Lo / Safdie Architects
Segment Director of Photography
“We need to integrate architecture with nature.” What the pandemic and global climate emergency have shown us is that we need to recalibrate everything we do. This short film traces architect Moshe Safdie’s vision from the utopian ideal of Habitat 67 to the newest iterations of the Habitat concept in Qinhuangdao, China, exploring what makes sustainable architecture—today and in the future. Through interviews with residents of both Habitat 67 in Montreal and Habitat Qinhuangdao in China, the film examines the lasting impact of the Habitat model has on the built environment, and on the lives of its inhabitants.
Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia: Iboga in Gabon
VICELAND
Camera Operator
In Season 3 of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, an investigation into a scientific mystery surrounding tramadol-addicted cattle in Central Africa leads Hamilton to a psychedelic ritual. (Excerpt from full 45-minute episode)
South Korea’s Dog Cloning Industry
VICE News Tonight
Producer, Co-Director of Photography
Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is hard. Lamech Lai, a Taiwanese botanist, artist, and spiritual teacher, became convinced that his dog wanted to be reborn after death. That led him to find Sooam Biotech, a Korean company that clones dogs. Helmed by controversial researcher Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, the lab charges $100,000 per clone.
VICE News travels to Korea and Taiwan to follow the dog cloning process, and examine a business that pushes the frontiers of science, as well as the limits of bioethics.
Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia: Meth and God
VICELAND
Camera Operator
Hamilton meets recovering methamphetamine addicts, who are finding a 'cure' for their disease in religion.
Noodle School
Topic / Hi Lo
Camera Operator
At the Gansu Ding Le Noodle School in Lanzhou, China, many have traveled to learn the art of making hand-pulled noodles. Ten students from different walks of life try to master the craft with hopes of changing their fortunes.
The film has screened at the Brooklyn Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival and received the American Society of Magazine Editors Award for Best Video, Service & Lifestyle (2019).
The ARChive
VICE News Tonight / Noisey
Director of Photography
What do you do with one of the largest record collections in the world? You put the three million items in a building in Lower Manhattan. That is, until you're thrown out... VICE News Tonight goes to see the dressing of the dead at the ARChive of Contemporary Music—and take a look at its next iteration, wherever that might be.
Chinese Caviar
MUNCHIES / VICE China
Producer, Director of Photography
MUNCHIES visits Qiandaohu, where a Chinese sturgeon farm has become one of the world’s most important producers of this iconic, staggeringly expensive delicacy. Learn how caviar is made, harvested, processed and what makes it so expensive.
The Cost of Living
VICE on HBO
Camera Operator
Americans today spend more on pharmaceuticals per capita than anyone else in the world, and more than one in five say they have trouble affording their prescription drugs. But they might not know about the alternative pathways to medicine. VICE's Hamilton Morris explores the world of clandestine chemists, DIY bio hackers, and grey markets to see if a more democratized medicinal future is indeed possible.
Out of Place
VICE
Co-Director, Director of Photography
An intimate portrayal of the experiences of transgender people in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Thailand, Out of Place follows Hong Kong native Bobbie Huthart, who has lived a life as a successful businessman, playboy and father, as she travels to Thailand for sex-reassignment surgery and transitions to life as a woman. Intertwined with Bobbie’s journey is the story of Mr. C, a young trans man from Guizhou bringing China’s first transgender labour discrimination case to court.
The film received the China Rainbow Media Award (2017) and screened at the Shanghai Pride Film Festival and China Women’s Film Festival.
China Lost and Found
HP / Redglass Pictures
Producer
An 84-year old father and grandfather discovers surprising fame in China Lost and Found after a forgotten holiday snapshot is rediscovered and exhibited by photo archivist Thomas Sauvin. This is the true story behind one image from Sauvin’s world-famous photo show, Beijing Silvermine.
Part of HP’s “History of Memory” series, this documentary underscores the role printed pictures play in our own journeys of personal discovery. The series premiered at the Tribeca X Film Festival and received the Tribeca X Award for Best Episodic Series (2019).
Fake Sneakers
VICE News Tonight on HBO
Director of Photography
After the sun sets in Putian, China, thousands of bikes carrying fake sneakers hit the streets. The lace-up black market is no secret in Putian, and it's where you can find Chan, a vendor with a knack for getting high-quality pairs off the streets and into the hands of hypebeasts on the other side of the globe.
VICE News met up with Chan at his headquarters to see how his business is racing ahead.
Yunnan Coffee’s New Wave
MUNCHIES / VICE China
Producer, Director of Photography
MUNCHIES travels to Pu’er to meet the people changing the face—and reputation—of Chinese coffee, from young farmers living in remote high-altitude hills, to American coffee specialists, and a new generation of Chinese coffee roasters overseeing production from farm to cup.
Collecting Insanity
Asia Society / China File
Director, Camera, Editor
Every country has a past it likes to celebrate and another it would rather forget. In China, where history still falls under the tight control of government-run museums and officially approved textbooks, the omissions appear especially stark. Real estate magnate Fan Jianchuan’s Jianchuan Museum Cluster is the only museum in China devoted to the country’s tumultuous Cultural Revolution, showcasing millions of historical artifacts gathered over a lifetime of obsessive accumulation. The film screened at Photoville Brooklyn.