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Vivian Wong
Assistant
Center for EthnoCommunications
3229 Campbell Hall
Ph. 310-206-8889
Fax. 310-206-9844
eMail: vivwong@ucla.edu |
Biographical Information
Vivian Wong is the Assistant Director for the Center of EthnoCommunications at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, developing, producing, and promoting media about and by Asian Americans and their communities. She also teaches courses in community media, video ethnography, documentary, and filmmaking through EthnoCommunications and the Asian American Studies Center.
She received her MFA in Directing from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television, and Digital Media. Her most recent work is the award-winning short documentary, Homecoming (2005), about her grandmother. Other notable films include Lauren (1999) and myLosAngeles (2001). Her work has screened internationally in film festivals and academic conferences and on PBS.
She originally hails from the East Coast, growing up in Maryland and graduating from college in Pennsylvania where she majored in East Asian Studies.
 FILMOGRAPHY
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/EDITOR - Homecoming. A personal documentary that recounts the filmmaker’s experience as a second-generation Chinese American and her relationship to her grandmother from Malaysia. Weaving old photographs and Super-8 film footage with contemporary video, it explores issues of diaspora and themes of immigration and displacement. 2005
FESTIVALS
• S.L.A.P. (Salt Lake Asian Pacific) Film Festival, Salt Lake City, UT
• VC FILM FEST (Los Angeles Asian American Film & Video Festival), CA
• Asian Pacific Film Festival of Dallas, TX
• Algonqiun Film Festival, Warrington, PA
• GLOBIANS Postsdam World and Culture Documentary Film Festival, Germany – Opening Night Film
• Big Bear Lake International Film Festival, CA
• DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, Eugene, OR
• Boulder Asian American Film Festival, CO
AWARDS
• Platinum Remi Award, Best Short Documentary – Houston World Fest, TX
• Best Documentary Award – Berkeley Video and Film Festival, CA
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
• Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan
• UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, James Bridges Theater
• Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) National Conference, Los Angeles, CA
• Bergamont Station, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
• SCOR (Student of Color or Rackham) Professional and Graduate Student Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/EDITOR – my Los Angeles. A video diary of Los Angeles through the eyes of the filmmaker as new arrival from the East Coast. 2000
WRITE/DIRECTOR/EDITOR – Lauren. A young woman regresses into a painful past. Narrative. 1999
FESTIVALS
• VC FILM FEST (Los Angeles American Film Festival), CA
• APACT Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
• UCLA Student Film Festival, CA
TELEVISION
• KPBS, San Diego Public Television
SPECIAL SCREENING
• UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, James Bridges Theater, CA
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – Carved Words: Poems from Angel Island. A documentary essay on the poems written by Chinese immigrants held on Angel Island, CA, in the early 1900’s. 1998
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – Dinner. Roommates improvise dinner as things go wrong in the kitchen. Narrative. 1995
WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER – Thinking of. In a dream, a young mother is haunted by the loss of her husband and child. Narrative. 1995
PRODUCTIONS & PROJECTS
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER – Pilgrimage. A 30-minute documentary on the 1971 pilgrimage to Manzanar Internment Camp in CA, which sparked the early Asian American Movement. Funded by the California State Library. 2004 – 2006
CAMERA PERSON – Searching for Strangers. A documentary on a Korean American adoptee’s search to find her birth family. Dir. Alexandra Lewis. 2006
PROJECT MANAGER – Life History Instructional DVD. An hour-long interactive, how-to DVD on oral history interviews, strategies and techniques: how to operate equipment – video cameras and microphones; and composing, framing, and conducting the interview. Produced by the Center for EthnoCommunications, UCLA. Fall 2004 – 2005
PROJECT MANAGER – Residents of the Firm. An oral history series of senior citizens living in the historic Firm Building of Downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district. In partnership with the Little Tokyo Service Center and the Downtown Media Center, Los Angeles, CA. Fall 2004
DEVELOPER & RESEARCHER – Introduction to Creating Community Media
An introductory level, college course on community media theory and methodology, allowing diverse peoples to reclaim and promote their histories and culture through visual life history and emerging digital technology. Summer 2004
COORDINATOR – CREATING COMMUNITY MEDIA CONFERENCE. A conference bring together students, scholars, filmmakers, and community leaders to showcase the emerging and growing body of work in community media and offer insights into the field. Hosted by the Center for EthnoCommunications and Asian American Studies Center, UCLA. Winter & Spring 2002
CAMERA PERSON – Words, Weaving, Songs. The profiles of three Japanese American women artists who were incarcerated in U.S. internment camps in WWII. Produced by the Japanese American National Museum. Dir. John Esaki. 2000
EDITOR – To all Relations. A trailer for Great Leap, an arts organization founded by Japanese American artist, Nobuko Miyamoto. 2000
EDITOR – A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens. A trailer for the play, “A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens –a production of Great Leap, an arts organization founded by Japanese American artist, Nobuko Miyamoto, 2000
CAMERA PERSON – The Bracelet. A documentary short based on the children’s book by Yoshika Uchida. Funded by the California State Library. Produced by the Japanese American National Museum. 2000
CAMERA PERSON – Crossover. A documentary on the popular Japanese American Basketball Leagues that sponsor amateur tournaments across California. Dir. Justin Lin. 1999
CAMERA PERSON – Eye to Eye. A video series profiling Asian American Artists. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. 1999
COORDINATOR – Eye to Eye Resource Guide. Booklets accompanying the Eye to Eye video series profiling Asian American Artists. 1999
CAMERA PERSON – Majikinia Honryu Dance Performance. A multi-camera videotaping of the Majikina Honryu Dance Company’s, a classical Japanese dance troupe, special performance in Los Angeles, CA. 1999
CAMERA PERSON – Behind of the Scenes of the 8-Screen. A behind-the-scenes, making-of documentary of “J-Town Rhapsody”, a media exhibit on permanent display at the Japanese American National Museum. 1999
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY – Standing-in. A young boy dreams he trades places with his favorite comic book hero. Narrative. 1998
PRESENTATIONS
“Homecoming”, “Cultural Expose: Situating Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in he Arts”, Bearing Witness: Students of Color as Scholar, Activist, and Truth-tellers, 16th Annual SCOR (Student of Color of Rackham) Professional and Graduate Student Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, February 2006.
“Local and Global Storytelling: EthnoCommunications and Documenting Community,” Globalization, Regionalism, and Identity, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) National Conference, Los Angeles, CA, April 2005.
“Capturing Community Images,” Learning by Doing: Education towards Humanization Education Symposium, UCLA, October 2004.
“EthnoCommunications: Defining and Redefining Ourselves,” International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century, Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Envisioning Visual Life History,”International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community, Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century, Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Asian America: Claiming Identity, Creating Social Communities,” International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community, Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century, Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Once Upon a Camp: A Case Study,” International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community, Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century, Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Views from Within: Asian American Communities Past and Present,” International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community, Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century, Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Asian American Diversity: Race, Class, and Gender,” International Forum for Community Media and EthnoCommunications. Community, Communications, and Digital Technology: Documenting the Local and Global in the 21st Century. Tainan National University for the Arts, Taiwan, June 2004.
“Increasing Visibility and ‘Telling Your Story’: Approaches in Documenting Community,” Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD) National Conference, Los Angeles, CA, May 2004.
“EthnoCommunications: Connecting Art, Advocacy, and the Academy,”Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) National Conference, San Francisco, CA, May 2003.
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
UCLA Institute of Art and Culture Research Grant, 2005
Carroll Sax Award, UCLA 2000
Bill Lan Lee Award, UCLA 2000
University Fellowship, UCLA, 1999 – 2000
UCLA Institute of Art and Culture Research Grant, 1999
Edna and Yu-Shan Han Award, UCLA 1998 & 1999
Motion Picture Associate of America Award, UCLA, 1997
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