Emily is a filmmaker from Oʻahu based in New York City. Her short film Lucky Fish has played at festivals including Palm Springs International Film Festival (Winner, Young Cineastes Award, Special Mention, Best LGBTQ+ Short), Champs-Élysées (Winner, Audience Award), Outfest L.A., Frameline, Inside Out and Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, and went on to become a viral hit after premiering on NOWNESS Asia. She is one of the 2023 Recipients of The New Voices Filmmaker Grant, a new initiative from NewFest in partnership with Netflix. Emily has curated film programs for Metrograph, Allies in Arts, Brooklyn Art Haus and NowHere Gallery and served as a Jury member at the Mint Chinese Film Festival and Oakland Drunken Film Festival. She previously worked as a development executive at the Academy Award-Nominated and Peabody Award-Winning production company The Department of Motion Pictures (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, PATTI CAKE$, MONSTERS & MEN, PHILLY D.A.) and was an Associate Producer on the podcast series OPERATOR produced in partnership with Topic and Wondery.

“I really wanted to make a film about two individuals who feel like outsiders in their own families who are able to relate to one another and find meaningful connection through this shared experience of disconnection. The story was inspired by my own personal experiences growing up with the Chinese side of my family and the sense of generational and cultural disconnect that I experienced in those spaces. I really wanted to revisit this time in my life with a sense of humor and optimism and explore these feelings of isolation while offering a small form of relief from it. It was also very exciting for me to get to tell a story about two queer Asian-Americans that I felt I hadn’t seen before that wasn’t necessarily a coming out story, and more so simply about two young individuals existing and connecting, and to be able to bring that experience into the world for others to experience alongside them.”

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