Armed With A Camera Fellowship Established in 2002, the Armed With A Camera (AWC) Fellowship for Emerging Media Artists is awarded to a select group of Filmmakers annually. Visual Communications works with the Fellows for seven months and provides special training, mentoring and networking opportunities, access to facilities and equipment plus a stipend to create their digital short films that premiere at the
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and other venues nationwide. Alumni include
Ernesto Foronda (writer of
Better Luck Tomorrow and Co-Director of
Sunset Stories),
Daniel Hsia (director/writer of
Shanghai Calling),
Evan Jackson Leong (director of
1040 and the
Jeremy Lin documentary
Linsanity that premiered at the 2013
Sundance Film Festival),
Patrick Epino,
Nadine Truong,
Timothy Tau,
Koji Steven Sakai,
Erin Li,
Kristina Wong, Grace Su, Christopher Woon, William Lu, Jerry Chan, Ted Chung, Anson Ho, Timothy Jieh, Shawn Chou (
Tomato & Eggs), Lisa Nguyen, and
Aya Tanimura. As of 2013, 100 AWC Fellows have completed the program.
Project Catalyst Project Catalyst is an annual filmmaker initiative held during the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. A select group of filmmakers of Asian descent are invited to showcase television and/or film projects to Financiers, Producers, Production Companies, Agents, Managers and Industry Executives. Grantees work with VC to develop professional relationships and that include one-on-one meetings, panels and other events that take place during the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
The Conference for Creative Content (C3) The Conference for Creative Content (C3) focuses on new media technologies and online platforms as it pertains to the creation and distribution of Asian American media. C3 invites professionals from entertainment, academic, media and technology sectors for a series of discussions, panels and work sessions.
Film Development Fund At the 2012 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, VC announced the selectees of the VC Film Development Fund, a program which provides Asian Pacific American filmmakers with up to $100,000 towards the development of a micro-budget narrative feature-length film.
Fiscal Sponsorship Film, video and radio producers may apply to Visual Communications for non-profit sponsorship of their project. Foundations, corporate, and government funding generally require applicants to have non-profit status to receive grants. As the fiscal agent, VC takes legal and fiduciary responsibility for projects and ensures that the funds are used for charitable activities. VC served as fiscal sponsor for the
Oscar-winning short film,
Visas and Virtue, from VC alum
Chris Tashima.
Community Workshops and Education VC provides community workshops and activities that provide opportunities for community’s storytellers and media artists to learn skills. Workshops include Camera & Lighting, Final Cut Pro Editing, Sound and Audio Mixing, Screenwriting, Table Readings and Directing in addition to archives and preservation workshops like personal archives, digital photo asset management, and deterioration.
Digital Access and Equipment VC offers a multimedia learning center and workshops in video and multimedia production, aimed towards Asian Pacific media artists, community members and educators, to develop skills and create stories from the Asian Pacific community.
Digital Histories Founded in 2003, Digital Histories is a film making mentorship program geared towards primarily ethnic minority senior participants to learn how to use digital film making applications and technologies to produce personal, community and cultural data in the forms of digital narratives, personal stories, and community histories. Visual Communications premieres their films at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Archives and Media Resource Library VC’s holdings include over 300,000 photographic images, 1,500 titles in the Media Resource Library, 100 films and videos produced by Visual Communications, and over 1,000 hours of oral histories of pan-Asian Pacific American content. The Archives’ purpose is to document the history of the organization by organizing, preserving, and creating access to a variety of media art and primary materials recording political moments and depicting the Asian Pacific American heritage for staff use, as well as by scholars who are interested in Visual Communications’ role in the Asian American communities and history. The Media Resource Library contains nearly all films presented at the past Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festivals, and are available for viewing. The
Academy Film Archive houses the Visual Communications Collection, which consists of over 800 items. The archive, in conjunction with Visual Communications, has preserved two films from the collection,
China Invaded (1938) and ''Cruisin' J-Town'' (1975), in 2007 and 2011, respectively. ==See also==