20th New York Asian Film Festival

Aug 6-22, 2021

Photo: Arowana Films Inc

Special Screening

Snakehead

Q&A with dir. Evan Jackson Leong and cast: Shuya Chang, Jade Wu, Perry Yung

Evan Jackson Leong’s narrative feature debut pits two smart, ambitious women against each other and lets the sparks fly. Based on real events surrounding the Chinatown-based snakehead syndicate, the film follows the fortunes of Sister Tse (Shuya Chang), a newly arrived would-be immigrant, as she navigates the shortest path to paying off her debt to the smugglers. Tse’s determination and competence are quickly noticed by Dai Mah (TV veteran Jade Wu), the ferociously strong matriarch of the crime family responsible for her passage. Soon, Tse is running major trafficking operations and her debt’s nearly clear… until Dai Mah’s son Rambo (Sung Kang of Fast & Furious, Better Luck Tomorrow) makes a few discoveries about her past. Let the fireworks begin.

Director: Evan Jackson Leong
Producers: Brian Yang, Anson Ho, Dan Mark
Cast: Perry Yung, Sung Kang, Jade Wu, Shuya Chang
Languages: English and Mandarin with English subtitles
2021; 89 min.

SCHEDULE:

Sunday August 22, 5:00pm
SVA Theatre

AVAILABLE: Aug 22, 5:00 PM - Aug 22, 7:00 PM

Perry Yung

Perry Yung is an American actor and musician from Oakland, CA. He plays Father Jun in Cinemax's Warrior, produced by Justin Lin, Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee's daughter), and Jonathan Tropper (Banshee show creator). He was fan favorite Ping Wu on Steven Soderbergh's The Knick and has guest-starred on Gotham, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods... to name a few. Principal roles in films include Boogie, Condemned, Jade Pendant, John Wick: Chapter 2, and A Father's Son starring Tzi Ma and Ronnie Chieng. Perry is a member of La Mama Theater's Great Jones Repertory Company of New York City and a traditionally trained Japanese shakuhachi flute craftsman.

Jade Wu

Jade is a veteran actor, writer, director. She received awards from Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, Film/Video Arts, Ms. Foundation. She was BlueCat Screenplay Semi-finalist, a PEN USA Rosenthal Emerging Voices Writing Fellowship Finalist. Her plays have had selected readings at the Santa Clara Experimental Festival, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Emerging Playwrights Series and Urban Stages Emerging Playwrights Series. She is a published financial journalist and an award-winning documentary filmmaker with films as official selections in the IFP Market, Anthology Film Archives Emerging Filmmaker Series and the inaugural Sundance Producers Conference. Her play “Darwin’s Arch” was commissioned by 2G, CAATA, Howlround as part of “Inflections,” a series about the current rise of Asian American hate crimes and life. She currently has three original television series in development.

In acting, Jade plays the lead in Sundance/Humanitas pedigree film, THE MOTEL and currently recurs on three network primetime series. She has workshopped plays by Alexa Jung, Mia Chung, Susan Soon He Stanton, Leah Nanako Winkler, Teresa Huang, Mashuq Deen, Play On Shakespeare, EST, The Old Globe, Arena Stage, New Dramatists, NYTW, NYS&F and Page 73/Yale and was a Best Actress Nominee at the Edinburgh Festival for her role as Medea. She has appeared on Off-Broadway and Regional national and international theatre stages. Upcoming appearances include one of the leads in the indie film SNAKEHEAD (2021), a Guest Star in Comedy Central’s “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens” (8/25/2021) and a major recurring role in Ava DuVernay-Roberto Pantino’s “DMZ” with Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt on HBO Max (winter 2021-22).

Devon Diep

Devon is an actor, singer, songwriter and producer from Boston. As a child, she realized the transcendent power of the creative arts.

Her professionalism, talent, and versatile looks gained her numerous appearances in campaigns and commercials for well-known brands.

Within 4 months of her music career, she wrote the title song "Green Dragon" for Martin Scorsese's film, Revenge of the Green Dragons, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. She also performed her original songs and played a supporting role in Dead Reckoning, a film starring KJ Apa and directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.

She has roles in TV & FILM such as The Heat, Ted, and Top Gear. She recently landed a recurring role in Defending Jacob, an Apple Original TV series starring Chris Evans. She is in three new feature films: Dead Reckoning, Snakehead, and Honest Thief.

Currently based in NYC, Devon is living her dream acting and writing music for movies as she prepares to headline her 1st music festival this September. She is also a co-founder, writer, singer, and producer for SHe music project. Additionally, she recently accomplished her longtime goal of writing and directing her first short film "Air.” It is in post production and will be submitted to film festivals upon completion. She is eagerly waiting to share her upcoming films and debut album with her fans and the rest of the world.

Devon’s drive and passion for creating work that emotionally connects people led her to many successful projects and will continue to be the driving force for future endeavors.

Catherine Jiang

Catherine Jiang, 16, was born and raised in New Jersey. She made her acting debut in “A Different Sun”(2018) as the lead role of Ling, and went on to play Rosie in “Snakehead”(2021). Catherine has also done multiple commercials over the years for companies such as Coca Cola, Spectrum TV, and more.

Evan Jackson Leong

Evan Jackson Leong (aka Evan Leong) is a director and documentary filmmaker, best known for his documentary Linsanity, about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He also directed the documentary 1040: Christianity in the New Asia (2010), and the documentary short BLT Genesis (2002), which tracks the behind-the-scenes making of and trajectory of Justin Lin's film Better Luck Tomorrow. His first narrative feature is Snakehead, screening in NYAFF’s Asian American Forum.

Evan Jackson Leong is a sixth-generation Chinese American native of San Francisco. Leong has worked with his mentor, director Justin Lin, on Better Luck Tomorrow, which screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and The Fast & The Furious. He also served as co-producer of Lin’s Finishing the Game: The Search for the new Bruce Lee, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Leong directed two half-hour, nationally broadcast films: Him Mark Lai: The People’s Historian and Forging a Feature: The Journey of Better Luck Tomorrow. His feature-length documentaries include 1040: _Christianity in New Asia and Linsanity, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Snakehead _is his narrative directing and writing debut.