Organizer: NYSEAN and Sulo: The Philippines Studies Initiative at NYU
Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY
Description:
“Breaking Through: Emerging Filipino Filmmakers” showcases NYU student filmmakers from across the United States and around the world who are rising visionaries telling powerful stories about the Filipino experience. Presented by Likha Labs, this program highlights and celebrates the work of these emerging storytellers before their films premiere on the festival circuit and beyond.
About the Directors:
Cal Galicia is a New York-born, Singapore-raised, Filipino-American. He’s been making films ever since his mom told him to make a “creative project” over the summer between the 4th and 5th grade, and recently graduated from NYU Tisch with a B.F.A. in Film & TV Production. His films range many subjects, but often deal with disjunctive timelines, choosing to follow an emotional spine rather than a chronological one. “Spit Out Your Bones,” his latest film, deals with a Filipino-American college baseball pitcher who pushes his body to the limit in order to live up to his father’s high expectations. Currently, he’s the singer for his band, Marmalade Selection, as well as one of the members of DaCaKaTo, a fledgling production company. He’s a worryingly big fan of the Yankees, Knicks, and One Piece.
Haley Jade Odum is a Filipino and Nigerian multimedia artist based in NYC. Originally from Las Vegas, NV, Haley has been a participant in arts her entire life finding her conviction in filmmaking. She received her Associates in Film in Long Beach, CA to then graduate with a BFA in Film and Television, minoring in Business for Media, Entertainment, and Technology at NYU. Haley’s bicoastal expansion within the film industry has granted her a holistic understanding of the perspectives (or lack thereof) needed to bring about change through her medium. Odum is the founder of a startup production and distribution house, tho productions, dedicated to sharing real stories of those consistently misrepresented in media. She is simultaneously in development for her first feature film, “POGI”, a non-linear coming-of-age story based on true events following her brother and hers’ experience as children to the present day.
Jack Lacy is a mixed-race Filipino American filmmaker from Richmond, Virginia, and a recent graduate of NYU Tisch in Film & TV Production. Jack recently interned on the Film Unit of SNL Season 50, and now focuses on freelance producing, assistant/picture editing, and script supervising. As a writer/director, Jack’s work focuses on the nuances of masculinity and culture, as he’s committed to amplifying minority narratives in film. He’s working on a festival strategy for his senior film “BUNTIS?!” about one Christmas Eve dinner when a traditional Filipina mom asks her untraditional gay son to baptize his baby. This film is fiscally-sponsored by San Diego Filipino Cinema, and is in association with the No Homo group.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, Lauren Luke is a Native Hawaiian, Chinese, and second-generation Filipina filmmaker whose work is deeply shaped by her home and multicultural upbringing. She sees filmmaking as a vessel of preservation—of culture, of place, of feeling—and strives to illuminate the beauty in transience. Her documentary and narrative films have received multiple awards and accolades, including the top prize at NYU’s New Visions, New Voices Festival for Perlita, a tribute to her late Filipina Lola and a tender meditation on grief and remembrance, a theme that continues to anchor her work. Her thesis film, Sons Are Not Earthbound, expands this exploration of loss and love while centering Hawaiʻi itself. Shot on Oʻahu with a fully Native Hawaiian cast and a local crew, the film is crafted as an offering: for, by, and about the people of Hawaiʻi. Both intimate and ambitious, it marks Lauren’s debut Hawaiʻi-based short, carrying forward cultural reverence with the bold spirit of a spunky first contribution to the emerging Kānaka Maoli New Wave. Lauren graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a B.F.A. in Film and Television Production along with minors in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies.
Registration:
To attend the event in person, please register here.