Evan Jackson Leong (or Evan Leong) is a Chinese-American producer, director, and documentary filmmaker. Leong is known for his documentary Linsanity about Jeremy Lin, which made its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[1][2] He has 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.
Early life
editLeong is a sixth-generation Chinese American.[3] Leong grew up in the Richmond District, San Francisco, California.[4]
Education
editLeong earned a bachelor's degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA.[4] He transferred to UCLA from the University of California, Riverside, where he was a member of the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity.[5]
Career
editFilms and documentaries
editLeong directed the documentary Linsanity about Jeremy Lin, which screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[6][7][8][2][9] The documentary was also produced by Brian Yang as well as Christopher Chen, Allen Lu, Patricia Sun, James D. Stern and Sam Kwok.
The documentary was several years in the making, and Leong started following Lin when he still played basketball at Harvard University.[10] When the film screened at Sundance, it received positive reviews from the Los Angeles Times,[11] The Hollywood Reporter,[2] Variety,[12] and many more publications.
Leong has also directed the feature-length documentary 1040: Christianity in the New Asia (2010), a documentary that chronicles the rapid changes in Asia and the significant shift in the spiritual landscape in the area known as the “10/40 Window”- the region between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude on the eastern hemisphere.[13][14]
Leong has also directed, from a script he has written, the 2021 drama Snakehead which was initially slated to star Lucy Liu in a story about the underworld of human smuggling that takes place on the streets of New York City's Chinatown.[15][16] Later Kickstarter campaigns of the film reveal that the lead actress has been switched from Lucy Liu to Shuya Chang (playing the main character of Sister Tse), and actors such as Sung Kang (playing a character named Rambo) and Jade Wu (playing a character named Dai Mah) have been added to the cast.[17][18] The film was also produced by Linsanity producer Brian Yang.
Leong directed the 2024 documentary The Bridge, which celebrates East West Bank's 50th anniversary.[19][20][21]
Short films and music videos
editAmong the other films Leong has directed include the short film, Manivore (2009) (starring Grace Su and C.S. Lee), and the documentary short BLT: Genesis (2002), which chronicles the making of and the rise of Justin Lin's film, Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). Lin is cited as Leong's mentor.[22]
For BLT: Genesis, Leong won a Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the 2002 San Diego Asian Film Festival. Leong also directed the short film Suckerball 73 as a Visual Communications "Armed with a Camera" fellowship film, which screened at the 2003 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (or VC Film Fest as it was known back then).[23] Leong also directed a short documentary entitled Him Mark Lai: The People's Historian (2005) and a short PSA on the Asian Law Caucus entitled Empowering Communities: Asian Law Caucus in Action (2010).[24] Leong also directed the "Fists of Fuhrer" segment in Justin Lin's Finishing the Game starring Roger Fan as Breeze Loo, Nathan Jung as "Bob," Aiko Tanaka, and Nikita Esco (credited as Natalie Susko), with choreography from Don Thai.[25]
Leong's banner is known as Arowana Films. He has also directed a number of music videos that have screened on MTV and other outlets for groups such as Far East Movement (music videos for the tracks "Round Round" and "Satisfaction" on The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack; "Western", "Work Bounce" and "Far East Futura"), MC Jin (the tracks "Yum Dom Cha" and "Li Li Luan"/"Li Li Chaos"), Lyrics Born (the tracks "Last Trumpet" and "Bad Dreams"), and Estairy ("Hands Up" also feat. Equipto).[26][27]
He also co-Directed, with Michelle Phan, the Paris-shot Rouge in Love, which has accumulated close to 3 million views on YouTube and was scored by George Shaw.[28]
Leong also used to be a segment producer for MTV News starting from 2010.[29]
Producing and other work
editLeong was a field producer on the political documentary, ...So Goes the Nation (2006) and has also assisted with or worked in the production department of films directed by Justin Lin including Finishing the Game (2007) (Co-Producer, Post Production Coordinator, 2nd Unit Director), The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) (where he was also Justin Lin's assistant), and Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) (where he was an Assistant Editor and also played the role of the "Slapper's Boyfriend"; he also directed a "behind-the-scenes" short documentary about the film entitled BLT:Genesis). Leong is also a cinematographer and Steadicam operator, having done additional camera work on the documentary short Spotlighting (2005) directed by Justin Lin.
References
edit- ^ Linsanity, Sundance Archived 2012-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Linsanity Review The Hollywood Reporter
- ^ "Evan Jackson Leong – American Film Showcase". americanfilmshowcase.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ a b Robinson, James (March 10, 2013). "Linsanity let's director score". sfgate.com. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
- ^ napahq (October 2, 2013). "Alumni Spotlight: Evan Jackson Leong". National APIDA Panhellenic Association. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
- ^ Tim Wu, (January 25, 2013).Linsanity Review Slate
- ^ Linsanity Review San Jose Mercury
- ^ Jeremy Lin to appear at Sunday Screening of Linsanity
- ^ Sundance 2013 - Linsanity Archived 2012-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Linsanity Moviemakers Took Wild Ride Along With Their Star San Jose Mercury News
- ^ Stephen Zeitchik Sundance 2013: In 'Linsanity,' Jeremy Lin's extraordinary journey Los Angeles Times
- ^ Josh L. Dickey Sundance: Docu filmmakers hit 'Linsanity' jackpot Variety
- ^ "1040 Movie : About". Archived from the original on March 4, 2012.
- ^ "1040, Cast and Crew". Archived from the original on February 19, 2013.
- ^ Mike Fleming Jr. ‘Elementary’s Lucy Liu To Star In Human Smuggling Drama ‘Snakehead' Deadline
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (September 14, 2021). "Toronto: 'Snakehead' Director Talks Asian Representation in Hollywood: "I'm the Underdog"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ "Snakehead Movie". Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
- ^ Snakehead Post Production Kickstarter
- ^ "OIFF22 announces "The Bridge " to open at The Historic Grand Lake Theater – September 12th, 2024 | The Oakland International Film Festival". Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ "JJ Lin and Anderson .Paak to release collaborative track 'In the Joy' for documentary 'The Bridge'". JJ Lin and Anderson .Paak to release collaborative track 'In the Joy' for documentary 'The Bridge' | Bandwagon | Music media championing and spotlighting music in Asia. March 30, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ Singh, Surej (March 28, 2023). "JJ Lin and Anderson .Paak are teaming up for a new single, 'In The Joy'". NME. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ "Evan Jackson Leong – American Film Showcase". americanfilmshowcase.com. Retrieved August 5, 2024.
- ^ AWC Alumni, "AWC Alumni - Default". Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^ "1040 Movie, Cast and Crew, Evan Leong Bio". Archived from the original on February 19, 2013.
- ^ Fists of Fuhrer Arowana Films Archived 2013-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Evan Leong, Arowana Films KROP
- ^ Arowana Films, Home
- ^ Michelle Phan Rouge in Love Archived 2013-06-29 at archive.today
- ^ Eric Ditzian Jeremy Lin Schools His NBA Haters In 'Linsanity' Doc Director Evan Jackson Leong tells MTV News he 'wanted to show the evolution' of how Lin dealt with racism MTV News