Eric Byler | |
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| Born | January 15, 1972 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer, screenwriter, political activist |
Eric Byler (born January 15, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter and political activist.
Eric Byler | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | January 15, 1972 |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, film producer, screenwriter, political activist |
Eric Byler (born January 15, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter and political activist.
Byler identifies as hapa biracial, born to a Chinese American mother and a white American father. [1] He grew up in Virginia, Hawaii (where he attended Moanalua High School), and California. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1994, majoring in film. He currently lives in Australia.
Byler's senior thesis film, Kenji's Faith, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995, went on to win six film festival awards, and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards.
His first feature film, Charlotte Sometimes was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards in 2003, including the John Cassavetes Award for Best Feature under $500,000, and a Best Supporting Actress award for Jacqueline Kim. The film was called "fascinating and illuminating" by film critic Roger Ebert, and won the Audience Award at South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW), the Special Jury Award at the Florida Film Festival, and the Best Dramatic Feature at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. The film was distributed theatrically by Visionbox Media and Small Planet Pictures before being released on DVD.
Byler's second feature was the Charlotte Sometimes quasi-sequel, TRE which won the Special Jury Award at the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. TRE was distributed in theaters and on DVD (May 6, 2008) by Cinema Libre Studio.
His third feature, Americanese , was an adaptation of Shawn Wong's seminal Asian American novel, "American Knees." It won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at SXSW, in addition to a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast, which includes Chris Tashima, Allison Sie, Joan Chen and Kelly Hu. It was acquired by IFC First Take.
He also directed the PBS / ITVS Television pilot, My Life Disoriented which starred Karin Anna Cheung.
His fourth feature film, 9500 Liberty (co-directed with Annabel Park), was a documentary about immigration and politics. "9500 Liberty" won the Breakthrough Filmmaker Award at the 2010 Phoenix Film Festival, the Jury Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Charlotte Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 St. Louis International Film Festival. [2]
Byler and Park are currently in post-production on a second documentary feature film Story of America: Journey Into the Divide about voting rights, politics, and race relations. [3]
Byler is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
In the fall of 2006, Byler volunteered in the Virginia U.S. Senate election. In response to incumbent Senator George Allen's use of the term "Macaca" on the campaign trail, referring to an Indian American student from the University of Virginia, Byler and others formed "Real Virginians for Webb", a group that campaigned for Allen's Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, among the state's Asian and Pacific Islander voters. The Democratic National Committee said that outreach efforts to these voters played a major role in Webb's victory, which he won by less than 9,000 votes. [9]
In 2007, Byler volunteered and created YouTube videos for the "121 Coalition", a national grassroots organization that advocated passage of House Resolution 121, urging the Japanese government to acknowledge and apologize for military rape camps (comfort women) during World War II. The resolution passed on July 30, 2007.
During the 2008 presidential primaries, Byler volunteered as co-director (along with Warren Fu) of a music video of a song written and performed by artist Andres Useche, entitled "Si Se Puede Cambiar", in support of Barack Obama. The video was released on YouTube on February 22, 2008, and was viewed more than half a million times. [10] [11] [12] [13]
In February 2010, Byler and his partner Annabel Park co-founded the Coffee Party USA. [14] Byler directed and edited the "How we Started" video for Coffee Party USA, [15] the "National Kick-off" video, [16] and other videos that appear on the Coffee Party YouTube channel. [17] Coffee Party USA is coalition that began with a fan page on Facebook. [18] [19]
Byler also is a content producer for the interactive documentary "2010 Okinawa" exploring the controversy over U.S. bases in Okinawa. [20] In 2013, Byler and Park teamed up on the web series Story of America (StoryofAmerica.org) which helped to launch both the Moral Monday movement and the "Walking Mayor" Adam O'Neal and the fight for rural healthcare (SaveourHospital.org). In 2015, Byler and comedian Will Rice launched the satirical news channel, One Percent News (OnePercentNews.com) based in Washington, DC.
Joan Chen is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film Little Flower and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film The Last Emperor. She is also known for her roles in Twin Peaks, Red Rose White Rose, Saving Face, and The Home Song Stories, and for directing the feature film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.
Michael Brook is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the world have made him "one of the most sought-after producers in the music industry." Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Brook lives in Los Angeles. He is the creator of the Infinite Guitar.
Anand Patwardhan is an Indian documentary filmmaker known for his socio-political, human rights-oriented films. Some of his films explore the rise of religious fundamentalism, sectarianism and casteism in India, while others investigate nuclear nationalism and unsustainable development. Notable films include Bombay: Our City (1985), In Memory of Friends (1990), In the Name of God (1992), Father, Son, and Holy War (1995), A Narmada Diary (1995), War and Peace (2002) and Jai Bhim Comrade (2011), and Reason (2018) which have won national and international awards.
The Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF) is an international film festival held annually in Bangkok, Thailand, since 2003. In addition to film screenings, seminars, gala events and the Golden Kinnaree Awards.
Bennett Altman Miller is an American film director, known for directing the acclaimed films Capote (2005), Moneyball (2011), and Foxcatcher (2014). He has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Director.
Charlotte Sometimes is a 2002 drama film written, directed, and produced by Eric Byler. The title is taken from the song Charlotte Sometimes by The Cure, which in turn is based on the book Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer.
Jacqueline Joan Kim is an American writer, actress, filmmaker and composer. She was nominated for a FIND Independent Spirit award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Charlotte Sometimes.
The Slanted Screen is a 2006 documentary film written, produced, and directed by Jeff Adachi which examines the stereotypical portrayals and absence of East Asian males in the cinema of the United States. The film analyzes Hollywood from the silent era to the 21st century.
Mark Maclaine is a British educator, director, music producer, founder of Tutorfair and writer. He is best known for his work as the bass guitarist and producer for the post trip-hop band Second Person. He was a co-founder of the UK hip-hop record label Dented Records and co-owner of a film company the Silence Corporation.
Michael Wong, better known by his stage name Mike Relm, is an American disc jockey, turntablist, director, and VJ from San Francisco, California.
Americanese is a 2006 American romantic drama film directed by Eric Byler and starring Chris Tashima, Allison Sie, Kelly Hu, Ben Shenkman, Autumn Reeser, and Joan Chen. It is based on the novel American Knees by Shawn Wong, concerning the relationships of a man and woman of East Asian descent in the United States.
Shawn K. Wong is a Chinese American author and scholar. He has served as the Professor of English, Director of the University Honors Program (2003–06), Chair of the Department of English (1997–2002), and Director of the Creative Writing Program (1995–97) at the University of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1984 and teaches courses covering critical theory, Asian American studies, which he is considered a pioneer in, and fiction writing. Wong received his undergraduate degree in English at the University of California Berkeley (1971) and a master's degree in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University (1974).
Lisa Onodera is an American independent film producer, of such noted films as Picture Bride, The Debut and Americanese. She grew up in Berkeley, California, and attended UCLA where she received a degree from the School of Motion Picture and Television.
Su Friedrich is an American avant-garde film director, producer, writer, and cinematographer. She has been a leading figure in avant-garde filmmaking and a pivotal force in the establishment of Queer Cinema.
James Michael Spione is an American director, producer, writer and editor of both documentary and fiction films. Early on in his career, he developed a reputation for suspenseful dramatic shorts; his later career, however, has been marked by a new focus on short and feature-length documentaries for both theatrical release and public television broadcast.
Annabel Park is a Korean American documentary filmmaker, political activist and community volunteer.
Farbod Khoshtinat is an LA-based Iranian director, editor and cinematographer.
9500 Liberty is a 2009 documentary film about the struggle over immigration in Prince William County, Virginia. It was directed by Annabel Park and Eric Byler.
Kimberly-Rose Wolter is an American actress, writer, producer and co-founder of VS Theatre company in Los Angeles, California.
Jeff Liu is an American writer, screenwriter, theater director, composer, and film director.
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