The Sensei | |
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Directed by | D. Lee Inosanto |
Written by | D. Lee Inosanto |
Produced by | D. Lee Inosanto Ron Balicki Tarik Heitmann |
Starring | Diana Lee Inosanto Keith David Louis Mandylor Sab Shimono Emily Kuroda Tzi Ma Michael O'Laskey II Mark McGraw Michael Yama Tim Lounibos Michael Hake |
Cinematography | Mark Rutledge |
Edited by | Reine-Claire |
Music by | Deane Ogden |
Production company | Zen Mountain |
Distributed by | Echo Bridge Home Entertainment |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Sensei is a 2008 independent feature film, written, produced and directed by Diana Lee Inosanto (credited as D. Lee Inosanto).
Set in Colorado, the story takes place in 1985 during the rise of the AIDS panic. McClain Evans is a gay high school student, constantly the target of bullying in his town. Karen O'Neil is a woman haunted by the death of her pro-boxer fiancé, Mark Corey. After a five-year absence, she returns to her family, who runs a successful martial arts school. When McClain is attacked by three local teens, his mother, Annie, asks Karen to teach her son martial arts so that he can defend himself. Karen's family is fearful of anti-gay retaliation, so Karen is forced to secretly teach McClain at night. When word of this reaches her family, and the small-town community, violence erupts, and family and friendship are challenged, forcing Karen to reveal her own dark and tragic secret to those she loves most.
Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines. Credited with helping popularize martial arts films in the 1970s, Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Chinese people were presented in American films.
Brandon Bruce Lee was an American actor. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed what was to be his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero film The Crow (1994). However, Lee's career and life were cut short by his accidental death during the film's production.
Dan Inosanto is a Filipino-American martial arts instructor and actor. Inosanto holds Instructor or black belt level ranks in several martial arts. He has studied traditional Okinawan karate, Judo, Jujutsu, Kenpo, Shoot wrestling, Systema, Filipino martial arts, and Jeet Kune Do. He was one of three people who were appointed to teach at one of the three Jun Fan Gung Fu institutes under Bruce Lee, the other two being Taky Kimura and James Yimm Lee. After Bruce Lee's death, Inosanto became the principal spokesperson and historian for Jeet Kune Do.
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A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to martial arts:
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"The Fight" is the sixth episode of the second season of the television series The Office and the show's twelfth episode overall. It was written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg and directed by Ken Kwapis. It originally aired on November 1, 2005, on NBC. "The Fight" guest starred Lance Krall, who played the part of Dwight's sensei, Ira.
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Be Like Water (2008) is a play written by Dan Kwong, originally produced at East West Players, in association with Cedar Grove OnStage. The play received its world premiere in Los Angeles on September 17, 2008, directed by Chris Tashima, at East West Players' David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts in Los Angeles. The story follows a young Asian American girl in 1970s Chicago, who is visited by the Ghost of Bruce Lee.
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Diana Lee Inosanto is an American actress, director, former stunt performer, and martial artist. She also wrote and directed the film The Sensei (2008), and wrote the 2020 children's book The Curious Mind of Sebastian.
Arnis in popular culture reflects the impact that the Filipino martial arts of arnis/eskrima/kali have made outside of the martial arts community. The three terms are roughly interchangeable and for the purpose of convenience, the term arnis will be used throughout the article. These arts emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, blades, improvised weapons and hand-to-hand fighting which is formally known as Mano Mano or Pangamut. Because of this training with live weapons, elements of arnis have made an impact in film, video games, television, and comic books. Arnis is often used to train actors and stuntmen how to handle similar weapons for use in movies.
Nadine Truong is a director, writer and photographer. She received her MFA in directing from the American Film Institute Conservatory.
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Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a 2021 American animated superhero film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment. It is the 42nd film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The film is directed by Sam Liu and executive produced by Bruce Timm featuring an original story not based on any comic, set in the 1970s and inspired by martial arts films of that time. It features the voices of David Giuntoli as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Mark Dacascos as Richard Dragon, Kelly Hu as Lady Shiva, Michael Jai White as Ben Turner / Bronze Tiger and James Hong as O-Sensei. White reprised his role from The CW's TV show Arrow and Hu reprised her role from WB Games Montréal's video game Batman: Arkham Origins. The film was dedicated to comic book writer Dennis O'Neil who died on June 11, 2020, at the age of 81.