Three finalists for HBO’s fifth annual Asian Pacific American Visionaries short film competition have been announced, and include filmmakers Jess X. Snow (Little Sky), Jesse Gi (Neh), and Urvashi Pathania (Unmothered).
HBO said the three films exemplify this year’s competition theme of “Taking the Lead.” The film competition showcases cinematic storytellers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, and the finalists were selected from hundreds of submissions and judged by a panel of HBO executives, industry leaders and fellow APA filmmakers.
The three winning filmmakers will premiere their films during the 2021 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, on Saturday, September 25. In addition to the festival premiere, HBO Max will debut the films on September 27.
Snow is a non-binary film director, artist, poet and community arts educator who creates queer Asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time. Gi is a second generation Korean-American writer/director whose stories focus on endurance, sacrifice, and unflinching ambition influenced by his immigrant family and community. Pathania is a writer/director based in Los Angeles whose films explore emotions as pathways to knowledge.