An Interview with Evan Leong

Evan Leong is a recent graduate of University of California, Los Angeles, where he majored in Asian American studies.  It was at UCLA that he became interested in ethnocommunications, and founded his passion for media.  As a sixth generation Chinese American from San Francisco, he has been involved in the Asian community by participating in the Cameron house group in Chinatown, San Francisco.  His active participation in the community has provided him with the opportunity to work on the “Better Luck Tomorrow” project with director Justin Lin, and has fueled an independent documentary projected entitled “BLT Genesis”.

By: Lauren Watanabe

Rotten Bananas Staff

What are some of your thoughts on Asian misrepresentation in the media?

First, I think that you have to take into context and perspective of what Asian American is, the history of the media and their role in it, and even in this country.  Go back to Angel Island and the 1882 Exclusion Act, which happened pretty recently, about a hundred years ago.  Asians had a late coming in the media, whereas media has been around for about two hundred years, so they haven’t really had the opportunity to establish themselves.  By establishing so late you’re going to have a lopsided representation, since they’re not representing themselves, its white American that is telling it from its perspective.  But I believe there have been huge advances and leaps for Asian Americans, and it continues with good work and good people.  I feel that it is moving forward versus someone that is going to complain about what is happening. We have to be progressive.  I think that it is good to be aware of the issues but that you can only go so far, and then you need to apply this to some level of activism in whatever you’re doing.  You have Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the sixties, Lu Duck Dong in the eighties, and Lucy Liu in the nineties, and you can’t hate on these actors because some other Asian would have taken that role.  It is something that Hollywood wrote, and that was their formula for the Asian character.  They’re just actors, they don’t have to represent all Asian Americans, and they don’t have too much power in this industry.  Ultimately, it is up to the filmmakers, producers, the ones in control. It is negative but it is more about progression to create an atmosphere where we can move forward instead of complaining.

Could you provide a summary of “Better Luck Tomorrow”?

It is set in a suburban community, it is about good kids who study hard to go to college, but they really don’t know what lies ahead.  They’re good kids who are experimenting with drinking, partying, and they take these elements to explore their identity.

So how did you get involved with the “Better Luck Tomorrow” project?

I met Justin the producer about two years ago, and we became friends.  He asked me to help him with the project and wanted to provide me with an opportunity, where I wasn’t just a PA.  This project was a lot about a community, where we became a family.  This project was a lot about grassroots activism even though it did became a Hollywood movie.  People believed and gave up time to work on this project.  Being involved was the greatest opportunity, especially to become part of another community.

Were you always interested in media?

I started off with ethnocommunications at UCLA with Jon Sasaki and Professor Nakamura.  It wasn’t until I arrived at UCLA that I became interested in media.

Did you want to delve into the Asian community or mainstream media?

I can remember the first edition of Yolk and thinking it was really cool, anything Asian I felt very much part of the community.  I always wanted to be involved, support the community, so film making is a form that chose to express my Asian American pride.  It is such a pioneer area, since nothing has really been really established. I feel like by doing it ourselves that we’re able to represent ourselves in the right way.

You also did a documentary entitled “BLT Genesis” which was on “Better Luck Tomorrow”, how did that come about?

When we were behind the scenes, the work put into the film was so positive, and we got into the Sundance film festival.  This has turned into a huge success, it is a fairy tale and I wanted to put my perspective of this whole journey on film.  It is still in progress, I give myself six months after the release to fully complete the documentary.  In terms of the cognitive purposes, the story is not done until this is put into the mainstream media to see how it affects the Asian American cinema, community, and American in general.  In ten years from now, you may hear about “Better Luck Tomorrow”, you don’t know the phenomena, it is such a good film that it will have its place in cinema.  It is going to start out as an independent film in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and then will be pushed nationwide.  Regardless, we feel that with this film we’re going to do our own grassroots push, and we’re going to get this film out through college tours.

Where do you hope your documentary will go?

PBS, MTV, KTSF (Chinese station).

What are your future hopes?

To do more documentaries and other media projects.  I hope to someday direct and produce and write because that is where the voice begins.  Right now, I am trying to feel it all out because there is so much out there.

Any last thoughts?

See the film in March. We need help with promotions, so if you’re interested go to www.betterlucktomorrow.com.  This is a community project, so we want to expand this community to others in the Asian community.