IT’S A WONG FU HOMECOMING!

Asian American Panorama / Panel / 90 mins

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IT’S A WONG FU HOMECOMING!

UCSD Price Center Theater
November 8, 2013 6:30 pm Buy Tickets

Description

Discussion moderated by DANakaDAN

Ten years ago, there was no YouTube. Facebook was still in its embryonic state. Yet, three students from UCSD – Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang – were getting together to produce videos in their spare time, uploading them on whatever servers they could find, and somehow getting the videos distributed. Wang’s 2003 lip-sync of Justin Timberlake’s “Señorita” was a campus broadband hit and it danced its way into something more than a pre-finals diversion, but an entire mode of production and distribution.

Soon, they became known as Wong Fu Productions. Their 2006 hit “Yellow Fever” landed at just the right moment: when YouTube took off as the most efficient and expedient way to share videos. And in many ways, Wong Fu’s history parallels that of YouTube itself, from repository of amateur productions, covers, and rants, to a full-on production house with ancillary deals, talent development, and new media experimentation. Chan, Fu, and Wang have in many ways become the new faces of digital media, and those faces have brought Asian Americans into a certain kind of mainstream – as well as melted the hearts of many a teenage girl. The three former classmates have also become, without a doubt, the most influential figures in Asian American cinema today.

This year, Wong Fu Productions marks its tenth anniversary, and SDAFF celebrates Wong Fu’s success and inspiration with a homecoming panel and presentation at Chan, Fu, and Wang’s alma mater, UCSD. –Brian Hu

Co-presented by: UCSD Alumni

For more about the impact of Wong Fu Productions, read Professor Vincent Pham’s take here.

After the panel, join Wong Fu for an intimate party at The Loft at UCSD. For more details, click here.