Gil Asakawa's Nikkei View | asian canadian
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September 2, 2009

"Lumina, the web-only thriller series, begins webcasting on Sept. 8, 2009 "Lumina," an online-only series produced with Hollywood-level quality by an Asian American, Asian Canadian and plain ol' Asian cast and crew in Hong Kong, is set to debut on the Web on Tuesday, September 8 with a double-episode, and I for one can't wait to check it out. In case you haven't heard about it, here's an earlier post about "Lumina." The series is written and directed by Jennifer Thym, an Asian American who's a longtime expat, living in Hong Kong. From what I've seen of her vision, I think "Lumina" has the cross-cultural potential to make a splash on the international filmmaking scene. Who knows, maybe the webcast will lead to a major studio production. That would be a new way for a filmmaker to break into the Hollywood ranks. Here's what Thym says in a press release about the debut:
May 29, 2009

"Lumina" is an online-only series, an independently-filmed thriller written and produced by Asian American Jennifer Thym in Hong Kong. You've gotta love the Internet. I was contacted some weeks back by Jennifer Thym, the Asian American writer and director of "Lumina," a new online-only thriller serial debuting this summer. The movie project features an Asian American lead as well as Asian Canadian actors, and the whole thing is filmed in Hong Kong, where Thym has lived for the past two years. The trailer certainly is cool and mysterious and makes me want to see the series kick off (I subscribed to the email alerts from YouTube whenever a new installment is posted): Here's what she says about the project on her Rock Ginger blog:
May 5, 2009

The Korean Canadian teen who fought back against a bully and won the support of his classmates has been allowed back in school. Last week I wrote about the 15-year-old, who was suspended from school and charged with assault by the York Regional Police in a town north of Toronto, for breaking the nose of another student. The other student had been bullying him, and called him a "fucking Chinese" before hitting the boy. Unfortunately for the bully, the Korean kid (his ethnicity wasn't identified in the earlier story) is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, the Korean martial art (his father is a master), and he defended himself with his weaker left hand, but still broke the bully's nose. Because the bully wasn't initially charged (both were suspended form school however), 400 students at Keswick High School protested last week to point out the injustice. A racial bias investigation was kicked off (no word on what happened to that). Although the school board initially recommended expulsion and blocking the Korean Canadian student from any of the district's schools (seem pretty harsh to me -- any racial bias there on the part of the administration?), they changed their minds since last week.
May 1, 2009

If you've ever been taunted or attacked by a bully but never fought back, you have to applaud this kid as a hero. A 15-year-old Asian Canadian (the newspaper story by the Globe and Mail never states the kid's or his family's name) fought back at a bully and broke his tormentor's nose, got suspended from school but inspired a walkout of 400 fellow students in support.
The 15-year-old black belt thought he was doing his tormentor a favour when he elected to fight back with his weaker left hand. He had heard his white classmate throw an angry racial slur in his direction after an argument during a gym class game of speedball, and now the student was shoving him backward, refusing to retract the smear. The white student swung first, hitting the 15-year-old with a punch to the mouth. The 15-year-old heard his father's voice running through his head: Fight only as a last resort, only in self-defence, only if given no choice, and only with the left hand. His swing was short and compact, a left-handed dart that hit the white student square on the nose. The nose broke under his fist, igniting a sequence of events - from arrest to suspension to possible expulsion - that has left the Asian student and his family wondering whether they are welcome in this small, rural and mostly white community north of Toronto, one that has been touched by anti-Asian attacks in the past. The 15-year-old, the only person charged in connection with the April 21 school fight, faces one count of assault causing bodily harm.
This week, 400 students at his high school walked out in protest -- even though he is shy and hadn't made a lot of friends, they supported his defiance of bullying and racism.