Willis Lai

School: San Francisco State University Undergradute

Talent: Director, Editor, Cinematographer

About me: I'm not your average ABC filmmaker in the Bay Area. Born and raised in the Bay Area with the knowledge of my ethnic culture, language and background, I became more attach to my identity and cultural value that I hold. As an ABC, I am not afraid to tell people that I am an American born Chinese who loves the Chinese culture. When I was young I loved to watch shows from Hong Kong because it was the only thing my family watched. As I become older I love to watch a lot of films especially international films. Inspiring actors such as Stephen Chow, Francis Ng, Christine Ng, Eric Tsang, Ekin Cheng, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan became part of my interest in becoming an actor at one point in my life, but later on I diverge from acting to filmmaking instead. I started my filming education in 2007 when I took an introductory course in cinema. At that time I was an undeclared junior at San Francisco State who was struggling with picking a career that’s suitable for me. After making my first stop-motion project, Amnesia, while looking through the ideas and compositions I’ve come up with, I know for a fact that this is a path I ought to choose and brush up my skills along the way, thus my filmmaking life beings. Through the recent years I try to get involve with filmmaking as much as possible, as well as tying in with the Asian American culture and experience that I’ve been through. Having to understand the struggles of Asian Americans in American whether it is from filmmaking or education, I’ve felt inspired in wanting to change and make a difference in the AAPI community.

Currently the captain of Project W Production