LEO CHIANG – Director/Producer/Cinematographer
S. Leo Chiang is a documentarian based in San Francisco and Taipei. His Emmy-nominated film, A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES, about the transformation of the Vietnamese American community in post-Katrina New Orleans, picked up eight film festival awards and aired on Independent Lens series in the US. His most recent documentary, MR. CAO GOES TO WASHINGTON, won the Inspiration Award at the 2012 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. His other films include TO YOU SWEETHEART, ALOHA (PBS broadcast 2006) and ONE + ONE (CINE Golden Eagle Award 2002). Leo received his MFA in film production from University of Southern California. He is currently the co-chair of New Day Films, the American social-issue documentary distribution co-operative.
JOHNNY SYMONS – Director/Producer/Sound/Second Camera
Johnny Symons is a Bay Area documentary filmmaker focusing on LGBT cultural and political issues. His feature documentary DADDY & PAPA (2002) premiered at Sundance, broadcast on PBS’ Independent Lens, and was nominated for a national Emmy® for Best Documentary. BEYOND CONCEPTION (2006) premiered at the Florida Film Festival and broadcast on Discovery Channel. ASK NOT (2008) won four festival awards, aired on PBS’ Independent Lens and screened on Capitol Hill for members of Congress. He co-produced the Academy Award® nominated LONG NIGHT’S JOURNEY INTO DAY, which won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Sundance in 2000. Johnny has a master’s in documentary production from Stanford. He is Assistant Professor in the School of Cinema at San Francisco State University, where he is Coordinator of the Documentary Program and Director of the Queer Cinema Institute.