About the Filmmakers

Vanessa A. Yee

Director/Producer

VANESSA YEE is a Chinese American female and third generation Angeleno. She became a documentary filmmaker to challenge stereotypes and prevailing perceptions of the underrepresented by telling stories that inform and inspire.

She received her MFA in Directing at UCLA's School of Theater, Film & Television. Since then she has directed two documentary shorts commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; shot a short on human trafficking for a national faith-based organization; and produced both narrative and nonfiction pieces for her Bruin filmmaking community.

At the moment, she co-hosts a podcast about the intersection of Asian American culture and mental health called The Bull & The Badger, a continuation of the dialogue begun in The Laundromat. But to pay the bills, Vanessa produces videos and digital content at a major tech company.

Judy Phu

Cinematographer

JUDY PHU is a cinematographer based in and around the world. Her family's journeys as Vietnamese war survivors sparks her curiosity and imagination. Judy navigates comfortably between narrative, documentary, commercial and music video collaborations. Her heart is set on nuanced, bold ideas.  

Her work has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, LA MOCA, NY MOMA, on HBO, AMC, PBS, the History Channel, and more.

Esther Julie-Anne Shubinski

Editor

With French and Native American roots, ESTHER SHUBINSKI grew up in the South of France and moved to the U.S when she was 16. She studied Film at UC Berkeley and UCLA, where she taught Documentary Production in the MFA Program. She works as a producer and director, as well as camera woman and editor for TV and Independent Documentaries.

Esther is the recipient of numerous awards, and her work has been featured in The Telluride Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, American Documentary Film festival in Palm Springs and DokuFest in Kosovo.

Christina Sun Kim

Story Consultant

Born in Minnesota and raised in Seoul, Korea, CHRISTINA SUN KIM grew up in both Korea and the US and has lived in five different states. She studied documentary filmmaking at the University of Texas at Austin, and after college, Christina stayed in Austin and worked as a freelance editor. She edited Tattooed Under Fire, a documentary that aired nationally on PBS. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue an MFA in Film Directing at UCLA. Her directing credits include Pretty Pictures (2012) and ALICE (2014), which explore the themes of displacement and identity.

Christina now lives and works in LA, producing and editing numerous short documentaries, PSAs and social media videos in the areas of philanthropy, social justice and public health. She is currently editing a feature documentary, Dokdo: Lone Island, a film about a disputed island between South Korea and Japan.