New 8Asians Article: Executive Order 13800

Executive Order 13800, A New Film by Koji Steven Sakai

Executive Order 13800, A New Film by Koji Steven Sakai

I’m working on a new feature film called Executive Order 13800. It’s a film that asks the question, what if what happened to Japanese Americans seventy-five years ago during World War 2, happened today to Arab and Muslim Americans? I started working on this project with my friend and writing partner Mustafa Rony Zeno about a year ago. But we abandoned the project because it felt too far-fetched at the time. However, the day after […] Continue »

Comedy InvAsian!

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beware of comedy invAsian:

The First Asian American Stand-up Live and Digital TV Series

Los Angeles — Producers Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee have teamed up with Viva Pictures to produce and distribute a live and filmed stand-up series titled Comedy InvAsian featuring the nation’s six top and unique Asian American comedians each performing a one-hour special at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on February 10 — 26, 2017.

Signed talents include veteran Laugh Factory comedian and Kollaboration founder Paul Kim who will open the series on Friday, February 10.  Young Japanese American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka (Comedy Central Asia, Disoriented Comedy, Laughing Skull Comedy Festival) will perform on Saturday, February 11. Gay Chinese Canadian Broadway Musical Youtube sensation Kevin Yee (Mary Poppins Broadway, Blue Whale Comedy Festival, Quincy Jones’ boy band Youth Asylum) will perform on Sunday, February 12.  Veteran Filipino American comedian Joey Guila (Showtime, Filipino Kingz of Comedy Tour) will perform on Friday, February 24. Transgender Vietnamese comedian Robin Tran (The Comedy Store, The Comedy Comedy Festival) will perform on Saturday, February 25. Finally, veteran Japanese American comedian and actress Amy Hill (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Great Indoors, All American Girl) will close the first season of Comedy InvAsian with her one-hour special on Sunday, February 26. The filmed proceeds of the live series will be edited and produced into Comedy InvAsian’s first season of a digital television series with six one-hour episodes for distribution.

In an era where diversity in entertainment is a necessity, Comedy InvAsian is the brainchild effort of producers Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee to showcase and celebrate the diversity of Asian American comedy in both genre and representation to the world.

“In our filmmaking career, we have met and become friends with so many talented comedians of color from producing Dwayne Perkins in Take Note to directing Randall Park in The People I’ve Slept With to working with Paul Kim in the Comedy Ninja Film Festival to directing Amy Hill in White Frog and The Unbidden. Comedy InvAsian will celebrate the talent and comedy of a group of select and diverse Asian American comedians which should prove to be just the tip of the iceberg,” said Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee.

“We’re excited to be working with proven accomplished Director’s Quentin and Koji who are passionate to bring Asian American comedy to the world,” said Victor Elizalde, President of Viva Pictures Distribution, LLC. who is distributing Lee’s latest feature The Unbidden and has also recently co-produced the first successful all Spanish language comedy stand-up series, Sigue la Risa, which currently airs exclusively on Netflix in the USA & LATAM.

Tickets and information on Comedy InvAsian will be available on the website: http://www.comedyinvasian.com

#comedyinvAsian
#bewaretheinvAsian

Executive Order 13800

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Filmmakers Launch Indiegogo Campaign In Response to President-Elect Donald Trump

What if what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II happened again today to Muslim and Arab Americans?

Los Angeles, CA, December 7, 2016 –  Little Nalu Pictures (LNP) announced today that it is raising funds via a rewards crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for the feature film, Executive Order 13800. LNP set out to raise $50,000 on Indiegogo to shoot and bring to market this very important film.

Executive Order 13800 asks the question: what if America interned Muslim and Arab Americans like they did to Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor? The film follows a Muslim American family post a few 9/11 type events. Following these national tragedies, President Trump issues Executive Order 13800, giving the family—and all Muslim and Arab Americans—two weeks to pack up their things and report to a government office. The film focuses on these two weeks as they begin to lose their civil rights and face an uncertain future.

Writer/Director Mustafa Rony Zeno commented, “Koji and I were working on this project a year ago, and we didn’t think this was a realistic scenario. But the day after Trump was elected, we both knew we had to do this project and do it now.” Writer/Producer Koji Steven Sakai, a descendant of a Japanese American wrongly incarcerated in the Second World War, said, “This is the most important project I’ve ever worked on. I just wish that when my elementary aged father was put into a “camp,” there was someone like me telling their story and putting a face to go with all the toxic rhetoric.” Producer Phinny Kiyomura, also a descendant of a Japanese American incarcerated during WWII, agrees with Sakai, “The rhetoric is toxic and it would be a tragedy if America took the wrong path once again.” All three agree this project is a cautionary tale that will serve as a reminder of what happened almost seventy-five years ago to make sure it doesn’t happen again today to anyone. Kiyomura argues, “Instead of worrying history will repeat itself, we decided to do what we felt we could about it. We believe this is an opportunity to remind the rest of the country of mistakes we as a country should not make under any administration.”

For more information about this project, go to: https://igg.me/at/EO13800

ABOUT LITTLE NALU PICTURES

Little Nalu Pictures LLC is a full-service, independent production company focused on creating new and exciting digital media of the highest quality.

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