Free with RSVP

Saturday, May 17, 2025
TIME 10:30 AM

Chicago Cultural Center
Claudia Cassidy Theater
2nd Floor North

78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

Filmmakers Workshop: Documentary Ethics

Documentary filmmakers often walk a fine line trying to feature sensitive subject matter on-screen. Join the group of AAPI filmmakers to dissect the myth in documentary ethics through their own filmmaking practice. From issues of informed consent, narrative framing, to scene recreation, this conversation will dig into how filmmakers navigate the tricky territory in balancing storytelling with integrity and participant care to weave a compelling narrative. 

Dinesh Sabu - Moderator/Panelist

Dinesh Das Sabu is an independent documentary filmmaker and media artist. His feature and short work has appeared on PBS, HBO, and at festivals around the world. Dinesh co-produced his feature directorial debut Unbroken Glass with Chicago's Kartemquin Films. Unbroken Glass was screened at dozens of film festivals and community-based events. Among its many distinctions, Dinesh won "Best Director" at the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the film was broadcast nationally on PBS’ America ReFramed in 2017. In 2014 Dinesh was a fellow in Firelight Media's Documentary Lab. He teaches at Marquette University.

Emily Strong - Panelist

Emily Strong is an award-winning filmmaker and Emmy-nominated location sound mixer whose directing work celebrates heritage through stories of food and culture. She is the executive producer and director of The Grocery List Show, a series funded by ITVS and CAAM, premiering in May of 2025 on PBS Digital Food. Emily produced Keep Moving Forward (Big Sky Documentary Film Festival) and A Letter for Sang-Ah (CAAMFest Loni Ding Award). A 2020 DOC NYC 40 Under 40 honoree, she received support from NYFA, the NYC Women’s Fund, and Kartemquin's Peng Zhao and Cherry Chen AAPI Voices Fund for her directing debut, Tasting Heritage. She won a Cinema Audio Society Award for Academy-Award winning film Summer of Soul and was also a location sound mixer on Attica (Academy-Award nominee 2022), Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (Netflix), and Conan O'Brien Must Go (Max).

See Emily Strong’s films in The Asian American Showcase Lineup:

The Grocery List Show: Seafood City
Marinig at Makita Ako [Hear & See Me]: Filipino American Shorts
Sunday, May 18th, 2:30 PM
Gene Siskel Film Center

Tasting Heritage
Far & Away: AAPI Documentary Shorts
Monday, May 19th, 8:30 PM
Gene Siskel Film Center

Tony Nguyen - Panelist

Tony Nguyen is an Oakland-based filmmaker whose work explores the Vietnamese refugee experience (ENFORCING THE SILENCE, GIAP’S LAST DAY AT THE IRONING BOARD FACTORY) and the untold stories of his community (FRESH FROZEN, I SEE ME). In addition to his filmmaking, he works as a video producer for Asian Health Services, a pioneering community health center that serves 50,000 patients. He is the proud papa of two teenagers he loves fixing dinner

See Tony Nguyen’s film in The Asian American Showcase Lineup:

Year of the Cat
Sunday, May 18th, 12pm (Noon)
Gene Siskel Film Center