For far too long, Hollywood has been an insular, exclusive club...and somewhat of a “boys’ club” at that. But times are changing.
CAPE has joined forces with Janet Yang Productions to provide short film production grants of $25,000 each to four API women or non-binary filmmakers, funded for Year 3 by Julia S. Gouw with additional support from Asian Women Leadership in Philanthropy Fund, Sandra Choi, Cindy Huang, Luyi Khasi, Jessy Li, Priscilla Lim, Jean Shim, Monica Suryapranata, Toni Wang, and Gillian Yu!
The four awardees in the Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge will be offered unparalleled networking opportunities with Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning Hollywood producer Janet Yang and the CAPE network, along with the chance to submit films to potential buyers and platforms with access to industry professionals including agents, managers, producers and studio executives.
APPLY TO THE 2024 JULIA S. GOUW SHORT FILM CHALLENGE!
Submissions are open now until Monday, May 20, 2024 at 11:59 PM PT.
Please Note: Grant awardees must be prepared to film and produce their short film from August 2024 to January 2025.
Please prepare or complete the following application components prior to beginning the application form (full preview here):
Complete, original script (maximum 15 pages, PDF Format only, under 100 MB)
All identifying markers must be stripped. You may watermark pages with “CAPE/JYP” but not with any identifying markers.
We do not accept revised or replacement scripts after submission - no exceptions.
Artistic Statement about your submitted short film script (maximum 3000 characters, or approximately 500 words)
Submission Release Form (PDF Format Only)
Resume (1 page, PDF Format Only)
Non-Refundable $25 Application Processing Fee via PayPal
Please save receipt as PDF or screenshot for proof of payment. PDFs of email receipts or confirmations are also accepted.
PLEASE NOTE: To access the Google Form application, you must log in with a Google/gmail account.
Eligibility Requirements:
Your work and and your script should be consistent with CAPE’s mission to champion diversity by educating, empowering, and connecting Asian and Pacific Islander artists and leaders in entertainment.
Your short film script must feature an API woman or non-binary protagonist.
Your project may have co-writer(s) and/or co-director(s). However, as the applicant, you must have written the submitted script and must plan to direct the funded short film and meet all other eligibility criteria for the Short Film Challenge.
You must be at least 18 years old to apply.
You may submit multiple scripts, but each will require a separate application and $25 processing fee.
You must have the ability to accept paid work in the United States. CAPE does not sponsor or assist with visas or immigration.
Your script must be 15 pages maximum (not including title page).
Your script must be in PDF format and in industry format.
Your script must be in English. Additional languages are accepted with subtitles.
Narrative live-action or animated short film scripts will both be accepted.
Your script must not contain any identifying information (name, email, rep information) on any pages. You may include WGA or copyright registration numbers if you wish, but it is not necessary. Generic watermarks such as “CAPE/JYP” also allowed.
Your script must be original and you must own all rights to the script free and clear.
Your script must not be under an option and you must have sole authority over changes to the script.
If awarded the grant, you must produce a short film based on the pre-approved script submitted to the challenge.
If your short film is at any stage of production, principal photography must not have started before May 20, 2024.
For any questions, please email programs@capeusa.org. Please, no calls checking on the status of your application.
CAPE and Janet Yang Productions do not provide feedback or coverage for submissions. No exceptions.
OUR 2023 GRANTEES
DOROTHY XIAO
Dorothy Xiao (she/her) is a Chinese American film director of grounded family dramas with magical elements, using her Psychology background to focus on the complexities of vulnerable emotions like loneliness and grief. Her short films total over 600,000 views online, and she has worked on over 30 projects with companies like CBS, HBO, and Disney. She directed the award-winning short COLORFUL MINDS for the 2022 CBS Leadership Pipeline Challenge, which won a $75,000 donation from CBS to the nonprofit Pained Brain. When not making films, Dorothy binge watches movies with her stuffed bunny Rabby and drinks copious amounts of boba milk tea. Learn more at dorxiao.com
KRISTY CHOI
Kristy Choi (she/her or they/them) is an award-winning filmmaker based in the unceded land of the Tongva and Chumash peoples (Los Angeles, California). Her work traverses across documentary, narrative, and hybrid formats and is primarily interested in the Asian and Asian-American femme experience of freedom, spirituality, and environment. Her short film, HERSELVES, was released by The New Yorker in 2021 and is free to stream worldwide. Her most recent film, Excerpts from a Field Guide, will be released by REI in 2023. Kristy received a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University and completed a DAAD Post-Graduate Fellowship at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
RIPPIN SINDHER
Rippin Sindher (she/her) is a Punjabi-American storyteller who grew up in a raisin farm town and pivoted her career after extensively traveling the Amazon rainforest. Under her culture-forward banner, Sindherella Co., Rippin directed award-winning films: “Broken Drawer,” “The Hideout” and “SEVA” which earned special Congressional recognition. In 2019, Rippin was the first directing fellow on “Ratched” for the Ryan Murphy HALF Initiative. Previously, she managed programming for the Directors Guild of America and served as a senior creative director on numerous global campaigns. An advocate for social justice, Rippin founded KAUR Creative and earned the UCLA Women Leaders Award for Service.
SHRUTI PAREKH
Shruti Parekh (she/her) is an Atlanta-bred, Brooklyn-based Indian American filmmaker who tells intimate and incisive stories of life on the margins of society. Her work spans fiction, documentary, journalism, and animation. Shruti’s short films have played at multiple Oscar qualifying festivals, and her first narrative short Blood Moon won the Audience Award at the South Asian Film Festival of America. As a journalist, Shruti’s digital videos have garnered millions of views. Shruti has a BA from Brown University and an MFA in Directing from UCLA, where she received the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Student Director Award and the Wasserman Film Production Fellowship.
DESDEMONA CHIANG
Honorable Mention
Desdemona Chiang (she/her) is a Taiwan-born American director and writer based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR. She works in a variety of genres, including new plays, Shakespeare, and musicals. Her TV pilot “Made in USA” has been developed with the Sundance Episodic Intensive, The Orchard Project, The Writers Lab US, and is currently part of the Sundance Institute x The Asian American Foundation fellowship. She will be shooting a short film adaptation of the pilot as part of the AFI DWW+ program. Awards: Princess Grace, Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, Drama League. MFA Directing: University of Washington.
2023 FINALISTS
Jill Sachs (she/her) is a Fil-Am filmmaker, interested in using genre to explore the ways we weave ourselves into mythologies, and navigate obsolescence. She earned her MFA in Directing from AFI, and BA from the University of Chicago. Her films have been acquired by Shorts International, and played at festivals like Ashland Independent Film Festival, Newport Beach, Mallorca, and Filmquest. She is a recent Finalist for the Disney Underrepresented Storytellers Initiative with her script, Stardust. As an AICP mentee, Jill splits her time between short form, XR, and narrative projects. She currently works in commercial animation at Psyop.
Kyle Casey Chu (she/her) is a Sundance-award-winning screenwriter and a founder of Drag Story Hour. In 2022, far-right extremists stormed her Drag Story Hour to silence her. Instead, she gained a global platform. Her writing and drag has been featured on Vogue, NPR, NBC, VICE, Paramount+, at SXSW, on the White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign and more. She created the Queer & Trans web series, CHOSEN FAM, which is under consideration for national distribution. HarperCollins is publishing her debut book series, “The Queen Bees of Tybee County” (2025)- the first middle-grade novels to feature a Bigender Asian American protagonist.
Liz Lian (she/her) is a Chinese American filmmaker originally from New Jersey. Liz earned her MFA in film and television production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Her short film Avalanches has screened at Austin Film Festival, SCAD Savannah Film Festival, and DisOrient Asian American Film Festival, among others. Her mission as a filmmaker is to inspire audiences toward self-expression, courage, and empathy through thought-provoking stories led by underdogs and underrepresented voices. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
An Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning Hollywood producer, Janet Yang is a member of the Board of Governors of the Motion Picture Academy, as well as a Board Officer Chairing its Membership Committee.
Yang came to prominence through her collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun. That was followed by a long partnership with multiple Academy Award-winner Oliver Stone—where she served as Executive Producer on the iconic The Joy Luck Club, and as a Producer on the Golden Globe-winning The People vs. Larry Flynt.
Among her many other credits are: the Sundance award-winning Dark Matter with Meryl Streep; The Weight of Water directed by Academy Award-winner Kathryn Bigelow; Fox’s High Crimes with Morgan Freeman; a Chinese adaptation of the Disney franchise High School Musical; cult favorites Zero Effect by Jake Kasdan and Shanghai Calling with China Film Group, and most recently, the Academy Award-nominated animated feature Over the Moon for Netflix.
Yang has been named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by the Hollywood Reporter.
Committed to fostering global understanding, Yang is a co-founder of Gold House, the non-profit collective of the most influential Asian cultural leaders; a long-standing member of the Committee of 100, an organization of the most prominent Chinese-Americans; an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California where she also chairs its highly regarded U.S.-ASIA ENTERTAINMENT SUMMIT.
Yang has been featured on numerous national and global media outlets. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Yang holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. She was also appointed as a Presidential Fellow at Loyola Marymount University.
Julia S. Gouw is the Chairwoman of Piermont Bank, a commercial bank in New York. She was the former President and Chief Operating Officer of East West Bank.
Gouw was ranked one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” five times by American Banker magazine and has received the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Women Making a Difference” award two times in recognition of her achievements and philanthropic contributions.
Gouw was a board member of the Trusteeship, an International Women’s Forum affiliate organization that connects preeminent women in leadership positions across various professional fields.
Gouw currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Pacific Life and VIZIO (NYSE: VZIO). She was appointed as a Commissioner of Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA) in September 2016. The OIAA provides overall direction for the management, operations, development and marketing of Ontario International Airport in Southern California.
Gouw is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was the founding chair of Executive Advisory Board of the UCLA Women’s Health to promote women’s health both in research and medical treatments. She also endowed the UCLA Chair of Mood Disorders Research especially in women in memory of Dr. Lori Altshuler.
Born and raised in Indonesia, Gouw came to the United States in 1978 where she earned her B.S. degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
