AAFFN Staff

AAFFN Convener and Advisors

Dr Indigo Willing (recipient OAM )- Current Convener

IMAGE: Indigo Willing

Writer for the AAFFN Interview Series and Content Creator, Social Media 

2011 Co-founder and Convener AAFFN

WEBSITE: https://indigowilling.wordpress.com

Dr Sukhmani Khorana. Former Co-Convener.

Sukhmani Khorana

Special Advisor Film Studies/ Industry.

Former AAFFN Co-convener and Social Media Team

(Academic, Film and Media Content Contributor)

WEBSITE: https://sukhmanikhorana.com

Amadeo Marquez-Perez – Former Co-Convenor.

Amadeo Marquez-Perez

Former AAFFN Co-convener. Special Advisor Industry / Film Festivals

WEBSITE: https://au.linkedin.com/in/amadeo-marquez-perez-b2a43b48

Dr Tseen Khoo- Co-Founder/Academic/Community Advisor

WEBSITE: https://tseenster.com/

AAFFN Development Special Advisory Group (2011 – 2012)

The people below offered special advice in the launch and inaugural year of AAFFN, and continue to offer special advice for things such as events, networking and promotion:

Annette Shun Wah

Artistic Director of OzAsia Festival, Actor, writer, broadcaster Founder of Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (and previously 4A Performance)

Based: Sydney Website: https://au.linkedin.com/in/annette-shun-wah-a8a6541a

Annette is an author, producer and actor, and veteran presenter of TV programs such as The Noise, Studio 22 and Media Dimensions. She also devised, wrote, and directed the mobile phone app ‘China Heart‘, which uses dramatised video, oral history and gaming to explore family and community in Sydney’s Chinatown. With CAAPA and Performance 4a, she has advanced various Asian Australian creatives and projects. This includes a produced a season of Asian Australian performance – including Stories East & West – a theatrical storytelling show co-directed with William Yang. Nominated for an AFI Award for her performance in the feature film, Floating Life, she has appeared in guest roles on Packed to the Rafters, Crownies, Always Greener andYoung Lions.

Juanita Kwok

Juanita was invited to join the AAFFN Development Advisory Board because of her experience in co-founding and co-directing the Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival 2000-2003. Funded by the Australian Film Commission, the New South Wales Film and Television Office and the City of Sydney, the festival premiered new films from Asia and incorporated a short film competition for films made by or about Asian Australians, and a seminar program.  Juanita’s roles included programming, coordinating seminars, the short film competition and commissioning and editing program notes for the Festival catalogue. Juanita has worked at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, New South Wales Film and Television Office and SBS Radio. Juanita was co-author of  Film Asia : New perspectives on film for English, which won the National Award for Best Reference Resource for Secondary Teachers in 2003. She holds a B.A. from University of Sydney, Post Graduate Certificate in Audio Visual Archiving, Charles Sturt University and is currently studying Honours Arts (Communication), Charles Sturt University.

 Pearl Tan

Actor, director, producer
Production company: Pearly Productions
Based: Sydney

Pearl Tan is the director of Pearly Productions, a film and video production company that provides services to arts organisations and actors. She graduated from the NIDA Acting course in 2005. Originally from Western Australia, she also holds a Communications degree majoring in Media Studies from Edith Cowan University. Her short films Seeya Rach, Thanks for Coming and Baby Cake have screened both nationally and internationally.

Pearl teaches filmmaking at NIDA and has worked behind the scenes for Channel 7, Channel 9, Network 10, Perth’s 96fm and Faith Martin Casting. Pearl was a recipient of the 2009 Mike Walsh Fellowship to attend the New York Film Academy. Her credits as an actor include Motel (Sydney Theatre Company/Wharf 2Loud), Love’s Triumph (Darlinghurst Theatre) feature films Home Song Stories, Sleeping Beauty and Channel 9’s Sea Patrol.

Yu Ye Wu

Previous roles include Arts Administration & Communication, Social Media Marketing: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art & Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE)
Based: Sydney

Yu Ye previousl worked at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney across marketing and communications, social media and arts administration. Yu Ye studied a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney in 2008 with a major in English Literature and received first class honours in Art History writing on contemporary Chinese artists Xu Bing and Huang Yongping. Since 2010 she has worked in arts marketing and publicity across Australian mainstream, online and Chinese media at 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Notable exhibitions and projects she has worked on include Cinema Alley (2010, 2011 and 2012), Shen Shaomin, The Day After Tomorrow (2011) and Last Words (2010). Yu Ye has also been Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE)’s Executive and Communications Assistant since 2010 where she has run the organisation’s social media, been the project coordinator for ICE’s Rocks Pop Up Project space and has been a general events and projects assistant.

Peta-Jane ‘PJ’ Madam

Journalist, TV presenter (formerly SBS News)
Based: Sydney

Peta-Jane ‘PJ’ Madam landed her first role in journalism in 2004 as an intern with Channel Nine News in Brisbane, earning her stripes before heading  south to work for Nine News in Sydney. As a reporter and producer,  she got a real taste for life in broadcast journalism – spending  time on the road reporting, as well as in studio producing stories  and bulletins. PJ joined SBS as a reporter for World News Australia in 2008. During  her time here she has covered major local and international events,  including the canonisation of Mary MacKillop, two Australian federal  elections, Kevin Rudd’s fall from leadership and the dumping of two  NSW Premiers, the aftermath of the Samoan tsunami in September 2009,  and Cyclone Yasi in February 2011. She was also SBS’s correspondent  from London for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in  April 2011. As well as reporting, PJ was one of a team who present SBS World News  Australia – you’ll often find her anchoring the 9.30pm news bulletin. She has now moved to being a TV presenter for major television stations.

Somchay Phakonkham

Director, producer
Production company: Reinvent Films
Based: Melbourne

Somchay Phakonkham is a Laotian-Australian film director from Melbourne. His fascination with film began at the age of 5 after seeing a TV show being filmed outside his Nott St primary school. He went on to studying film in high school and later graduated from an Advance Diploma of Screen Production at the school of NMIT, Collingwood. Since then Somchay has directed countless short films, music videos and has worked on two independent feature films. His short film ’Get Him’, which was co-directed by fellow director Jesse Galofaro, won him the ‘Best Director’ award at the Queens St Film Festival and was also selected for ‘Tropfest’s Best of the Rest’ in 2007.

His lifelong goal is to join the ranks of Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood to become one of the best directors in the world.