Meet The Team
Our board and staff are dedicated to bringing the best of Asian and Asian American cinema to audiences of all ages. As one of the oldest Asian film organizations in the U.S., we believe in the importance of preserving the historical aspects of films while enhancing the growth of AAPI youth today.
Board Of Directors
Daniel Chen
Daniel Chen is a real estate developer and broker in New York City. He is the co-founder of My Friends Place NY, a non-profit with a mission to educate and empower underserved youths in the Asian community through mental health programs and workshops.
With an M.B.A. in International Business, Daniel has volunteered and worked with multiple NGOs all around the world. Activities include building a library in rural China, managing an orphanage in Nepal, and teaching English to migrant workers in Hong Kong. He would like to focus on providing opportunities and new career paths for the growing youth of immigrant families and first-generation Americans.
Phil Lam
Philip is a former Product Development Executive at Facebook. He is a 20+ year veteran of the information technology and interactive media industries and has played critical roles in numerous ground-breaking initiatives involving personalization technology, e-commerce, social media and computer/console gaming.
Philip earned his B.S. in Operations Research from Cornell University and his M.B.A. from New York Universityʼs Stern School of Business.
Judy Lei
Judy Lei is an actor, performer, writer, producer, filmmaker, and Voting Rights Organizer at the AALDEF, where she works with the Democracy Team to organize the nation’s largest Asian American Exit Poll. She wrote/performed two one-woman shows – “The World’s Greatest” (dir. MC Jin) and “28: Still Fucked Up.” She recently completed her first feature film, The World’s Greatest.
She has been involved with Asian CineVision since 2009, and hopes to spend the rest of her life telling stories about the NYC Asian American experience through comedy, television, film, and community organizing.
John C. Woo
Founder & Executive Director, WOO ART INTERNATIONAL, Inc.,
Executive Director, ASIAN CINEVISION, Inc.
John Woo is co-founder and Executive Director of Woo Art International, a New York based creative services and visual communications studio founded in 1980. Woo Art creates award winning visual media for a diverse base of clients in the communications, broadcast promotion, exhibit, and entertainment industries.
He is the Board Chair for Asian CineVision (ACV), the New York based not-for-profit media arts organization and presenter of the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF). In 2007, he became Acting Director of ACV and in 2010, Executive Director.
Cecilia R. Mejia
A first-generation Filipino-American born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Cecilia has worked in development for non-profit organizations, including NGOs at the United Nations. She has a master’s degree in Public Administration and Affairs and is a graduate of the Columbia Business School’s Emerging Nonprofit Leaders Program.
She’s worked with several grassroots organizations focusing on underrepresented communities, which led to her working in film. Cecilia has produced a number of short films focusing on critical social impact issues. She’s the lead producer of the Award-winning, Sony-acquired feature film, Yellow Rose, a Social Impact Producer of the award-winning documentary, Call Her Ganda, and Co-Producer for Array Studios-acquired Lingua Franca. Cecilia is combining her love of film and social impact work with under-resourced youth through her non-profit organization, Art of Me, as the Creative Director. She was recently featured in Forbes Magazine for her work.
Wynn J. Salisch
Chairman and CEO of Casablanca Ventures, LLC
Wynn J. Salisch is a senior media and entertainment professional with entrepreneurial strategy, corporate and business development, and operations experience. He is able to adeptly analyze complex situations and develop appropriate actions to achieve positive resolutions. Detail oriented, versatile, and committed, he combines strong interpersonal and problem solving skills with his unique understanding of the Asian American market.
Directors & Managers
Kayla Wong
ACV Associate Director
“Dishonor. Dishonor on your whole family. Dishonor on you. Dishonor on your cow.”
– Mulan (1998)
David Rances
ACV Associate Director
“It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others…will help you become whole.”
– Uncle Iroh
Elizabeth Bigelow
Administrative Director
“Don’t tell me…the offside rule is when the French mustard has to be between the teriyaki sauce and the sea salt.”
– Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Murielle Hsieh
Creative Director
“I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also so much more than that. So we are all.”
– James Baldwin
Young Chen
Development Director
“Coffee is the lifeblood that fuels the dreams of champions.”
– Kicking and Screaming (2005)
Tiffany Bai
Operations Director
“Flap around and find out.”
– Bird King from Hoppers (2026)
Kris Montello
Programming Director
“You know what I want to do when I grow up? I want to tell people things they don’t know. Show them stuff they haven’t seen. It’ll be so much fun.”
– Yi Yi (2000)
Charlotte Wittmann
Programming Manager
“Just be a rock.”
– Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Dayoung Lee
Programming Manager
“I think that the fact that we can both see the Sun, so even though we’re not actually in the same place and we’re not actually together… we kind of are in a way, you know? Like we’re both underneath the same sky, so… kind of together.”
– Aftersun (2022)
Jackson Lee
Programming Manager
“You’re going to do it because you’re an actor and that’s what you do. Just like the director does what he does and the writer and the script girl and the guy who claps the slate. You’re gonna do it because the picture has worth!”
– Hail, Caesar (2016)
Sally Zhu
HR Manager
“Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than the stories and people we’re quoting.”
– John Green
Maya Lee
Administrative Manager
“‘Logic!’ said the Professor half to himself. ‘Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth.'”
– The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
Cindy Li
Editorial Manager
“I’m always gonna love you” / “I’m always gonna love you, too.”
– La La Land (2016)
Lily Chu
Development Manager
“You’re not just Minions. You’re my family.”
– Gru
Nicole Yap
Operations Manager
“I am the gatekeeper of my own destiny and I will have my glory day in the hot sun!”
– Nacho Libre (2006)
Siena Koh
Marketing & PR Manager
“I believe if there’s any kind of God it wouldn’t be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there’s any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something.”
– Before Sunrise (1995)
Jihyun Paik
Production Manager
“But don’t forget, in the meantime, that this is the season for strawberries.”
– Clarice Lispector (The Hour of the Star)
Jeanine Huang
Website Manager
“In the end, people are emotions, emotions are gullible, forceful, precious, cheap, and alluring, and I long for them now.”
– Grass (2018)
Leezum Regensburg
Interim CineVue Editor-in-Chief
“They say the best blaze burns brightest, when circumstances are at their worst.”
― Howl’s Moving Castle
Asian CineVision Staff
Leadership
John Woo, ACV Executive Director
Kayla Wong, ACV Associate Director
David Rances, ACV Associate Director
Beth Bigelow, Administrative Director
Murielle Hsieh, Creative Director
Kris Montello, Programming Director
Tiffany Bai, Operations Director
Young Chen, Development Director
Catherine Gumarin, Legal Consultant
Administration
Administrative Manager
Maya Lee
Administrative Assistant
Leah Kim
HR Manager
Sally Zhu
Administrative Consultant
Christopher Gultiano
Website Content Manager
Jeanine Huang
Human Resource Assistant
Haley Tamtoro
Website Consultant
Dennis Hu
Archives Coordinator
Anya Markovitz
Editorial Manager
Cindy Li
Copywriter
Angela Ananya Ramkumar
Copyediting Assistants
Abrielle Florita
Kayla Park
McAllister Whiting
Wendy Chen
Website Content Assistant
Wendy Chen
Haley Tamtoro
Development and Community Partners
Development Manager
Lily Chu
Development Associates
Amy Sun
Anita Yung
Dennison Giongco
Yuxin “Emily” Fang
Jenn Tran
Yutong “Jas” Wang
Subah Nasir
Yun “Yolanda” Yu
Zoe Eng
Sponsorship Coordinator
Yanyan Huang
Marketing & Public Relations
Marketing & PR Manager
Siena Koh
PR & Newsletter Lead
Claire Gu
Marketing & Public Relations Coordinators
Ariel Cai
Claire Su
Emma Dai
Jing Chen “Lucy” Yang
Thanh Lieu
Xiaojing “XJ” Qu
Matthew Leung
Letterboxd Coordinator
Emily Larcher
Press Coordinator
Tiana Perez
Social Media Lead
Lina Hoang
Social Media Coordinators
Angela Linh
Jessica Lam
Nidhi Kalva
Rick Bai
Sadia Sharif
Umi Marshall
Yu Hai Shen
Operations
Operations Manager
Nicole Yap
Operations Associates
Michelle Chen
Tyler Chen
Martina Liu
Print Traffic Coordinator
Phyllis Chee
Box Office Coordinators
Melissa Bautista
Kana Felix
Renee Hong
Guest Services Coordinators
Ashif Chowdhury
Wendy Li
Shannon Urabe
Production Manager
Jihyun Paik
Production Assistants
Euan Ramos
Isabel “Izzy” Sumardi
Vincent Tsang
Rebecca Wong
Events Coordinators
Shan Jiang
Dasom Sohn
Transportation Coordinator
Yukun Feng
Creative
Creative Manager
Murielle Hsieh
Creative Associate
Nicolas Parada
Lead Designer
Kevin Yoon
Graphic Designers
Annette Cho
Heesoo Goh
Judy Huang
Kumika Hashimoto
Steven Lew
Rio Takahashi
Motion Graphic Designer
Siwen “Candy” Sui
Photo/Video Lead
Elena Dagan
Photographers / Videographers
Amy Zhang
Antonia Giordano
Aubrey Garces
Aubry Miller
Kyle Lui
Mari Kodama
Melanie Hyde
Rom Choi
Sandy Woon
Theresa Shim
Zakary “Zak” Hori
Zinn Rogers
Video Editors
Amy Cheng
Celine Cheung
Kristen Lew
Mahalia Carbonell
Raymond Tisch
William Mun
Yena Oh
Trailer Editor
Jason Cheung
Program Book Designer
Hyun Jung Ra
Programming
Programming Managers
Dayoung Lee
Jackson Lee
Charlotte Wittmann
Programmers / Screeners – Features
Charlotte Wittmann
Coco Tolentino
Dayoung Lee
Grace Cheung
Grace Han
Jackson Lee
Jeffrey Deyto
Joseph Eusebio
Justine Kaneda
King Louie Palomo
Kirby Peñafiel
Kris Montello
Leslie Li
Meiyi Liu
Patricia Kusumaningtyas
Sebastien Tobler
Undarmaa Tserenkhuu
Programmers / Screeners – Shorts
Anthony Nguyen
Ben Jian-Lin Del Vecchio
Boomika Velineni
Caledonia Abbey
Carrie Vu
Christopher Gultiano
Coco Tolentino
Dayoung Lee
Heidi Atlas
Ivan Leung
Jackson Lee
Jacob Cruz-Rine
Jeanine Huang
Jeffrey Deyto
Jeremy Chi
Jiyeon Kim
JoSaen Ronquillo
King Louie Palomo
Kirby Peñafiel
Maenum Chagasik
Meiyi Liu
Melissa Tinambacan
Michael Mejia
Mick Bongiovi
Patricia Kusumaningtyas
Phyllis Chee
Rachael Jung
Raymond Chow
Robert Fenske
Samantha Lam
Samantha Toy Ozeas
Stephanie Sunata
Tee Kay
Tishon Pugh
Umi Marshall
Walter Kim
Xavier Peng
Xuepei Hou
Panels
Dayoung Lee
Jeanine Huang
Jeremy Chi
Kayla Wong
Kris Montello
Samantha Toy Ozeas
Young Chen
Programmers / Screeners – Screenplay
Dayoung Lee
Grace Cheung
Maenum Chagasik
Sebastien Tobler
Seyoung Kim
Screenplay Coordinator
Cynthia “Cyn” Leung
Archives
Hai-Li Kong
CineVue
Editor-in-Chief
Leezum Regensburg
Cinevue Coordinator
Anya Markovitz
Staff Writers / Contributors
Celine Cheung
Jing Chen “Lucy” Yang
Amy Zhang