FAAIM

History

Upon Jonathan Laxamana’s passing in December 2022, Jonathan’s brother, Joe, and many close friends and family wished to establish a fund to help the next generation of film students and creators pursue his same passion for film.  After an initial scholarship granted in Jonathan’s name at Addison Trail High School in Addison, IL in Spring 2023, the group searched for a way to truly connect the fund to Jonathan’s passion.  In Fall 2023, we launched an endowment fund at the University of Illinois within the College of Media.  The Jonathan Laxamana Endowment Fund will provide an annual scholarship to a Media & Cinema Studies student.  Plans also include supporting the annual University of Illinois Student Film Festival.  As Jonathan, his brother, and many of his lifelong friends are alumni of the University of Illinois, and more notably where Jonathan first discovered his passion for film, the endowment is a great memorial and connection to Jonathan and his alma mater.

The Jonathan Laxamana Emerging Filmmaker Award for AAPI Emerging Filmmakers, administered by the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media (FAAIM), will award two short film submissions to The Asian American Showcase in Chicago with a $500 award each. One award will be granted each to a submission in the Documentary Short Film and Narrative Short Film categories. Award winners will be determined by a panel of jurors, and awards will be publicly presented at The Asian American Showcase, held at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago from May 16-22, 2025.

 Award winners must meet the following criteria:

• The filmmaker(s) must identify as Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and/or Pacific Islander (AANHPI).

• The film must be set in North America (the United States, Canada, or Mexico).

• The film must be selected and screened at The 2025 Asian American Showcase.

• The filmmaker(s) must identify as emerging or early-career. (Please note: FAAIM understands these career stage categories are always in flux, and therefore does not impart a strict definition for them. We generally understand an emerging or early-career filmmaker to be someone who has completed, or is in the process of completing, two or fewer feature films. However, we invite filmmakers to self-identify using their best judgment. Final determination is made by FAAIM staff and jurors.)

• The film must focus on an AANHPI central character, community, or experience.

• The total runtime of the film must not exceed 45 minutes.

• The film cannot be an episode or a segment of a series.

• The first theatrical screening date of the film must be on or after January 1, 2024. (outside of an academic instituion or setting)

We are excited and proud to now partner with The Asian American Showcase to launch the Jonathan Laxamana Emerging Filmmaker Award to memorialize Jonathan’s work within the Chicago film festival arena with focus on AAPI cinema. In 2006, Jonathan created the Chicago Filipino Film Festival and led all activities of producing, promoting, and putting on the festival for over ten years.  Jonathan then went on to contribute significantly to the Asian American Showcase for several years.  As with the endowment at the University of Illinois, the Jonathan Laxamana Emerging Filmmaker Award is something that Jonathan would be proud to sponsor, representing his love for film and vision to help emerging film creators in the AAPI communities.

Larry Versola

Together with Jonathan Laxamana, Larry Versola created the Chicago Filipino American Film Festival (CFAFF) in 2001, and served as its Festival Administrator until 2010. A unique festival that specialized in Filipino and Filipino/American films, CFAFF was influential in identifying and promoting talented filmmakers, and showcasing their works to a wider audience.  Inspired by Jonathan and his experience with CFAFF, Larry gave up practicing corporate law and founded 41EIGHTYSEVEN, a Chicago-based location services / production company. During the pandemic, he was an adjunct at Columbia's Cinema & Television Arts school, where he created and taught Columbia's first dedicated class about Location Scouting and Location Management. 

Alex Skalomenos

Alex Skalomenos is a Chicago-based producer and documentary filmmaker whose personal projects focus on telling stories related to filipino culture and the history of the Philippines. He got his start in documentary at Kartemquin Films. Over the years, he has also often worked in progressive politics, producing media for progressive campaigns and causes across the US. He is currently the producer at Eicoff, an agency in Chicago, and is the permanent documentarian for the Ynchausti Foundation in the Philippines.

Sadia Uqaili

As an award-winning artist, documentary filmmaker, and nonprofit founder, Sadia Uqaili utilizes the camera and her art to inspire, motivate, heal, and celebrate. Born in Pakistan, educated in Canada, and the UK, and migrated to the U.S., she has received awards for her art from the Internationale d’art Miniature, Winnipeg Printmaking Exhibit, National Federation of Pakistani Canadians, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and The World Heritage Festival. Winner of the Chicago South Asian Film Festival Award, Wild Things was a short film collaboratively produced under her direction at Snow City Arts, an arts education organization serving at-risk youth that Sadia led for 15 years. Before this, she served as the arts mentor at the Edmonton Center for Survivors of Torture and Trauma in Canada. As part of the Kartemquin Diverse Voices in Docs Fellowship, Sadia is currently producing Bapsi, her first feature-length documentary about the most preeminent Pakistani American writer and activist. Uqaili is also the founder of Explore Their Stories, Inc., a nonprofit organization that uses films that celebrate diversity and record the extraordinary in our everyday lives to stimulate social change. Her award-winning printmaking artwork has been exhibited extensively across the world in places such as Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Phoenix, Karachi, Edmonton and Quebec, and she has curated exhibits in Canada, Singapore, India, Pakistan, the UK and USA. She is a proud member of Asian American Documentary Network, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Mezcla Media Collective and chairs the Arts and Culture subcommittee of Lahore, at the Chicago Sister Cities International. She has served on panels and juries for multimedia exhibits and at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival.

Jonathan Knipp

Jonathan Knipp is Senior Lecturer in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media. Each Spring he teaches a course in Film Festivals and leads his enrolled students in the production of a campus-wide event: The Illinois Student Film Festival. In his spare time, he likes to watch monster movies.

Bernard Badion

Bernard Badion is an acclaimed Filipino-American creator with work spanning TV, film, and theater. Known for combining emotional storytelling with humor, he has credits including Nickelodeon's Transformers: Earthspark and has developed with Disney, Imagine Entertainment, Amazon, and more. Recently written for FOX NFL Sunday and LiveNation. A recognized talent through NBC’s Writers On The Verge and Loyola Marymount University, Bernard has also earned accolades as a playwright for “Monkeys”, which garnered awards and was lauded for its “sharp, focused storytelling executed with grace and humor”. Furthermore, his recent achievements include an award-winning short film titled “The Van” (2023 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Best Narrative Short Film) and a directing spot on Sesame Street. Bernard is from the SF Bay Area, but calls Los Angeles home where he lives with his family.