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 Sabu is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. His work has appeared on PBS, NBC, HBO, and at numerous festivals around the world. Dinesh co-produced his feature directorial debut Unbroken Glass with Chicago’s renowned Kartemquin Films, (Hoop Dreams, Minding the Gap), where he also served as cinematographer of American Arab (2013). Unbroken Glass was screened at numerous film festivals and community-based events. Among its numerous distinctions, Dinesh won Best Director at the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. It was broadcast on the 5th season of PBS’ America ReFramed in 2017. In 2014 Dinesh was a fellow in Firelight Media’s Documentary Lab. He holds a black belt in Tomiki Aikido and graduated from the University of Chicago in 2006. He earned his MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University in 2019.

Emily Strong - Panelist

EMILY STRONG is an award winning documentary filmmaker and Emmy-nominated location sound mixer committed to collaborating on authentic stories from diverse perspectives that incite civil discourse, connectivity, and express humanity in an artful way. She is especially drawn to projects with psychological, cultural connection through food, and immigration pattern focuses. She produced Keep Moving Forward (Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Official Selection) and A Letter For Sang-Ah (CAAMFest Loni Ding Award for Social Justice). Emily was selected as a DOC NYC 40 Under 40 honoree in 2020 and is currently finishing her directing debut, Tasting Heritage, with funding support from the NYC Women’s Fund for Media by the City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), the NYC Artist Corps Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and the Kartemquin Films Zhao-Chen Family AAPI Voices Fund. She is currently directing The Grocery List Show, a five-part ITVS and CAAM funded digital documentary series for PBS about cultural grocery stores, hosted by Chef Chrissy Camba, premiering in 2025.

See Emily Stong’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 overlooked stories of individuals and communities that make up the fabric of the Town (Fresh Frozen, I See Me). https://linktr.ee/papa_t510

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

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