Jennifer Phang ( ) is an American filmmaker (writer, director, producer), most known for her feature films ''

Advantageous ''Advantageous'' is a 2015 American science fiction drama film starring Jacqueline Kim, James Urbaniak, Freya Adams, Ken Jeong, Jennifer Ehle, and Samantha Kim. The film was released exclusively on Netflix on June 23, 2015. Plot Set in the near ...

'' (2015) and ''

Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to: Film * Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang * ''Half Life: ...

'' (2008). ''Advantageous'' premiered at the 2015

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, winning a Special Jury Award for Collaborative Vision, and was based on her award-winning short film of the same name. ''Half-Life'' premiered at the 2008

and won "Best Film" awards at a number of film festivals including the Gen Art Film Festival, the

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every May (Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month) in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation's ...

(now known as

CAAMFest CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every May (Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month) in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation' ...

) as well an "Emerging Director Award" at the

Asian American International Film Festival The Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) is the first and longest-running film festival to showcase the works of emerging and experienced Asian and Asian American filmmakers and media artists in the US. The programming includes a div ...

Early life

Phang grew up in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

and is currently based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. She was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and is of mixed

Chinese Malaysian Malaysian Chinese, Chinese Malaysians, or Sino-Malaysians are Malaysian citizens of Chinese ethnicity. They form the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Malay majority, and , constituted 23.2% of the country's citizens. In ...

and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

heritage. She graduated from

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies, and also graduated from the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

with a Masters of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Film Directing. She has also participated in the

San Francisco Film Society SFFILM, formerly known as The San Francisco Film Society, is a nonprofit arts organization located in San Francisco, California, that presents year-round programs and events in film exhibition, media education, and filmmaker services. The San Fra ...

Women Filmmaker Fellowship. In 2008, Phang was named as one of the "25 new Faces of Independent Film" by

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

. In 2015, she was selected as one of six Women at Sundance Fellows. In 2016 she was also selected for the Warner Bros. Television Directors' Workshop where she met the director/producer of ''

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

'' and ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'',

Michelle MacLaren Michelle Maxwell MacLaren is a Canadian television director and producer. She has directed episodes of ''The X-Files'', ''Better Call Saul'', ''Breaking Bad'', ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'', ''Game of Thrones'', and ''Westwor ...

, who became her mentor.

Career

Feature films

Phang's debut feature film that she directed and wrote was entitled ''

'' (2008) and it starred

Sanoe Lake Sànoe Lake is an American actress, model and surfer. Personal life Lake was born and raised on Kauai, Hawaii. She is of Hawaiian, Japanese and English descent. Her name "Sànoe" means "The Mist." Lake was 15 years old when she was discovered b ...

Julia Nickson-Soul Julia Nickson is an American actress. She first came to the attention of audiences in the United States in the Sylvester Stallone film '' Rambo: First Blood Part II''. She appeared in the 2004 film '' Ethan Mao'' and in the 2008 independent film ...

Leonardo Nam Leonardo Nam (born 5 November 1979) is an American actor. Born in Argentina to South Korean immigrant parents, he emigrated to Australia as a child before moving to the United States in the 1990s to begin his career as an actor. He made his brea ...

James Eckhouse James Hays Eckhouse (born February 14, 1955) is an American actor, best known for playing Jim Walsh on ''Beverly Hills, 90210''. He also directed three episodes of the show. Career Before his part on ''Beverly Hills, 90210'', Eckhouse had sm ...

Susan Ruttan Susan Ruttan (Born Susan Diane Dunrud; September 16, 1948) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne Melman on ''L.A. Law'' (1986–1993), for which she was nominated four times for a Primetime Emmy Award. Early years A n ...

and Alexander Agate. The film premiered at the 2008

in the New Frontiers section, and also screened at the

Gen Art Film Festival Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live musi ...

(where it won a Best Feature award), the

(where it won a Best Narrative award), the

(where Phang won the "Emerging Director Award"), the Fairy Tales International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (where it won the Visionary Award), the

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind the ...

(where it was in-competition and was nominated for the Tokyo Grand Prix), the

Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, the ...

(where it was also in competition and nominated for the Main Award), and the International Women's Film Festival in

Seoul, Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

(where it was opening night film). The film received a limited theatrical release on December 1, 2009. After Half life, Phang's follow-up project was, ''Look For Water'', and ''Crazy Beats Strong Every Time''. Phang received a grant from the Sundance Institute Cinereach Grant, the Sundance Annenberg Feature Film Fellowship, and the Tribeca Film Festival to support these developments. Phang's follow up film that she directed, wrote and edited was ''Advantageous'' (2015), which was based on her award-winning short film of the same name. The film starred

Jacqueline Kim Jacqueline Joan Kim is an American writer, actress, filmmaker, and composer. She was nominated for a FIND Independent Spirit award for Best Supporting Actress in the film '' Charlotte Sometimes''. Early life Kim was born in March 31, 1970, i ...

Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...

James Urbaniak James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in '' ...

, Freya Adams and Samantha Kim. The film also premiered in competition at the 2015

(nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Dramatic films), where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Collaborative Vision given to both Phang and star

with the inscription: "We are honoring two individuals for their unique collaborative vision. Two women that between them wrote, starred and co-edited a beautiful parable about a mother's love, sacrifice and society's worship of youth." At the 2015

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF) – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications (VC). It was established in 1983 by Linda Mabalot as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific Amer ...

, the film won, under the Narrative Feature category, Best Director (Jennifer Phang), Best Editor (Jennifer Phang and Sean Gillane), Best Musical Score (Timo Chen), and star

also won the Linda Mabalot Renaissance Spirit Award for her performance. Advantageous was released to Netflix June 2015.

Short films

Phang directed, wrote and edited a short film entitled ''Advantageous'' (2012) - the basis of the 2015 feature film of the same name - which imagined various scenarios and stories that took place in the future. The film won a Best Science Fiction Film award at the

Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival The Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Providence, Rhode Island, which features a wide variety of horror, sci-fi, and thriller films, as well as documentaries, from the United States and around the w ...

and also the Golden Reel Award for Best Short Film at the 2012

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

. It was also nominated for "Best Short Film" at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse. Lisa Dreyer ...

, the

Cleveland International Film Festival The Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) is an annual film festival based in Cleveland, Ohio. CIFF is the largest film festival in Ohio and among the longest-running in the United States. The festival is held at Playhouse Square, the lar ...

, the

Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF) is an annual film festival in Philadelphia that shows feature films and short films by and about Asian Americans. Run by the nonprofit Philadelphia Asian American Film and Filmmakers, the 10-day ...

, the

Philadelphia Film Festival The Philadelphia Film Festival is a film festival founded by the Philadelphia Film Society held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The annual festival is held at various theater venues throughout the Greater Philadelphia Area. Overview The annual ...

, the

San Diego Asian Film Festival The San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is an annual film festival in San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, ...

, the

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

Independent Film Festival, and the Urbanworld Film Festival. Other short films that Phang directed include ''Midnight Boycow'' (2007) starring Rex Lee and ''Love, Ltd.'' (2000), which Phang also co-wrote with Jeff Kirschenbaum.

Television

Phang has guest-directed on episodic series television, including for '' The Boys'', '' Cloak & Dagger'', '' Quantico'', ''

The Expanse Expanse or The Expanse may refer to: Media and entertainment ''The Expanse'' franchise * ''The Expanse'' (novel series), a series of science fiction novels by James S. A. Corey * ''The Expanse'' (TV series), a television adaptation of the ...

'', '' Riverdale'', '' Major Crimes'', ''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on The Exorcist (novel), his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller (play ...

'', ''

Proven Innocent ''Proven Innocent'' is an American legal drama television series created by David Elliot, which premiered on February 15, 2019, on Fox. The series follows the employees of a wrongful conviction law firm and stars Rachelle Lefevre, Russell Hornsb ...

'', '' Stargirl'' and ''

Resident Alien In law, an alien is generally any person (including an organization) who is not a citizen or a national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ across legal systems. Lexicology The term "alien" is derived from the L ...

''. She remarks that it is interesting to work in an established universe with characters already defined, and to direct a wide variety of actors who are already familiar with their characters. In her opinion, TV directing work, in addition to the extra income, improves her versatility and adaptability in her film projects.

Music videos and other media projects

Phang also directed and wrote a piece entitled ''Glass Butterfly'', a narrative music video featuring intensive visual effects, currently being completed via San Francisco's Studio 400A.

Screenwriting

For her screenplay ''Look for Water'', which she co-wrote with Dominic Mah, she was invited to the

Sundance Screenwriters' Lab Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compos ...

in June 2008. The screenplay has also received the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

L'Oreal Woman of Worth Vision Award, a Sundance CineReach grant, and a

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

Annenberg Feature Film Fellowship Grant.

Editing and producing

Phang has also edited and produced the feature film ''Target Audience 9.1'' (2007), written and directed by Dominic Mah, produced the short film ''Sitter'' (2004) also written and directed by Dominic Mah, and served as executive producer for the short film ''Crazy Beats Strong Every Time'' (2011), directed and written by Moon Molson, and which was an official selection of the 2011

. Phang also shares an editing credit on her 2015 feature

. Phang works closely with Premiere Pro and uses After Effects when dealing with VFX.

Filmography

Short film Feature film Television

Awards

*2015 Sundance Film Festival *Winner, Special Jury Award for Dramatic Feature: ''Advantageous'' *Nominee, Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Feature: ''Advantageous'' *LA Asian Pacific Film Fest *Winner, Editing, score, and directing awards for ''Advantageous'' (feature) - 2015 *Winner, Golden Reel Award for Excellence in Short Film: ''Advantageous'' - 2013 *2012 Rhode Island Horror Film Festival *Winner, Best Science Fiction Film: ''Advantageous'' (Short) * Asian American International Film Festival *Winner, Best Narrative: ''Half Life'' - 2008 *Winner, Emerging Director Award for Best Feature: ''Half Life'' - 2008 *Nominee, Excellence in Short Filmmaking Award: ''Futurestate'' - 2013 *Austin Fantastic Fest *Nominee, Short Film Award: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2012 *Cleveland International Film Festival *Nominee, Best Women's Short Film: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2013 *Nominee, Best Live Action Short Film: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2013 *Film Independent Spirit Awards *Nominee, John Cassavetes Award: (2016) Shared with Jacqueline Kim, Robert M. Chang, Ken Jeong, Moon Molson, Theresa Navarro *Gen Art Film Festival *Winner, Best Feature: ''Half-Life'' - 2008 *Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival *Nominee, Main Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg: ''Half-Life'' - 2008 *Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival *Nominee, Festival Prize: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2012 *Philadelphia Film Festival *Nominee, Jury Award for Best Short: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2012 *San Diego Asian Film Festival *Nominee, Jury Award for Best Narrative Short: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2012 *San Diego Comic-Con Independent Film Festival *Nominee, CCI:IFF Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Film: ''Advantageous'' (short) - 2012 *Tokyo International Film Festival *Nominee, Tokyo Grand Prix: ''Half-Life'' - 2008 *Urbanworld Film Festival *Nominee, Jury Prize for Best Short: ''Advantageous'' - 2012

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phang, Jennifer Artists from Berkeley, California Living people Pomona College alumni AFI Conservatory alumni American people of Malaysian descent American film directors of Vietnamese descent Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from San Francisco American women film directors