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PRESS RELEASE
CROSS SECTION OF MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY LEADERS TO
PARTICIPATE IN IMMORTAL STUDIOS VIRTUAL SUMMIT --
AMPLIFYING AAPI REPRESENTATION IN ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA
Senator Mazie Hirono, Congressman Ted Lieu, Jon M. Chu,
Christina Kim, Kelly Hu Among Those On Board for May 26 Series of Panels and Fireside Chats
LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2021 -- Timed for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Immortal Studios together with media partners Los Angeles Times and NextShark and industry partner CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) today announced Amplifying AAPI Representation in Entertainment & Media (AAREM), a summit series to elevate the dialog around AAPI representation in film, television and pop culture and frame it as a natural extension of the recent focus on ending Anti-Asian violence. The Summit is scheduled for May 26.
Slated to speak are a curated mix of Asian and Pacific American leaders, including Senator Mazie Hirono, Congressman Ted Lieu, Rotten Tomatoes Co-Founder Patrick Lee, Echelon Talent Management CEO Andrew Ooi, Marginal Mediaworks Founder/CEO Sanjay Sharma, Audible Head of Content Acquisition and Development Pat Shah, MSNBC’s Richard Lui and IW Group Chairman Bill Imada, Political Advisor Bill Wong. Representing the creative community are Jon M. Chu (director Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) Christina Kim (Creator/Executive Producer, Kung Fu), Film scholar and filmmaker Celine Parreñas Shiizu and Kelly Hu (actor, Finding ‘Ohana, The Scorpion King). Benny Luo, Founder, NextShark; Sewell Chan, editorial page editor Los Angeles Times, CAPE’s Co-Founder Wenda Fong, Executive Director Michelle Sugihara and Immortal Studios’ Peter Shaio will also speak.
The AAREM Summit will focus on the need and method for storytelling and depiction on an unprecedented scale to ensure that Asians are no longer trivialized, exoticized, excluded or stereotyped in the fashion that they have been in the past 150 years in global entertainment. The series of panels and fireside chats are all open to the public. The schedule is available at aapisummit.com.
“We are in a historically significant time when the predicament of Asians in America is in clear focus from many corners of society, and we now have the opportunity to expand from the current conversation on stopping violence to systemic reform. In a media driven world where stories inform people of reality, it is about time we visited the portrayal and inclusion of AAPI’s in entertainment with a new lens and urgency,” said Peter Shiao, founder and CEO Immortal Studios. “We hope that this will be the start of of a multifaceted effort from all who are part of the process of making, consuming and regulating content to address these very timely issues which has global ramifications with real life consequences.”
“The Los Angeles Times is proud to support Immortal’s summit on Asian and Pacific American representation in entertainment and news media,” said Chris Argentieri, President and COO of the Los Angeles Times. “As a media sponsor and participant in the summit, we hope to engage the community at large in these important conversations and promote increased and improved representation of the AAPI community in the various forms of media.”
"Media is the quickest and most pervasive way to shape perception, and, in turn, reality," said Michelle K. Sugihara, CAPE Executive Director. "Images matter. The images we see affect our perceptions of others, as well as of ourselves. This can have profound and insidious consequences, making it not just a representation issue, but a social justice issue."
Media partners for the AAREM Summit are The Los Angeles Times, NextShark and CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment).
About Immortal Studios
Immortal Studios is an original content studio dedicated to creating stories in the Chinese martial arts fantasy genre known as Wuxia and bringing Asian faces and culture to the global pop culture stage. Immortal aims to be the global home for Wuxia entertainment by bringing this beloved classic genre into the 21st century and introducing it to the mainstream audience by telling contemporary stories of heroism, fantasy action, kung fu, empowerment, and self-discovery.
Immortal is creating an interconnected storyverse of diverse characters based on the award-winning library of Shiao Yi, one of the foremost authors in the Wuxia genre, first through comic books and then expanding into films, tv and games. Immortal’s first two comic books, The Adept and Chronicles of the Immortal Swordsmen, were successfully crowdfunded and both earned more than 300% of its funding goal. Through its event series and online campaigns, Immortal engages its audience on a variety of topics ranging from meeting content creators and world-class martial artists to learning about AAPI representation. The company was founded to share empowering and transformational stories to define a new hero journey where everyone is the one. Website: www.immortal-studios.com
About Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country with more than 45 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly and a combined print and online weekly audience of 4.4 million. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times has been covering Southern California for more than 139 years. Los Angeles Times’ businesses and affiliates also include The Envelope, Hot Property, Times Community News and Los Angeles Times en Español. www.latimes.com
About NextShark
NextShark is a leading source covering Asian and Asian American News Including business, culture, entertainment, politics, tech and lifestyle. We strive to provide the best and up-to-date coverage for our communities all over the world. Our Work is available online, on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, our podcast, and through events. www.nextshark.com
About CAPE
CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) champions diversity by educating, connecting, and empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and leaders in entertainment and media. CAPE advances representation in Hollywood through three main verticals (1) nurturing and engaging creative talent and executive leadership, (2) providing cultural content consulting and talent referrals, and (3) championing projects for critical box office and streaming success. Through the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, CAPE Leaders Fellowship, Storyline Partners, CAPE Database, and Gold Open, CAPE is breaking barriers to representation from the writers’ room to the boardroom to the living room. For more information, please visit: www.capeusa.org/
MEDIA CONTACT:
Natalie Yallouz
MPRM Communications