Our team's work has been recognized internationally at various film festivals
RUI XU is an LA-based independent film producer committed to supporting and raising daring voices for underrepresented groups through the facilitation of filmmaking. Xu's producing work premiered at major film festivals. Her first short, 'Hieu,' premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and won the Deuxième Prix at Cinéfondation; 'Finis Terrae' was selected for the critics' week at the Venice International Film Festival 2020 and won the Special Mention FEDIC for Best Short Film. Her first feature, 'Way Out Ahead of Us,' is selected by Festival International de Cinema de Marseille in 2022.
Xu serves as the co-executive director at Chinese in Entertainment, a non-profit organization missioned to support Chinese inherited young professionals in the entertainment industry. Xu is also a producing fellow in the Project Involve program of Film Independent in 2022. She holds master's degrees in Music Technology from NYU and Creative Producing from CalArts, where she will join the producing faculty in 2022 fall.
RUI XU
Producer
DANIELLE PRETSFELDER DEMCHICK
Casting Director
DANIELLE PRETSFELDER DEMCHICK, CSA (she/her/hers) is an advocate manifesting change in how the real world is reflected in today’s media. Nickelodeon was her casting home for over 14 years, where she tapped into her love of developing young talent. Some highlights from her Nickelodeon years include THE ASTRONAUTS, THE BARBARIAN AND THE TROLL, BLUE'S CLUES & YOU, BUBBLE GUPPIES, DORA THE EXPLORER, DRAMA CLUB, WALLYKAZAM, and WELCOME TO THE WAYNE. And she was nominated twice for the Daytime Emmy Award for her outstanding work.
Since her departure from Nickelodeon to open her own casting office in April 2022, she has cast AMERICAN GIRL: CORINNE TAN, THE FIRST AMERICAN GIRL OF THE YEAR film, which tells the story of the first Chinese American Girl, for HBOMax and MarvistaEntertainment. The co-VP of Advocacy for the Casting Society of America, her work elevating underrepresented communities has been barrier breaking. She has led open calls for historical marginalized actors, including a global open call for Asian Actors (over 7,000 actors submitted.)
SHAO MIN CHEW CHIA
Co-Producer
SHAO MIN CHEW CHIA began her career as a producer for a current affairs program on Channel News Asia. Since then, she has produced multimedia for international sporting events, commercials, music videos, short films, and documentaries. Her work has screened at film festivals, including Berlinale, San Sebastian, and Karlovy Vary, and been supported by The Spike Lee Production Fund and European Short Pitch. She is a 2021 Sundance Institute Producing Fellow, 2021 Film Independent Fellow, 2022 IFFR Rotterdam Lab Fellow, and 2022 SFFILM FilmHouseResident.
As an undergraduate at Harvard University, she majored in the Comparative Study of Religion. In 2020, she graduated from NYU Tisch’s Graduate Film Program as an Ang Lee Scholar. Shao Min currently resides in San Francisco, but grew up in Singapore and considers it home.
LEMON GUO
Composer
LEMON GUO is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, and vocalist from China. With a background in Chinese folk music and social psychology, Lemon holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University and a BA in composition from the University of Virginia.
Currently based in New York, Lemon has performed and exhibited her works internationally, in institutions such as Rubin Museum of Art, Katonah Museum of Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, Issue Project Room, Fridman Gallery, Ambient Church, 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center, EcoSono Festival of Environmental Music and Sound Art, New Interface for Musical Expression (US), BBC Radio 3, BBC Sounds, the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Resonance FM (UK), International Computer Music Conference (Korea), Chronus Arts Center, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (China), and United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). Lemon produced music for Yi Tang’s film All the Crows in the World, which will have its international premiere at Festival de Cannes 2021.
LEMON GUO
Composer
LEMON GUO is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, and vocalist from China. With a background in Chinese folk music and social psychology, Lemon holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University and a BA in composition from the University of Virginia.
Currently based in New York, Lemon has performed and exhibited her works internationally, in institutions such as Rubin Museum of Art, Katonah Museum of Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, Issue Project Room, Fridman Gallery, Ambient Church, 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center, EcoSono Festival of Environmental Music and Sound Art, New Interface for Musical Expression (US), BBC Radio 3, BBC Sounds, the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Resonance FM (UK), International Computer Music Conference (Korea), Chronus Arts Center, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (China), and United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). Lemon produced music for Yi Tang’s film All the Crows in the World, which will have its international premiere at Festival de Cannes 2021.
DANIEL GOULY
Composer / Cultural Consultant
DANIEL GOULY is an experienced professional clarinetist, educator, sound designer, electronic music composer and performer with a Masters in Music (Ethnomusicology and Performance) from SOAS, University of London and a PhD from the Open University, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He specializes in performing in world music styles from across Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, and has studied with, and played alongside, legendary Klezmer musicians such as Alan Bern, Frank London, Merlin Shepherd, Christian Dawid, and Joel Rubin.
Currently he is performing with the award-winning ensemble Don Kipper, a successful group playing festivals and concerts across the UK and Europe. He loves connecting music and theatre through his work across the UK, the US, and Europe with Bubble Schmeisis and Oily Cart’s Jamboree and writing a diverse range of music for Puppetry. His most recent project, supported by a 'Developing Your Creative Practice' award from Arts Council England, explores the intersection of electronic music and Chinese and Jewish folk music traditions alongside NYC-based sound artist, composer, and vocalist Lemon Guo.
LEMON GUO
Composer
LEMON GUO is an interdisciplinary sound artist, composer, and vocalist from China. With a background in Chinese folk music and social psychology, Lemon holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University and a BA in composition from the University of Virginia.
Currently based in New York, Lemon has performed and exhibited her works internationally, in institutions such as Rubin Museum of Art, Katonah Museum of Art, Headlands Center for the Arts, Issue Project Room, Fridman Gallery, Ambient Church, 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center, EcoSono Festival of Environmental Music and Sound Art, New Interface for Musical Expression (US), BBC Radio 3, BBC Sounds, the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Resonance FM (UK), International Computer Music Conference (Korea), Chronus Arts Center, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (China), and United Nations Development Programme(UNDP). Lemon produced music for Yi Tang’s film All the Crows in the World, which will have its international premiere at Festival de Cannes 2021.
LILY FORRESTER
Outreach Officer
LILY FORRESTER is a senior anthropology major, music minor and varsity basketball player at Wellesley College. Lily is a global folk music and travel enthusiast. Her work experience ranges from Marketing Analytics to Outreach specialist in a range of industries, but her interest lies in entertainment, particularly film and music.
She found her professional footing at New Circle Films, working on Donor and Partner Research for the feature-length documentary, Miles to Go Before She Sleeps. Lily has spearheaded academic study in ethnomusicology and pop anthropology through a podcast series, a passion project to bring the discipline into the mainstream. She is excited to be on board with the Last Ship East team!
DORRIT CORWIN
Grant Researcher
DORRIT CORWIN is a sophomore at Brown University (2024), where she is double concentrating in Literary Arts and Modern Culture and Media. At Brown, Dorritsings in the Jabberwocks a cappella group, reads student script submissions as a coordinator at Brown Motion Pictures and as a member of the Ivy Film Festival screenplay staff, writes for the Arts and Culture section of Post- Magazine, and serves as the Vice President of Brown Lecture Board. Dorrit is an alumna of Marlborough School in Los Angeles (2019), the Rising Voices Fellowship (2018), and Diller Teen Fellows (2018).
She has interned in film and television development at The Gotham Group and in education at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles, and she currently works as a Diller Network Campus Intern at Brown-RISD Hillel and as an assistant to Lori Gottlieb, a prominent psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author. Dorrit’s writing has appeared in the Jewish Journal, The College Hill Independent, and the Jewish Women’s Archive. She hopes to pursue screenwriting professionally.
