Hope and Grace (2020)
Written and Directed by Louisa Phung. Produced with Regina Leung, John Alviz. Co-Produced by Willan Leung.
Cast and Crew
Nhi Do - “Linh”
Nhi Do grew up in Victoria, BC, the second of three daughters to Vietnamese immigrants.
A triple-threat performer, Nhi Do crossed over from the stage to film and television and has since worked on numerous projects such as: WB's “Watchmen”; the Canadian Screen Award-nominated webseries, “NarcoLeap”; and as the title lead in Shaftesbury's “Upstairs Amy”. On stage, Nhi performed as a lead in the Jessie Richardson-nominated Canadian premiere of “Heathers: The Musical”. Recent projects include: “Unspeakable” (CBC), “Limetown” (Facebook Watch), “Hospital Show” (YouTube), “Sisters of Sorrow” (Storyhive), and “FREYA” (Harold Greenberg Fund winner).
Nhi is a graduate of the Summer Training Congress at the American Conservatory Theatre.
Phi Huynh - “Hung”
Phi Huynh is an award nominated actor born and raised in Mississauga Ontario. He is best known for his leading role in "Picking Things Up: Noi Lai Tinh Xua". He was nominated as the best new talent-actor from CCIFF (Canada China International Film Festival). His film acting works were showcased and highlighted in 2019's Viet Film Fest in Los Angeles, California, Canada's Diversity Film Festival and Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto. Along side of his film performance selections and nominations, he has played network television principal roles in: V-wars(Netflix), Titans (Warner Bros), Salvation(SYFY), The Next Step S.3, Mayday Aircrash Investigation (Discovery) and Heroes Reborn(NBC). Through Acting, his goal is to inspire and entertain Western audiences, bringing Asian-Vietnamese representation and recognition to hard working stunt performers.
John Phillip Alviz - Producer
Born in Winnipeg and raised in Vancouver, John’s goal is to create and share inspiring stories through effective guidance of select artists and technicians. With a background in finance and business John has dived into an unfamiliar direction in the film industry. As a producer and location manager John helped produce several films including ‘Broil’, ‘Alive, ‘B-Side’, ’The Hunter’s Cabin’, ‘Hope and Grace’, and ‘Heliophilia’. John has just finished principal photography on his first independent feature ‘Box of Freedom’ as Co-Producer and is in pre-production for an art house feature with a plan to start principle photography fall of 2021.
Jessica Lo - Cinematographer
Jessica is an independent cinematographer based in Vancouver. She has been working in the film industry for 7 years. She came up through the camera department in the independent film community. Jessica has shot multiple short films in genres spanning from drama to comedy to horror. She has a BFA in film production from UBC.
Lucy Allen - Editor
Lucy is an experienced filmmaker and editor who has worked in the film & television industry since 2012. Born and raised in New Zealand, Lucy spent her twenties in London, England, building her career as a filmmaker, before moving to Vancouver, Canada. Lucy has made short films, music videos, and award-winning documentaries, and is currently working on her first feature script. When she isn't directing, Lucy focuses on editing, choosing to work on raw stories of human nature that are told in subtle and unapologetic ways.
Ictus Audio - Yao Wang and Sherry Li - Composers
Yao is an award-winning producer, composer and sound designer, as well as the co-founder of ICTUS Audio. An alumna of Berklee College of Music, Yao is passionate about the marriage of music, sound and emerging technologies, her current interests are in immersive worlds and storytelling. She aims to elevate art and music with new technologies and create novel experiences without ever overshadowing the core message and values that they embody.
Sherry is an award-winning music producer and sound designer. She has written for many top-tier brands such as Prada, YSL, L'Oreal, TED, Shell, Huawei, Kung-Fu Panda and more. She is the co-founder of Vancouver-based post-production sound studio ICTUS Audio. Aside from music, she's also passionate about writing and has 140,000+ followers on Zhihu.com, a high-traffic Chinese QA site.
While driving to the airport, a 1st generation Vietnamese Canadian woman, recounts to her daughter the story of how she was given her name.
1979, Linh and Hung, a young refugee couple, are sponsored into Vancouver after the war in Vietnam. Looking to the future, they do everything they can to build a new life for their budding family. A neighbouring indigenous family, recognizing their struggles, extend their hands in friendship and acceptance. When Linh and Hung have a baby girl, they ask their new friends to give their daughter a Canadian name; Hope.
Hope and her family, in turn, sponsors and welcomes a refugee family.
Sarah Dawn Pledge - “Josephine”
Sarah Dawn Pledge is an actress & improviser of Métis descent from Whonnock BC. Over the past 2 decades she has carved a delightful path through the Vancouver film/television & theatre community which she adores.She regularly performs & teaches with Vancouver TheatreSports and the Improv Comedy Institute, as well as producing her own shows with Momentous Comedy.Some recent film credits include co-starring in “And Now This” with Whitehall Entertainment currently on the festival circuit. She most recently played Jenny in “Maroni 2” by French Kiss Pictures and Alawa Crowe playing opposite & being directed by Robin Wright for the project “Land” both currently in post production. When Sarah isn’t busy creating or performing, she loves baking, travelling & spending time with her family. She is grateful to be an artist and to everyone she has ever worked with.
www.sarahdawnpledge.workbooklive.com
Facebook: SarahDawnPledge Instagram: @sarahdawnpledge
Thai-Hoa Le - Cultural Consultant
In the midst of Vietnam’s conflict involving the U.S, Thai-Hoa’s parents came over as foreign students during Quebec's own “Quiet Revolution”. Raised with the belief that you are Vietnamese no matter where you are born, he spoke his mother-tongue, but French as well, a language and culture inherited from Vietnam’s colonial history with France. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Université de Montréal) and a Master in Fine Arts (Actors Studio Drama School). In his 30's, Thai-Hoa embarked on a journey of going back to his roots, which led to the founding of the Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society (SEACHS).
Facebook: ActorThaiHoaLe IG: levraithaihoale Twitter: @LeVraiThaiHoaLe
Rae Clark - Costume Designer
Rae has been working in film and television for over 25 years. She started as an actor/singer in the mid 80's and by 2005 had decided to work behind the lens. Rae prides herself on doing cultural research for her costume design, and as a former actor is able to cloth actors with a different lens than other designers. She endeavours to bring light and love to every project she does. Rae currently lives on the west coast of Canada, with dreams of someday living in Europe.
www.ictus-audio.com Facebook: IctusAudio Instagram: @ictus_audio
Stella Gariano
Stella Garciano went to Capilano University for Technical Theatre and has since worked on a few theatre shows and various film and commercial projects as a props master. Some of the work that she has done includes "Hir" at the Pi Theatre, "All Joking Aside", and "Gingerbread Romance". Currently, Stella is working to expand her creative skills by building her own art projects at home so that she will come out of quarantine with more skills than she had going into it.
sjgprops.com Instagram: making.stella