Eugene Sun Park/Photo: Joe Mazza-Brave Lux

Fawzia and I met for the first time in the fall of 2014. I wanted to acquire her film “Queen of My Dreams” for a collection of short films I was curating called “Chicagoland Shorts.” The idea behind the collection was to license and distribute the best of the local niche cinemas in order to celebrate the work being done by Chicago-based women, minority and LGBTQ filmmakers. I believe their stories are authentic and essential Chicago stories, and they ought to be recognized as such.

Once Fawzia heard what I was up to, she cut off my sales pitch and said bluntly, “Take my movie. It’s yours.” I was astounded, because Fawzia certainly didn’t need me or my nascent production company (fullspectrumfeatures.com) to boost her rising star. But I was also emboldened by her enthusiasm for “Chicagoland Shorts”—maybe what I was doing wasn’t entirely crazy after all.

Then Fawzia upped the ante. She said, “I’ve been looking for someone to produce this screenplay I wrote—it’s called “Signature Move.” I just haven’t found the right person. But I’m pretty sure you’re my long-lost Asian stepbrother. Do you wanna produce it?” Read More