Robot Stories Chat
Robot Stories Chat
8 March 2004 HOLLYWOOD HILLS. Yalie filmmaker Greg Pak shared his Robot Stories and other short films to help promote the film's LA deubt March 12 at Laemmle's Fairfax and Pasadena.
Robot Stories has appeared in more than 50 film festivals internationally, from Slamdance and South by Southwest to festivals in London and Athens. It has won more than 23 awards. Robot Stories portrays science fiction from the heart in four segments:
"I grew up reading Ray Bradbury short stories, watching The Twilight Zone, and playing with toy robots," Gerg said. "Science fiction is an ingrained part of me - it's virtually in my blood. But I've always most loved science fiction from the heart - stories like Bradbury's which deal with deeply human relationships and stories against a fantastic background." Greg studied political science at Yale University, history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and film production at the NYU graduate film program. He did some political work for Ann Richards' campaign in Texas. He soon realized that something creative was missing, so he left politics to explore filmmaking. Greg commented on casting an Asian American cast in these hi-tech stories. "We cast Robot Stories with a predominately Asian American cast largely because I always saw the stories that way in my head," he said. "The stories have nothing on the surface to do with race and ethnicity. But as a biracial Korean American filmmaker, I always felt that certain nuances of the characters would be enhanced by casting the film as we did. I wanted to cast the robots in the third story with half-Asian actors. I think that when people make androids, they'll make them look racially ambiguous, hoping they'll fit in to as many different situations as possible."
In fact, Greg shows his acting skills in the third story in which he plays an android office worker outcast by co-workers. Greg edits FilmHelp.com and AsianAmericanFilm.com. He was the cinematographer of The Personals, an Academy Award winning short documentary, and was named one of 25 New Faces in Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. He is represented by Kara Baker-Young of the Gersh Agency, New York. Robot Stories debuts March 12-18 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Fairfax (7907 Beverly Blvd.) and in Pasadena at Laemmle's One Colorado Cinemas (42 Miller Alley in Old Pasadena). Visit http://www.Robotstories.net for more information about the film, show times, etc.
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Robot Stories Reviews"Each of the stories, impeccably staged and acted, has just the
right length... Never allowing preciousness or ponderousness to
infuse the material, filmmaker Pak demonstrates a real talent for
concise storytelling marked by poignancy and humor." "Strong thesping by a largely Asian American cast and clever
sci-fi concepts... Helmer Greg Pak understands the short form
well, mercifully avoiding blatant O. Henry twists while pulling
off neat reversals of expertly set-up genre expectations." "Mr. Pak's stylized stoicism is discernible in 'Machine Love,'
the segment in which he can be seen as Archie, an android office
worker who gamely endures the ridicule of the other drones around
him because of his single-mindedness. With a clever economy of
means, 'Machine Love' conveys the blooming of feelings inside the
android, who is slowly developing an attachment to a woman who
works nearby. The director is using the material to joke about
the coldness of humanity and the intimidating power of
loneliness." "Extremely powerful. The writing has a real simplicity that I
thought was all the more remarkable for how powerful the films
really are. There might be just one simple line or image which
carries tremendous emotional impact." |
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