August 2, 2021
Press release - Zhu Shen, the multiple award-winning film producer of such Oscar-qualified animated documentary shorts as CHANGYOU’S JOURNEY (2018) and INGRID PITT: BEYOND THE FOREST (2011), announces FROM THE HEART PRODUCTIONS as her choice of fiscal sponsor for her directorial debut - the deeply personal documentary feature JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES - FROM TIGER MOM TO ZEN MOM, currently in late production and early post production.
Ms. Carole Dean, founder of From the Heart Productions will attend Zhu’s very first public virtual screening of exclusive scenes from JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES in the FOUR JOURNEYS showcase of four personal documentary films that artfully explore the joys and sorrows of family relationships. The LIVE streaming and directors Q&A with global virtual audiences will be held on Tuesday, August 3rd, at 5PM Pacific Time/8PM Eastern Time on the Show&Tell virtual screening platform. Already, fans and friends of Zhu, Changyou, and Perry have registered from Hong Kong, Singapore, Colorado, New York City, and more. The virtual screening runs from the LIVE event at 5 pm PST on August 3, 2021 through midnight PST on August 10, 2021, with film screenings and recording of the Directors Q&A available to registered attendees. The virtual screening has been extended to September 30, 2021 due to popular demand!
Registration & Trailer HERE!
“I met the legendary Carole Dean, the undisputed ‘Fairy Godmother’ to many indie filmmakers through Karen Everett, a leading documentary story consultant who consulted for my documentary in 2019,” said Zhu, “I was immediately impressed by Carol’s deep caring for emerging filmmakers and enthusiasm to support their work, leveraging her decades of knowledge and experience in the film industry, especially in the area of fundraising for indie films that are usually driven by pure passion of the filmmakers.”
Zhu applied for the Roy W. Dean grant, given each year by FROM THE HEART PRODUCTIONS in 2019. She was delighted to have won a finalist for the Spring 2020 grant cycle for her directory feature debut JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES. “It was so validating to get such recognition for my first film that has been a true labor of love on multiple levels. And when I learned that so many of my fellow documentary filmmaker friends have happily chosen FROM THE HEART PRODUCTIONS as their fiscal sponsor and achieved fantastic results, it was a no-brainer.”
“We are honored to see Zhu Shen’s dedication to her film JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES,” remarked Carole Dean, founder of FROM THE HEART PRODUCTIONS, “we are proud to be the fiscal sponsor to such a deep and moving film.”
JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES Writer/Director/Producer ZHU SHEN (R) with her son and Co-writer/Co-Producer Perry S. Chen at CHANGYOU'S JOURNEY's 2018 Oscar-qualification run
(photo credit: Kurt Braun)
JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES was recently endorsed by Janet Yang, another legendary figure in Hollywood - an executive producer of the first Hollywood blockbuster with an entire Asian cast - THE JOY LUCK CLUB - and Governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures. Ms. Yang called JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES “an ode to the bond between mother and son, told with radical vulnerability and honesty” and “a deeply moving look into the love that binds a family."
JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES Writer/Director/Producer ZHU SHEN (L) with her son and Co-writer/Co-Producer Perry S. Chen (photo credit: Eric Morgan)
The film centers around the six year odyssey that Zhu and her 12-year-old artistically gifted son Perry undertake to finish making CHANGYOU’S JOURNEY - a 2019- Oscar-qualified animated short documentary in honor of Zhu’s late husband and Perry’s cancer-stricken father. The documentary chronicles the frequent tug-of-war between mother and son while collaborating on the animated short, and Zhu’s efforts to reconnect with her son by looking inward and reclaiming her own buried artistic prowess. JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES is written, directed, and produced by Zhu Shen, co-written and co-produced by her son Perry S. Chen, a rising senior and a Regents’ Scholar at the University of California, Irvine.
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