Lucky Grandma
TFI Suppport
Logline
Grandma is an ornery, chain-smoking Chinese grandmother with a small-time gambling habit. When a local fortune-teller predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to go “all in” and lands herself on the wrong side of luck, and in the middle of a Chinese gang war.
Sasie Sealy
Director, Screenwriter
Sasie is an award-winning writer/director from North Carolina, with a (still) lingering Southern drawl. Her films have screened at the Smithsonian Institute and festivals around the world, and she has twice been awarded the short filmmaking prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, with New York Magazine calling her film THE ELEPHANT GARDEN “one of the most touching and poignant films we’ve seen this year.” Her previous short DANCE MANIA FANTASTIC was named one of Tribeca's +5, and she has won numerous grants and support from the Sundance Institute, New York State Council on the Arts, Film Independent, the Sloan Foundation, and the Tribeca Film Institute.
Angela Cheng
Screenwriter
Angela Cheng is a New York-based writer and filmmaker who spent her childhood performing Chinese stand up comedy in Houston, Texas. The jokes weren't funny but the Chinese immigrant audience was kind to her nonetheless. Since then, she's traded the stage for making movies detailing the hopes, neuroses, and misadventures of Asian-Americans in the United States. Her short films have shown at South by Southwest, Newfest, Outfest, and Los Angeles International Film Festival.
Krista Parris
Producer
Krista Parris recently produced MADELEINE'S MADELEINE starring Molly Parker, Miranda July and newcomer Helena Howard, written and directed by Josephine Decker, which world premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to great critical acclaim, topping Indiewire’s annual survey of dozens of film critics for the best films of Sundance, and had its international premiere at the 2018 Berlinale. Oscilloscope will distribute the film in the US later this year. In 2018, Parris also premiered HUMAN AFFAIRS, Charlie Birns’s feature debut starring Dominic Fumusa, Kerry Condon and Julie Sokolowski, at the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival. Hammer to Nail called the film “an entrancing examination of human behavior” with critics praising Sokolowski’s performance as “riveting” and “unparalleled.” XYZ is selling domestic rights.
Cara Marcous
Producer
Cara Marcous produced the award-winning feature film ON THE ICE which premiered in competition at Sundance 2011 and was released nationwide in February 2012. ON THE ICE won Best First Feature and the Crystal Bear for Generations 14plus at the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival; The FIPRESCI Prize for Best New American Film at the Seattle International Film Festival; and Best Feature and Best Cinematography at the 2011 Woodstock Film Festival. She also produced the short narrative film SIKUMI, which has won numerous awards including the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and the BAFTA/LA Award for Excellence, and has screened at over 60 festivals around the world. Other film work includes the narrative short films FEELS GOOD (2016) and CHILDREN OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS (PBS FutureStates, 2014) and the feature-length documentary WHEN THE SEASON IS GOOD: ARTISTS OF ARTIC ALASKA(2005).