Tony Bui

Tony Bui was born in Vietnam and came to the U.S. with his father's family at the age of two. His mother's family had stayed behind, and his uncle Don Duong, one of the country's best-known actors, was in a highly advantageous position to help Bui eventually hurdle the obstacles he would encounter filming in Vietnam. After shooting his thesis short "Yellow Lotus" (1995, starring Duong) there, he attended the 1996 Sundance Filmmakers and Screenwriters Lab, where he developed his "Three Seasons" (1999) screenplay. Undaunted by his insistence on shooting entirely in Vietnam, Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente of the New York production company Open City Films persuaded October Films to finance the project and Harvey Keitel to play the sole American role. "Three Seasons" went on to become the first film to win both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Bui proceeded to write and produce "Green Dragon" (2001) starring Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker as well as direct "The Throwaways" (2015) starring Sam Huntington.