Wayne Wang
Born in Hong Kong and based in America, director Wayne Wang studied photography, film, TV and painting in the US before landing several directorial assignments in his homeland (these included the Chinese episodes of Robert Clouse's "The Golden Needles" in 1974 and a popular TV show based on "All in the Family"). He returned to the US and scraped together $22,000 to complete "Chan is Missing" (1982), a hip, Zen-inspired San Francisco detective story. This landmark independent film became a critical and commercial success for its rare, authentic slice of Asian-American life in a sometimes wildly comic narrative that straddled genres. The film remains an inspirational touchstone for Asian-American filmmakers attempting to get their voices heard in the American cinema.