NEW SHORT FILM ANNOUNCEMENTS

Stanford-Educated, Christian Sociologist Aims to Fill Teen Movie Void
 
Without Leaving Behind His Ph.D., a Former Academic Becomes Filmmaker to Teens
 
LOS ANGELES - This isn’t the way he envisioned using his Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford. But after deciding he wasn’t going to be an academic after all, Lionel Chew brings his knowledge of sociology into the making of the feature film “long-distance princess,” a teen romance, which finished post-production earlier this year. His goal is to fill a void in values-based movies geared toward youth.
 
“There's a dearth of movies that communicate something meaningful to today's teens, and I want to fill that gap,” offers Chew. “Most current youth fare is either explosion-laden spectacles, hormonally-charged exploitation flicks or tales of teen werewolves and vampires that kiss but don’t bite.
 

There’s very little in the way of substance.”
 
He believes this is indicative of a broader problem with mainstream society―its failure to take seriously the postmodern cynicism and angst plaguing the youth psyche. “It’s no wonder that our nation’s suicide rate among teens has been rising,” he laments. “Instead, I’d like to affirm their experiences and show there’s hope.”
 
Chew’s venture into filmmaking began with screenwriting after receiving direction from his drama teacher, Amy Freed, a Pulitzer-nominated playwright.
 

He wrote and entered his first script in screenplay competitions and placed as a semi-finalist in three of them. This encouraged him to write and produce his own script, which became “long-distance princess.”
 
Its story revolves around a high school girl who's secretly in love with a boy in her art class. She seems to stumble upon the opportunity of a lifetime to get close to him when he asks her to help him get to know her beautiful friend in Britain. However, she’s confronted at every turn by boy’s ruthless and intimidating ex-girlfriend out to get him back.
 
Drawing from a collection of sociological insights derived from status hierarchies, the marginalization of outsiders, ethnic relations and the social psychology of power in relationships, Chew establishes a framework through which he weaves his narrative. “I wanted to use these concepts in “long-distance princess” as backdrops to delve deeper into the most pressing needs of our youth: love, relationships, trust, ethics and esteem as well as faith,” shares Chew, who is also a licensed Southern Baptist minister.
 
He credits his versatility with sociology to his world class mentors. At the University of Chicago, his advisor for his Masters studies was William Julius Wilson, winner the of MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Award” (and now on the faculty of Harvard). His doctoral advisor at Stanford was Mark Granovetter, whose watershed works on network ties and the embeddedness of human behavior in social contexts have been among the most cited in the field.
 
Currently, Chew is holding preview screenings of “long-distance princess,” where it’s been connecting with teens. “When we screen it for older audiences, there’ll be laughing and even clapping during the movie,” he observes, “but when we show it to audiences full of teens, they’ll actually shout at the screen and even scream with excitement. It’s been gratifying to say the least.” Chew is now looking for a distribution partner to arrange a theatrical release. For more information about the film, visit www.longdistanceprincess.com.
 
So what might Chew’s academic advisors think of his foray into film?  “When I let Mark know that I wasn’t going to be pursuing a career in academia, he told me one thing,” recalls Chew. “Don’t forget sociology.” In his new career as a filmmaker, it looks like he hasn’t.
 
Contact: Lionel Chew
Tel: 626-393-2568
Email: lionel@stanfordalumni.org