Staff
PAAFF is run by a team of dedicated volunteers who serve in their free time to promote and support films by and about Asian Americans for the people of Philadelphia.
Festival Director: Phuong Nguyen
Phuong is a current MS student at PCOM for Organizational Development and Leadership and is working on revitalizing the Philadelphia Region Organizational Development Network (PRODN) as a Organizational Developer and Designer.
Co-Festival Director: Brad Baldia
Brad, a graduate of Bucknell University (Bachelor’s) and Temple (Master’s), works extensively with the Asian America community on a local and national level.
Managing Director: Michael Wingate Jones
Michael is a Philadelphia based actor and independent filmmaker listed on IMDB, as well as a practicing attorney (JD/MBA, Graduate of Villanova Law School).
Programming Director: Rob Buscher
Rob is an East Asian film scholar who teaches film studies at Arcadia University and moonlights as a film curator.
Marketing Director: Bill Yau
Bill is a Philadelphia native and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Events Coordinator: Reema Kanzaria
Reema is a practicing attorney (JD – Pace Law and BA – University of Maryland College Park), and in her spare time is learning classical Indian singing.
Creative Director: Ron Lu
A native of Amish Country USA (Lancaster, PA) and graduate of Millersville University, Ron utilizes his skills as a graphic designer to make PAAFF look all polished and pretty.
Link to his work
Volunteer Coordinator: Herb White
Herb is a graduate of LaSalle University (BS) and Temple University (MBA) and in his spare time he is a health care executive in the Philadelphia region.
Food Director: Hye-hyun Bae
Hye-hyun is a graduate of Aalto University School of Economics and has over 8 years experience within the Translation and International Event Management fields.
Communications Director: Pamela Yau
Pamela is proud University of Pennsylvania (BA) and City University London (MA) graduate and an arts marketer and publicist, who passionately communicates the creative and performing arts each and every day.
University of Pennsylvania Liaison: Shiella Cervantes
Shiella is the Associate Director for the Pan-Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania.
Staff Videographer/photographer: Alex Wong
Alex is the president of CCMG Business Brokerage & Consulting and has years of extended knowledge on Asian culture.
Documentary Programmer: Mike Donnelly
Mike is an ESL teacher and passionate about films that tell great stories.
Festival Coordinator: Leo Fox
Co-owner of the China-Viet News, wine lover and Wharton graduate.
Festival Trailer: Jeffrey Hsu
Link to his work
Accounting Services: James J. Newhard, CPA
Legal Counsel: Ballard Spahr LLP
Emeritus Board Chair and Founder: Joe Kim
Joe is a Temple graduate and independent film professional.
Programming Team:
Narrative Features:
Rob Buscher
Shiella Cervantes
Michael Wingate Jones
Documentary Features:
Mike Donnelly
Phuong Nguyen
Herb White
Short Films:
Rob Buscher
Daniel Chen
Robert LaCorte
