My friend JJ Lee sent me this message. JJ was one of the real life characters in the documentary "Tailor Made." He is "the apprentice." The main character is tailor Bill Wong, who is the father of my friend Steven Wong. Steven paddles on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. Our families have known each other for generations.
"Hi Todd. Just to let you know. Tailor Made just won Best Short Film at
the 2008 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. It's pretty cool and just
wanted to let you know." - JJ Lee.
VANCOUVER, BC: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Realize Entertainment is thrilled to announce that their documentary "Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors" has won the prestigious Golden Reel Award for Best Short Film at the 2008 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The award, presented during the Festival's Closing Night program in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, is presented to artists whose work exemplifies artistic excellence and the potential for future creative activity.
Directed by Calgary director Leonard Lee and Vancouver filmmaker Marsha Newbery, "Tailor Made" follows 80-something brothers Bill & Jack Wong for one year as they face the reality that they're getting too old to run the little tailor shop their father opened in 1913…and letting go isn't easy. With tailoring being a dying trade, finding someone to take over the family business has proved impossible, but Bill refuses to give up. From taking on a fashion journalist as an apprentice, to selling the shop to a young hot-shot corporate tailor, Bill becomes especially determined and pulls out all the stops.
"Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors" was commissioned for the CBC Newsworld strand, The Lens, and premiered to a sold out audience at the 2007 Whistler Film Festival. It is also screening as a part of CBC Vancouver's celebration of Asian Heritage Month on May 24th. Please visit www.cbc.ca/asianheritage for details and to book a seat. Screenings are also being held by the Vancouver Parks board all through May, please visit www.vancouver.ca/parks for details.
TAILOR MADE is presented by Realize Entertainment and produced in association with CBC Newsworld. TAILOR MADE was produced in association with Knowledge Network, and with the participation of The Canadian Television Fund: License Fee Program and Equity Investment Program, The Rogers Documentary Fund, Canadian Film & Television Tax Credit, British Columbia Film Incentive and developed with the participation of CBC British Columbia, Telefilm, and British Columbia Film.
