The Chemical Factory


TYPE
: Documentary Short
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Production

LOGLINE

While reminiscing about childhood in 1980's Oregon, Andrew Leung faces cultural divide through the story of his mother's struggle in 1960's communist China.

SYNOPSIS

A vignette centered upon a Chinese immigrant mother (Cheuk Yee Chan) recounting her life growing up during the tumultuous 1960's communist China to her American son (Andrew Leung). A story of mass hunger, family separation, and world gone sideways emerges as a stark contrast to buffet restaurant in Springfield Oregon.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

My name is Andrew Leung and I’m an award winning concept artist seeking funding for the animated documentary “The Chemical Factory”. It’s a short prestige film that is a vignette centered upon a Chinese immigrant mother (Cheuk Yee Chan) recounting her life growing up during the tumultuous 1960's communist China to her American son (Andrew Leung). It is a multi-lingual film in both English and Cantonese, a language spoken by over 6 million people in the world, that has been systematically phased out by the Chinese government. A story of mass hunger, family separation, and world gone sideways emerges as a stark contrast to buffet restaurant in Springfield Oregon. Distilled from an original 6 hour interview, the short documentary is recounted as an animation to visualize a world that has been erased by shame.

While the blueprint for the short, the animatic itself, is finished, I’m seeking funding to finish animating the short in high definition photoreal computer generated imagery. Using my extensive experience from Hollywood as a concept artist for films like Black Panther and The Jungle Book, animation, and visual effects, I hope to direct a team to carry the short across the finish line.

The film will also leverage Unreal Engine software, the latest in cutting edge real-time CGI technology which has only recently become usable for filmmakers. It will allow for a high production quality that was only previously available to big budget studios with powerhouse rendering farms, now for a fraction of the cost.

With your help, I hope to finish this deeply personal film. It will not only fill the gap of what it means to be Asian and growing up in America, but also resonate what is also a truly American story. In addition, it will also work as a proof of concept for the eventual feature length documentary about the story of an immigrant surviving Chinese prison to reach 1970’s New York City, contrasting the story of her son growing up middle class in suburban Oregon.

KEY CREW

Andrew Leung - Animator/Director

Andrew “Drew” Leung is a concept designer for feature film and teaches digital rendering at UCLA TFT. His more recent work includes Disney’s live-action version of The Lion KingBlack PantherSpider-Man: HomecomingCaptain America: Civil War, and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

Leung began in the film industry as a matte painter for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. His varied past in visual effects (ABC’s Pushing DaisiesThe Twilight Saga: New MoonAvatarTeam America: World Police) and feature animation (Horton Hears a Who!Ice Age: The MeltdownRio) brings special insight into story-driven concept art combined with visual effects expertise.

In 2017, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the the Art Directors Guild for his work on La La Land and appeared in Spectrum 24: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art for his work on The Jungle Book.

Leung has guest lectured at American Film Institute and Cal State Fullerton. He received his bachelor of fine art degree from San Francisco's Academy of Art College.

 

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ACCOLADES

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The Gotham Film & Media Institute - Fiscal Sponsorship Program 2024
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Recipient of the 2020 Epic Megagrant
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Finalist in the Spring 2020 Roy W Dean Grant
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Awarded the 2019-2020 UCLA Arts Initiative Grant
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Semi-Finalist in the Spring 2019 ScreenCraft Film Fund
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Currently in Round II of the 2020 Creative Capital Award Application
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In further consideration from Epic's Mega Grant

 

UPDATE - August 27, 2020

"The Chemical Factory" is now a proud recipient of the 2020 Epic Megagrant! With this accelerator fund, the documentary will be entering full production February 2021!

UPDATE - May 22, 2020

The Chemical Factory project is now a Spring 2020 Grant Finalist for the Roy W Dean Grant!

https://fromtheheartproductions.com/2020-spring-grant-finalists/

UPDATE - October 29, 2019

I'm proud to announce that the Chemical Factory Film has just been awarded the grant for the 2019-2020 UCLA Arts Initiative! Looking forward to partnering with such an amazing institution!

UPDATE - September 05, 2019

As of yesterday, "The Chemical Factory" is now a semi-Finalist in the Spring 2019 ScreenCraft Film Fund! Hopefull by end of October we'll have good news and a small bit funding to start dedicated work on Post Production!

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