User:Loveboattaiwan/Valerie Soe

Valerie Soe
Valerie Soe is a filmmaker, writer, and Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. Her experimental videos are known for utilizing the technique of detournement, a concept originating from the Situationist International movement of the 1960s in which useless pop-culture artifacts are repurposed for political means, and primarily utilize an autobiographical, experimental approach to explicate broader social and political concerns such as racism, intimate interpersonal relationships and the ostracization of those falling outside of society's behavioral conventions. Soe uses text, found footage, installation, interactive elements and autobiography to look at these concerns. Since 1986 her experimental videos, installations, and documentary films have won awards and exhibited around the world. Her essays and articles, which have been published in numerous books and journals, look at the reception of East Asian films and film stars in the United States, the impact of Korean rock band CNBLUE’s live performances, the Hong Kong gangster movie genre, and Asian American artists working in online platforms, among other topics. In addition, Soe maintains an award-winning blog, beyondasiaphilia.com  (recipient of a 2012 Art Writers’ Grant from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation), which looks at Asian and Asian American art, film, culture, and activism. Her 2019 film, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN, has had sold-out screenings and won awards around the world.

Education
1985 BA, Art, University of California, Los Angeles

1987 MFA, Video and Photography, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Career
“ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME.” is Valerie's first short experimental video (1986, 1.30 min.), which she created while an undergraduate at UCLA, won Honorable Mention, Experimental Video, at the 12th Atlanta Film and Video Festival; Best Foreign Video, at the 1987 Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani, Torino, Italy, and First Place, Experimental Category, at the 1987 Sony Corporation Visions of U.S. Festival.

In 1987 Soe created Scratch Video a four-minute video that explores the problem of allergies and the effects it has on the body. She also created New Year, Part I&II, where she illustrates the inner conflicts of a child between her Chinese American background and the image of Asian Americans portrayed in Hollywood film and television.

In 1990 Soe created a six-minute short, Black Sheep, where she tells the story of her "black sheep" uncle, examining the idiom within and without a marginalized community. The film was exhibited in the Asian American International Video Festival, in "Nasty Girls," by Other Cinema in San Francisco, California and also in "Freewaves from J-Town," by Visual Communications. In 1990 Soe also created, in collaboration with Chan Cheong-Toon, a three-channel video installation titled Diversity that was exhibited in the One Person Show, at Sushi, Inc., at The Women's Building, and an "Official Language," at the McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1994 Soe made Walking the Mountain, which she calls an "ofrenda" to her aunt Lula who died at the age of 4. The film was exhibited in "Festival Gala" at the Film Arts Foundation, in the Asian American International Video Festival, in "Rooms for the Dead," at the Center for the Arts, and in the Poetry Video Festival. In 2002 she also created Carefully Taught, she has called the film her "...rant about how 9/11 unnerved people and is being exploited by President Bush to push forward the conservative agenda."

In 2010, in collaboration with Russell Jeung, Soe created the documentary called The Oak Park Story. The Oak Park Story is a documentary film that tells the stories of three different families -- from Cambodia, Mexico, and California - who band together at a run-down slum in Oakland, CA and win a landmark settlement against their landlord.

Other awards include Director's Choice Award, Image Film and Video Festival, Atlanta; Best Bay Area Short, San Francisco International Film Festival; Making A Difference Award, Commffest Global Community Film Festival, Toronto; Mediamaker Award, Bay Area Video Coalition; and a Blue Ribbon Award Semi-Finalist, CSU Center for Community Engagement, among others.

Her most recent experimental documentary, The Chinese Gardens (2012) was awarded Best Film With An Immigration Theme at the 2013 Humboldt Film Festival. Her latest film, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN, is currently screening worldwide and has she has received a Fulbright Fellowship and a Taiwan Fellowship, as well as grants from San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Arts Commission for the film’s production.

“What emerges from Soe’s documentary, for one, is an intriguing snapshot of diasporic Asian identity. Love Boat participants speak of feeling a strengthened sense of identity, either Taiwanese or Chinese, as well as a sense of belonging from being among those with similar backgrounds to them who grew up outside of Taiwan and China”

Soe is also the author of the blog beyondasiaphilia.com (recipient of a 2012 Art Writers’ Grant from the Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation), which looks at Asian and Asian American art, film, culture, and activism. The blog is titled after her film, Beyond Asiaphilia, an experimental video that explores miscegenation, lust, and Asian masculinity. Her essays and articles have been published extensively in books and journals including Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism; Afterimage; Amerasia Journal, and The Independent, among many others.

Awards
1986 Third Place, Experimental Category, Sony Corporation "Visions of U.S. Festival," Los Angeles, California

1986 Regional Finalist, Student Video Competition, American Film Institute National Video Festival, Los Angeles, California

1987 Best Foreign Video, Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani, Torino, Italy - For ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME

1988 First Place, Experimental Category, Sony Corporation "Visions of the U.S. Festival"

1988 Honorable Mention, Experimental Video, 12th Atlanta Film and Video Festival - for ALL ORIENTALS LOOK THE SAME

1989 Personal Works Grant, Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco, California

1990 Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship, Rocky Mountain Film Center

1991 Individual Artists Project, Art in Public Places, University of Washington and Washington State Arts Commission, Seattle, Washington

1991 Artspace Video Production Grant, San Francisco Artspace

1992 Intercultural Film/Video Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation, New York; Market Street Art in Transit, San Francisco Art Commission

1992 Director's Choice, Image Film and Video Festival, Atlanta, Georgia - for Cynsin: An American Princess

1993 Best Bay Area Short, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco International Film Festival - for Picturing Oriental Girls: A (Re) Educational Videotape

1993 Pioneer Fund Documentary Film/Video Grant, San Francisco, California

1994 Veronica di Rosa Residency, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California

1995 James D. Phelan Award in Video, San Francisco Foundation; Djerassi Foundation Residency, Woodside, California

1995 Artist's Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Art Commission

1995 Artist's Equipment Access Grant, Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco, California

1995 Individual Artist's Project Grant, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California

1995 Artist's Fellowship, Art Matters, Inc.

1997 Potrero Nuevo Fund Prize, administered by New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California

1997 Artist's Grant, Serpent Source Foundation for Women Artists

1997 New Visions: Video Production Grant, Long Beach Museum of Art

1997 Artist's Residency, Centrum Foundation, Port Townsend, Washington

1998 Production Grant, The Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, California

1999 Artist's Grant, Art-in-Print, Public Art Works, Marin County, California

2006 Artist’s Grant, Creative Work Fund, Haas Foundation

2007 Artist’s Commission, ReNew Media 20th Anniversary

2007 Presidential Award for Professional Development of Probationary Faculty, San Francisco State University

2009 Filmhouse Filmmaker’s residency, San Francisco Film Society

2010 Open Door Completion Fund, Center for Asian American Media

2010 MediaMaker Award, Bay Area Video Coalition

2011 Facilitating Research and Creative Work Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, San Francisco State University

2011 Individual Artist’s Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission

2011 Faculty Travel Award, San Francisco State University

2011  Art Writers Grant, Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation

2012  Community/University Empowerment Grant, Cesar Chavez Institute and SFSU College of Ethnic Studies

2013  Individual Artist’s Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission

2013 Facilitating Research and Creative Work Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, San Francisco State University

2014  Development of Research and Creativity Grant, San Francisco State University

2015  Individual Artist’s Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission

2015 Facilitating Research and Creative Work Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, San Francisco State University

2016  Fulbright Global Award, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, US Department of State

2016 Taiwan Fellowship, Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2016 Development of Research and Creativity Grant, San Francisco State University

2017  Individual Artist’s Grant, Cultural Equity Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission

2017 Community/University Empowerment Grant, Cesar Chavez Institute