Greg Pak
Independent films often leave a little to be desired. Some are just plain awful, others are little more than low budget knock offs of Hollywood’s favourite themes and many independent filmmakers remain stuck in obscurity.
From the crowd, some people get good, get lucky or just have a knack for capturing the interest of a sceptical crowd. New York based film director and producer, Greg Pak may well be such a person.
Although he has several shorts to his credit, his most recent work, Robot Stories, starring Tamlyn Tomita and Sab Shimono, is his first venture into feature film. This film won him the 2002 screenplay award at the Hamptons International Film festival and has since been well-received elsewhere. That same year, a screenplay for his Rio Chino won the Pipedream Screenwriting Award at the 2002 IFP Market.
Greg Pak studied political science at Yale University, history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and finally film production at the NYU graduate film program.
Although Robot Stories might be making some waves on the independent circuit, Pak is by no means a lucky newcomer. His collection of short films comprises a bizarre collection of strange comedies. Cat Fight Tonight is described as an encounter with a crazed man, a crazed woman and a crazed cat. In all honesty, I didn’t see this one, but only heard about it. I can well imagine!
The Penny Marshall Project is more tongue in cheek, with an actress playing an aging Penny Marshall, along with an equally world weary Frances Ford Coppolla, played by an equally tired looking actor, going into the woods with some others, to recapture their spirit for life. The results aren’t pretty.
Other shorts by Pak include Mouse, Fighting Grandpa, Brother Killer Wolf, Asian Pride Porn (probably his most well-known film and available on Atom Films), and his Po Mo series.
Pak, himself, still resides in New York where he operates Pak Man productions. Aside from his own film projects, he is also involved with various Asian American film societies and works towards gaining recognition for fellow Asian Americans. Two sites that he edits are FilmHelp.com and AsianAmericanFilm.com
Busy, prolific, and with a talent for humorously depicting the strange, Greg Pak may well be someone to keep an eye on.
Tuesday 15 Apr 2003 | Dale Pierce | Profiles
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