The Love Story:
Believing his whiteness to be his sole imperfection, Eddie attempts to win back his girlfriends affection by studying to become a real Korean, unaware that his Korean teacher has problems of his own in the love arena.
To find love, will they be forced to change themselves? Or will it be love which changes them??
Starring:
Bak Seong-Jae (Kevin Bak) as “Jae”
Ma Jinyong (Calvin Ma) as “Derek”
Cai Xiao (Carolyn Cai) as “Claire”
Niu Jia (Tina Jia) as “Lily”
& Andrew Zeller as “Eddie”
Featuring Original Music by Alvin Pingol!!
Filmed in Vancouver & Burnaby, BC, Canada with a cast & crew of international students. 2009.
Thanks to everyone who supports us and this film!!
”A-Typical Romance” is a Romantic-Comedy filmed in Canada with an International Cast & Crew.
Click on the poster to find out more about the film & for additional pictures.
On Sunday, January 11th, I watched as actors, actresses, and filmmakers were celebrated for their work at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Though I have not seen many of the recent films nominated, I was happy for the majority of people who won. Now, the 81st Annual Academy Awards are swiftly approaching (airing on Television: Sunday, February 22nd). So I thought it might be a good time to start the 1rst Annual Andrew Zeller Awards. We only have two winners this year, as competition is quite fierce. What is their wonderful prize? Well, perhaps a few more people will feel inspired to watch their amazingly-done films after reading this blog.
Best Animated Feature/Family Film/Comedy of 2008: “Wall-E”
As far animated films go, this has to be one the very best. The story, the music, the computer animation…everything about it is top-notch. And it’s not your typical film. The filmmakers took some big risks. Will people care about a robot? Will they understand and relate to the “feelings” of a machine? Can we show a world devoid of human beings, plants, or animals…filled with garbage…without depressing our audience or scaring away children? And if we focus on the robots, robots who cannot speak, will the audience grow bored of a film without very much dialogue? Can we tell our story without using dialogue? I think they did a fantastic job of drawing both children and adults into a meaningful and beautiful story in the face of all of these challenges. Wall-E is funny. Wall-E is entertaining. Wall-E is special and difficult not to love.
Best Foreign Film/Drama of 2008: South Korea’s “Crossing”
“Crossing” (크로싱) is South Korea’s official entry in the “Best Foreign Film” category of this year’s Academy Awards. I really hope they will be nominated, because they deserve to win. This was the best film I saw at the 2008 Vancouver International Film Festival. The story focuses on the journey of a family in North Korea. Naturally it deals with current politics and social issues. But what makes it such a brilliant film is it’s honestly and universality. For rather than focusing on the politics, it focuses on the family, on how much they are willing to do for each other. I became lost in the story and was unable to find any flaws in the film. I have to credit the filmmakers for doing extensive research and genuinely caring about the issues involved too. “Crossing” is powerful, poignant, and masterfully told. It is a sad film as you might expect, but a greater tragedy would be if this film is ignored. Regardless of your ethnicity, gender, or age, this film puts you into a story about the greatest strengths and weaknesses in humankind. “Crossing” is a film I always want to remember.
This video contains a collection of my work in short films as an actor, cinematographer, editor, and director. The short films featured here were made between the 90s and 2008 in the USA, Canada, China, South Korea, and Japan. What you see is a basically a huge portion of my life packed together into an 8-minute musical montage.
Hopefully this video serves as a good introduction to my filmmaking style, growth, and abilities. For those familiar with my work, see how many videos you can recognize. Enjoy! (You can also watch/download the video here on my site).
I also would like to thank all of the people involved in the making of or featured in this video:
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Joan Zeller
Scott Zeller
Janet Young
Jack Young
Alvin Pingol
Christian Henderson
Justin Eggert
Dan Kerry
Zac Krohn
Adam Thiesen
Kira Carpenter
Jimmy Chhiu
Jason Conrad
Hazel Yu
Joy Chen
Lulu Qiu
Kyounghwa Lee
Jimmy Gaffney
Jason Pforsich
Elaine Lingyan Weng
Lim Eun Jin
Edward Tzou
Ai Hirasawa
Gawon Kim
Maurgerite Smith
Phil Smith
Joe Nuss
Li Shu Dong
Larry Shen
Cynthia Zeller
Dajung Jung
Youngjin Park
Jungmin Lee
Eunjoo Lee
Hyeona Park
Jiwon Kim
Soo
Darren Cheng
Rita Kuan
Henry Cheng
Frank Chiu
Roy Chen
Sam Lin
Janine Bullis
Katie Young
Selena Fang
Moeko Takamoto
Bryce Heydon
Kara Chun
Ming Chen
Maki Kinoshita
Tetsuya Mizushima
Jennifer Lehman
Herbie Cody Jr.
Bryce Cody
Stephen Cruise
Josh Heath
Darlyne Nelson
Groovy G’s
Shanghai Acrobatic Troup
Jesse
Travis
Ryo
Jackie
San Francisco Pigeons
Back around 2002, my friends and I were teenagers who wanted to make movies. We decided to take on the action genre, hoping to match the level of Hollywood & Hong Kong action films.
At the time, we took our work very seriously and prepared a lot. Looking back on it now, this video seems a lot less serious and much more fun.
We hope you’ll enjoy seeing the early stages of our filmmaking growth. (My apologies for the heavy compression of the video, but you’ll have to endure the poor video quality….enhanced by sound fx & music!)
Created, filmed, and edited in California.
We made this in only 4 days, so we ask that you don’t take it too seriously.
This film is simply good fun between good friends.
It’s the story of 3 guys who need money so they take a job offer, which has unexpected side effects…
Many thanks to everyone who came to see and support our film “Blind Sight” on July 16th, Wednesday, at the Rialto Lakeside Theater. There were 90 people in attendance. We were able to successfully pay off the theater rental fee, in addition to raising my exact target goal of charity funds: enough for 1 student in Guangxi, China to receive 1 year’s education (room & board, supplies, etc. included). I’ve just emailed the charity with the good news.
For those who could not attend, here’s a quick synopsis of the evening:
5:30pm- I arrived with my longtime friend and collaborator, Christian, at the theater. Christian filmed behind-the-scenes of the event, keeping himself quite busy for the entire event. He deserves a very big THANK YOU. 6pm- My parents arrived with the DVD’s (we brought backup copies just in case) and a few of our custom-designed tshirts. We set up a table inside in front of theater 1, the largest in the building and capable of holding over 200 people. A few people approached our table with questions about the film, and 2 bought tickets, coming back later to watch the film.
6:30pm- Guests began to arrive. There were many familiar faces and my Mom deserves a very big THANK YOU for doing much of the advertising. Many members of my family came, as well as friends and faculty from elementary to high school. There is another film called “Blindsight” (one word) that you can find out about by clicking here. It is currently touring many cities and film festivals, and I believe is now showing in Vancouver. The plot is quite different from my film, though it looks quite interesting. But there was an unfortunate mishap where a few people came expecting to see a film about 6 blind Tibetan teenagers climbing the north side of Mt. Everest.
One family drove all the way from Marin to see that film. I was shocked by this, as I did not expect my little film to be this well-known. The family was very kind and understanding, and they stayed for my film. (After the movie, they told me they enjoyed the film and complimented Stanley, our talented main actor, and his performance). An even bigger surprise was that the Father of this family turned out to be one of heroes: Dave Goelz, one of the lead performers for The Muppets, and creator, operator, and voice of the character “Gonzo.” Here I was in front of someone who influenced about 85% of my humor, who worked on one of the greatest Christmas films of all time, yet he was extremely humble and friendly. I restrained my impulse to ask for an autograph or a job application with the Muppets. It was an honor to meet him and his family, and I’m so happy they could have a positive experience watching one of my films. I hope to meet them again someday.
7:18pm- I gave my first speech, to introduce a short comedy film made recently (in only 4 days) with good friends Christian and Jimmy. The audio was a bit too loud, so it was difficult to hear all of the laughter. But I do know a few parts worked. And for 4 days, that’s pretty good. I gave my second speech to introduce Blind Sight, which was different from my Vancouver premiere speech. Once again, I didn’t follow a written plan. (But I had spent the entire day thinking about what to say). 7:30pm (approx.) Blind Sight began. The audio levels were correctly tuned this time. The film looked good on the big screen.
9pm- Applause. Compared to the Vancouver premiere, the applause here started earlier. Since the cast & crew (except myself) couldn’t be there, it became a way of celebrating each performer as their name & image appeared onscreen. Everyone received generous applause. For those who worked on the film, I wish you could have been there to hear what you deserved. I said a quick “Thank you” and everyone headed out to the lobby. There was a lot of chatting and it was generally a warm atmosphere. The Rialto theater has a beautifully decorated interior. I clutched my bouquet of flowers (from Joanne, my Tai Chi teacher) and smiled. The magic of movies is not onscreen…it is in the audience that watches them. Thank you, everyone.
“At this point, it seems like watching Andrew Zeller’s Movie is like visiting a warm restaurant… had a nice dinner… after a few days… I want to go back to visit again.” -Joy Chen (Professional Photographer) 2008.
Come join us for this special event hosted by the writer/director!!
