Greg Pak Movies
American independent filmmaker Greg Pak became interested in filmmaking as a hobby. As a Rhodes Scholar, Pak studied political science at Yale and history at Oxford in preparation for a career in politics. In 1995, he made several PSAs for the New York County Medical Society and they started to win awards. Then his 1997 short film Mouse played at festivals and aired on the International Channel. The next year, he made Fighting Grandpa, a 16 mm documentary short film chronicle of his grandfather's immigration from Korea to Hawaii during the '30s. The film was aired on Cinemax and PBS and quickly became available for educational viewing through nonprofit organizations. Pak also made The Informed Consent Zone, a humorous educational video designed to instruct clinical researchers about the practice of informed consent. During this time, he also worked as a cinematographer on the Academy Award-winning documentary short film The Personals.Deciding against a career in politics, Pak set up his own film production company, Pak Man Films, in New York City. He also teamed with the New York-based improvisational comedy troupe the Pollyannas, with whom he would frequently collaborate. They worked on several projects together, including the postmodern comedy Po Mo Knock Knock and the biting film parody The Penny Marshall Project. Some of his films -- including the infomercial spoof Asian Pride Porn, starring Tony award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang -- can be viewed on AtomFilms.com. In 2003, Pak finished his first feature film, Robot Stories, a science fiction drama made up of four parts ("My Robot Baby," "The Robot Fixer," "Machine Love," and "Clay"). The film earned him festival acclaim and international exposure as a writer, director, and actor. His next screenplay, MVP, was made into a feature film by Harry Davis and screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to working for various websites (including asianamericanfilm.com and filmhelp.com), Pak also started development on the Western drama Rio Chino. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 2003
First-time filmmaker Harry Davis directs the drama MVP from a screenplay by award-winning filmmaker Greg Pak, filmed entirely in southeastern Michigan. Wood Harris stars as Tony Smalls, a public defender in Detroit. Fed up with the legal system, he wants to quit being an attorney and leave town. His sister Nia (N'Bushe Wright), however, convinces him stay and defend her boyfriend Big Boy (Christian Mathis). This proves to be complicated by the fact that Big Boy is the supposed leader of the gang known as MVP. Tony finds that the case strains his relationship with his wife Kim (Melle Powers). Also starring Roger Guenveur Smith, MVP was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wood Harris, N'Bushe Wright, (more)
Greg Pak directs Robot Stories, a feature film made up of four separate vignettes set in the near future. In "My Robot Baby," Maria (Tamlyn Tomita) and Roy (James Saito) must take care of a robot baby before they can adopt a real one. In "The Robot Fixer," a car accident puts Wilson in a coma. His mother, Bernice Chin (Wai Ching Ho), tries to connect with him by repairing his old collection of toy robots. Her obsessive quest to find missing robot parts is observed by her daughter Grace (Cindy Cheung). In "Machine Love," a Sprout G9 iPerson (Greg Pak) is introduced to an office environment. In "Clay," sculptor John Lee (Sab Shimono) refuses to get scanned, which would merge his memory with a collective consciousness. He struggles to maintain his humanity against the judgement of his son Tommy (Ron Domingo) and wife Helen (Eisa Davis). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tamlyn Tomita, James Saito, (more)
