DEREK NGUYEN NARRATIVE JUROR
Derek Nguyen is an award-winning writer, director, and independent producer. He wrote and directed The Housemaid (Cô Hầu Gái) (HKFilm Vietnam & CJ Entertainment), which was released by IFC Films in 2018 as well as in 22 different territories around the world. An American adaptation of the film is currently in development, written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious). Derek was a fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab for the screenplay adaptation of his play, Monster (East West Players, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Public Theatre New Work Now, Edgar Allen Poe Best Play nomination) and a 2004 Screenwriting Fellow at the New York Foundation for the Arts. Derek’s short, The Potential Wives of Norman Mao narrated by George Takei (Star Trek), screened at the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival, LA Shorts Fest, and the Asian American International Film Festival (NYC) among others. Derek co-wrote Seeing Red (directed by Liselle Mei), which was a part of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival’s All-Access Alumni Program and the 2007 IFP Market’s No Borders Program. He was creative consultant on Sundance project Stones in the Sun (directed by Patricia Benoit, Tribeca Film Festival). Derek was the Associate Producer of Mister Green (directed by Greg Pak), Addicted to Fresno (directed by Jamie Babbit), Lovesong (directed by So Yong Kim, Strand Releasing), Buster’s Mal Heart (directed by Sarah Adina Smith, Well Go USA), Emmy-nominated The Tale (directed by Jennifer Fox, HBO), and The Long Dumb Road (directed by Hannah Fidell, Universal Pictures). Derek has worked at the Tribeca Film Institute and was the Director of Operations & Creative Affairs for Gamechanger Films, where he developed and financed Land Ho! (directed by Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz, Sony Pictures Classics), The Invitation (directed by Karyn Kusama, Drafthouse Films & Netflix), The Strange Ones (directed by Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff, Vertical Entertainment), Sundance-winner Nancy (directed by Christina Choe, Samuel Goldwyn Pictures), among others. He is currently producing A. Sayeeda Moreno’s I’m Not Down with Monique Gabriela Curnen, which received the AT&T Untold Stories Development Grant at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and Film Independent’s Fast Track Labs. He recently co-founded The Population, a film production company with Mynette Louie and Mollye Asher which focuses on producing feature films by or about women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and other underrepresented groups.