‘Better Luck’ Today

The Conference for Creative Content, presented by Visual Communications concurrently with the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival from April 29 to May 1 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, included a SAG-AFTRA panel titled “Better Luck Tomorrow: A Retrospective,” celebrating the 15th anniversary of Justin Lin’s ground-breaking film. With Jen Yamato, film reporter for The Los Angeles Times, serving as moderator, director Lin (left), whose latest film is “Star Trek Beyond,” and cast members Sung Kang, Roger Fan, Parry Shen, Karin Anna Cheung and Aaron Takahashi reflected on what has changed in their career paths and the state of diversity in the media. Lin and Kang are now best known for the “Fast and Furious” franchise.

Jen Yamato

In “BLT,” an accomplished high school student, Ben (Shen) seems to excel at almost everything except winning over his dream girl, Stephanie (Cheung). When he begins an unlikely friendship with trouble-seeking tough guy Daric (Fan), Ben becomes involved in petty crime that gets increasingly dangerous, with his various illegal ventures extending to include Stephanie and her wealthy beau, Steve (John Cho).

Other conference topics included “Directing Horror and Genre,” “Editing for Animation and Stop Motion,” “The future of Storytelling in the Digital Space,” “Media and Social Change,” “Impact and Visibility on the Digital Frontier and Beyond,” “Women on Top: Meet the creative Forces Behind Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Queen of the South and Queen Sugar,” and “Independent Filmmaking in the Era of Digital Distribution” (at the Korean Cultural Center).

Photos by J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo