2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Margin Films, founded by Quentin Lee while they were an MFA film student at UCLA to make their first feature Shopping for Fangs, co-directed by Justin Lin, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 1997 as part of Perspective Canada.
To mark the milestone, Lee will release Cinemasianamerica, a book accompanied by a seven-day theatrical screening series running May 1–7 at Laemmle’s Royal in Los Angeles. The film series will also be available day-and-date worldwide on AAM.tv.
Cinemasianamerica Screening Schedule | May 1 to 7 at Laemmle’s Royal
Complimentary admission for PGA and TV Academy members with a valid membership ID presented at the box office
SHOPPING FOR FANGS
Shopping for Fangs (7:30 pm May 1, 2026 show Q&A with filmmakers Quentin Lee and Justin Lin, actors Jeanne Chinn, Peggy Ahn, Lela Lee and Dan Twyman, hosted by David Reddish, author and news anchor for Occupy Democrats, host of the David Reddish Show)
Cast: Radmar Jao, Jeanne Chinn, John Cho, Lela Lee
Premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 1997: A married woman, who’s been getting seductive phone calls from a lesbian, and a man, who believes he might be a werewolf, are about to find out who they deep down really are.
ETHAN MAO
Ethan Mao (7:30 pm May 2, 2026, show Q&A with filmmaker Quentin Lee, actors Raymond Ma and Jerry Hernandez)
Cast: Jun Hee Lee, Jerry Hernandez, Julia Nickson, Raymond Ma
Premiered at AFI Fest 2004: Kicked out of his house because he’s gay, Ethan Mao returns home to steal and ends up holding his family hostage on a fateful Thanksgiving Day.
THE PEOPLE I’VE SLEPT WITH
The People I’ve Slept With (7:30 pm May 3, 2026, show Q&A with filmmaker Quentin Lee, writer/producer Koji Steven Sakai, actor Karin Anna Cheung)
Cast: Karin Anna Cheung, Wilson Cruz, James Shigeta, Randall Park
Premiered at Hawaii International Film Festival in 2009: A promiscuous woman tries o find out who got her pregnant so she can get married and live a normal life.
THE UNBIDDEN
Cast: Tamlyn Tomita, Julia Nickson, Michelle Krusiec, Amy Hill, Elizabeth Sung
Premiered at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2016: Four best friends who, while hosting a séance on the night before Halloween to help a struggling friend, are held hostage by a mysterious young man demanding answers about a dark crime from their past.
REZ COMEDY
Cast: Keith Nahanee, Chuck Cease, Janelle Niles, Helena Paul, Denise B. Mcleod, Kevin Shawanda, Wayne Alexis, Brenda Prince, Drea Omer
Premiered in Toronto for a one-week theatrical run in 2025: Rez Comedy is the first all-Indigenous stand-up comedy documentary feature, showcasing nine diverse and talented Indigenous comedians.
LAST SUMMER OF NATHAN LEE
Last Summer of Nathan Lee (7:30 pm May 6, 2026, show Q&A with filmmaker Quentin Lee, writer/producer Dennis Escobedo and actor/producer Harrison Xu)
Cast: Harrison Xu, Natasha Tina Liu, Matthew Mitchell Espinosa, Dru Perez, Aaron Guest
Premiered at CAAMfest 2023: 18-year-old Nathan Lee finds out he has brain cancer and asks his best friend Dash to document his remaining life which he vows to live with passion.
COMEDY INVASIAN
Comedy InvAsian III (sneak preview of 3 episodes, 7:30 pm May 7, 2026, show Q&A with showrunners Koji Steven Sakai and Quentin Lee, comics Erik Escobar and Kitty Pine)
Cast: Erik Escobar, Trevor Jang, Ludi Lin, Michelle MaliZaki, Juno Men, Shivaan Nadan, Kitty Pine, Vanja Renee
Broadcast Premiere TBD: Comedy InvAsian III returns as Season 3 of the first and only AAPI stand-up comedy television series.
Cinemasianamerica is a book by Quentin Lee that chronicles 30 years of their independent filmmaking career in film and television. Drawn from Lee’s personal collection of photographs and reflections, it offers a comprehensive account of all the films and TV projects they have created to date.
A multimedia creator and author, Quentin Lee has directed and produced more than a dozen feature films and created four television series. Their TV series Comedy Invasion won the 2024 Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Special. Quentin published their first short story at 16 in Dark Starr Magazine and a second at 18 in Rafu Shimpo. They attended UC Berkeley, Yale University, and UCLA, earning respectively a B.A. in English, an M.A. in English, and an M.F.A. in Film Production.
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