Timothy Tau
Encyclopedia
Timothy Tau is an American
Writer and Filmmaker. Tau won the 2011 Hyphen Asian American Short Story Contest for his short story, "The Understudy", which was published in the Winter 2011 issue of Hyphen (magazine)
, Issue No. 24, the "Survival Issue." Tau also won Second Prize in the 2010 Playboy
College Fiction Contest for his short story, "Land of Origin" (See the October 2010 issue of Playboy Magazine). He has also Directed a number of short films that have screened at various film festivals worldwide.
's Rhinoceros
) he is working on. It is told in the Second-person narrative
. The story was published in the Winter 2011 Issue of Hyphen (magazine)
and won Grand Prize in the 2011 Hyphen Asian American Short Story Contest, the only national Pan-Asian American Writing Competition of its kind. Award-winning novelist Porochista Khakpour
, one of the Judges, called the story a "psychological thriller successfully pulled off in second person -- alone a feat worthy of mention -- and [a] cautionary tale about what happens when you entirely live for and therefore ultimately lose everything but your art. At surface glance, it can make one think ‘Chinese thespian Black Swan,’ but the wild, brainy, dark and dazzling prose is in a league of its own." MacArthur Fellow and Award-Winning novelist Yiyun Li
said "Full of vibrating energy, ‘The Understudy’ is an exciting story to read; better, the excitement does not fizz off but makes a reader think afterward."
Tau's short story "Land of Origin" is a love-crime and neo-noir story about a Taiwanese American professional/ex-pat named Dante Chang who lives an empty and jaded life in Los Angeles, and who goes back to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to get mixed up with betel nut girls (falling in love with one in the process) and a gang known as "The Heavenly Alliance." The story tracks his descent, like the Dante of The Divine Comedy and The Inferno, into the sprawling neon-lit criminal underworld of urban Taiwan
. The story won Second Prize in the 2010 Playboy College Fiction Contest.
, The San Diego Asian Film Festival
, The Cannes Film Festival
Short Film Corner (Court Metrage), and The Capalbio International Short Film Festival in Rome, Italy, founded by Michelangelo Antonioni
.
He has also Written and Directed a Web Series entitled "Quantum Cops" http://www.facebook.com/quantumcops, a Buddy-Cop Comedy that he has Written and Created with Joshua Murphy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770747/ and which Stars Kelvin Han Yee
, Feodor Chin
, Joshua Murphy, Meiling Melançon
, David Huynh
, and Ina-Alice Kopp
. He has also Written and Directed a short film entitled "Incentivus" about a Writer (Archie Kao
) and Imagination, Hallucinations and Dreams. The film Stars Archie Kao
, Meiling Melançon
, Jessika Van
, and Cyndee San Luis.
In 2011, he Directed a Music Video for Youtube Sensation and Singer-Songwriter-Actress Megan Lee
for her second original single, "Destiny." The music video also stars Kelvin Han Yee
, Megan Lee
, Jessika Van
, Yul Spencer
and Ina-Alice Kopp
.
, The University of California, Los Angeles
and The University of California, Hastings College of the Law
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Writer and Filmmaker. Tau won the 2011 Hyphen Asian American Short Story Contest for his short story, "The Understudy", which was published in the Winter 2011 issue of Hyphen (magazine)
Hyphen (magazine)
Hyphen is an American magazine, produced three times a year by a volunteer staff; it is a not-for-profit organization. It was founded in 2002 by a group of San Francisco Bay Area journalists, activists, and artists including Melissa Hung, a former reporter for the Houston Press and East Bay...
, Issue No. 24, the "Survival Issue." Tau also won Second Prize in the 2010 Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
College Fiction Contest for his short story, "Land of Origin" (See the October 2010 issue of Playboy Magazine). He has also Directed a number of short films that have screened at various film festivals worldwide.
Writing
Tau's short story "The Understudy" is a comic-surrealist story about an Asian American Actor named Jack Chang struggling in Los Angeles who must deal with the sudden emergence of a mysterious new understudy on a production of a play (Eugene IonescoEugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
's Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros (play)
Rhinoceros is a play by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. The play belongs to the school of drama known as the Theatre of the Absurd...
) he is working on. It is told in the Second-person narrative
Second-person narrative
The second-person narrative is a narrative mode in which the protagonist or another main character is referred to by employment of second-person personal pronouns and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun "you"....
. The story was published in the Winter 2011 Issue of Hyphen (magazine)
Hyphen (magazine)
Hyphen is an American magazine, produced three times a year by a volunteer staff; it is a not-for-profit organization. It was founded in 2002 by a group of San Francisco Bay Area journalists, activists, and artists including Melissa Hung, a former reporter for the Houston Press and East Bay...
and won Grand Prize in the 2011 Hyphen Asian American Short Story Contest, the only national Pan-Asian American Writing Competition of its kind. Award-winning novelist Porochista Khakpour
Porochista Khakpour
Porochista Khakpour is an Iranian American novelist.Born in Tehran, Iran, Khakpour was raised in South Pasadena, California, later attending Sarah Lawrence College in New York for her BA. She received her MA from Johns Hopkins University . Khakpour was an arts and entertainment journalist early in...
, one of the Judges, called the story a "psychological thriller successfully pulled off in second person -- alone a feat worthy of mention -- and [a] cautionary tale about what happens when you entirely live for and therefore ultimately lose everything but your art. At surface glance, it can make one think ‘Chinese thespian Black Swan,’ but the wild, brainy, dark and dazzling prose is in a league of its own." MacArthur Fellow and Award-Winning novelist Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li is a Chinese American writer. Her debut short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers won the 2005 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and her second collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl was shortlisted for the same award...
said "Full of vibrating energy, ‘The Understudy’ is an exciting story to read; better, the excitement does not fizz off but makes a reader think afterward."
Tau's short story "Land of Origin" is a love-crime and neo-noir story about a Taiwanese American professional/ex-pat named Dante Chang who lives an empty and jaded life in Los Angeles, and who goes back to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to get mixed up with betel nut girls (falling in love with one in the process) and a gang known as "The Heavenly Alliance." The story tracks his descent, like the Dante of The Divine Comedy and The Inferno, into the sprawling neon-lit criminal underworld of urban Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The story won Second Prize in the 2010 Playboy College Fiction Contest.
Film
Tau has also Directed several short films under his Production Company, Firebrand Hand Creative http://www.youtube.com/firebrandhand. "The Case" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770747/ is a Genre-Hybrid of a short film that melds genres such as Film Noir, Sci-Fi, Horror Camp (in the vein of Ed Wood) and Spaghetti Westerns, and which stars Max Phyo, Cyndee San Luis, Hidekun Hah and Oliver Seitz. It has screened at The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalLos Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications . It was established in 1983 as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema. The festival fulfills a unique mission in...
, The San Diego Asian Film Festival
San Diego Asian Film Festival
The San Diego Asian Film Festival is an annual event organized by the San Diego Asian Film Foundation. The festival was first held in 2000 at the University of San Diego by the Asian American Journalists Association of San Diego.-Organization Overview:...
, The Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
Short Film Corner (Court Metrage), and The Capalbio International Short Film Festival in Rome, Italy, founded by Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
.
He has also Written and Directed a Web Series entitled "Quantum Cops" http://www.facebook.com/quantumcops, a Buddy-Cop Comedy that he has Written and Created with Joshua Murphy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770747/ and which Stars Kelvin Han Yee
Kelvin Han Yee
Kelvin Han Yee is an American Actor. He has appeared in films such as Milk, Wedding Palace, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Lucky You, The Island, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Sweet November, Life Tastes Good, Clint Eastwood's True Crime, A Great Wall and TV...
, Feodor Chin
Feodor Chin
Feodor Chin is an American actor, writer and director. Chin starred as the antagonist "Benny" in Juwan Chung's Baby opposite David Huynh, the protagonist...
, Joshua Murphy, Meiling Melançon
Meiling Melançon
Meiling Melançon also known as Mei Melançon 明依 , is an American actress and former fashion model.Raised in Japan, Mei is of French, Chinese, and Japanese descent. As a child she traveled throughout Asia and Europe. At the age of five her mother taught her how to play the guitar, and she was later...
, David Huynh
David Huynh
David Huynh is a Canadian Actor. Huynh won a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival for Outstanding Newcomer Award and Best Emerging Actor for his performance in Juwan Chung's Baby, which also won a Special Jury Award for Best Feature Length Film at that year's...
, and Ina-Alice Kopp
Ina-Alice Kopp
Ina-Alice Kopp is an Austrian Actress. She stars as "Ge Li Er" in the 2010 Chinese TV War Drama "Departed Heroes" , Directed by Qing Hua and also starring Vivian Wu, a joint production with Huayi Brothers Film Company and Legendary Pictures , and which also features the Sound...
. He has also Written and Directed a short film entitled "Incentivus" about a Writer (Archie Kao
Archie Kao
Archie David Kao is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Archie Johnson in the hit television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as well as the role of Kai Chen in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy...
) and Imagination, Hallucinations and Dreams. The film Stars Archie Kao
Archie Kao
Archie David Kao is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Archie Johnson in the hit television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, as well as the role of Kai Chen in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy...
, Meiling Melançon
Meiling Melançon
Meiling Melançon also known as Mei Melançon 明依 , is an American actress and former fashion model.Raised in Japan, Mei is of French, Chinese, and Japanese descent. As a child she traveled throughout Asia and Europe. At the age of five her mother taught her how to play the guitar, and she was later...
, Jessika Van
Jessika Van
Jessika Van is a Taiwanese American Actress, as well as Singer-Songwriter, Pianist and Dancer. She Starred in Byron Q's film Bang Bang , which won a Special Jury Award for Best First Feature, Narrative, at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival...
, and Cyndee San Luis.
In 2011, he Directed a Music Video for Youtube Sensation and Singer-Songwriter-Actress Megan Lee
Megan Lee
Megan Lee is a Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress most known for her singing talents on Youtube. Megan officially began her professional career in acting, singing, and dancing at the age of 10...
for her second original single, "Destiny." The music video also stars Kelvin Han Yee
Kelvin Han Yee
Kelvin Han Yee is an American Actor. He has appeared in films such as Milk, Wedding Palace, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, Lucky You, The Island, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Sweet November, Life Tastes Good, Clint Eastwood's True Crime, A Great Wall and TV...
, Megan Lee
Megan Lee
Megan Lee is a Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress most known for her singing talents on Youtube. Megan officially began her professional career in acting, singing, and dancing at the age of 10...
, Jessika Van
Jessika Van
Jessika Van is a Taiwanese American Actress, as well as Singer-Songwriter, Pianist and Dancer. She Starred in Byron Q's film Bang Bang , which won a Special Jury Award for Best First Feature, Narrative, at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival...
, Yul Spencer
Yul Spencer
Yul Spencer is an American Actor, Writer, Comedian, Stand-up Comic and Producer. He has appeared on BET's Comic View, Comedy Central's "Make Me Laugh", has a 1-Man show entitled "Ya Gotta Go Higher", appeared as Trent in Two Can Play That Game , as Tyrez 'Spank' Wallace in The Shield, and on the TV...
and Ina-Alice Kopp
Ina-Alice Kopp
Ina-Alice Kopp is an Austrian Actress. She stars as "Ge Li Er" in the 2010 Chinese TV War Drama "Departed Heroes" , Directed by Qing Hua and also starring Vivian Wu, a joint production with Huayi Brothers Film Company and Legendary Pictures , and which also features the Sound...
.
Education
Tau is a graduate of The University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, The University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
and The University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
University of California, Hastings College of the Law is a public law school in San Francisco, California, located in the Civic Center neighborhood....
Filmography
- Quantum Cops (2011) - Writer, Director, Producer
- Megan LeeMegan LeeMegan Lee is a Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress most known for her singing talents on Youtube. Megan officially began her professional career in acting, singing, and dancing at the age of 10...
's Destiny (2011) (Music Video) - Writer, Director, Producer - The Case (2010) - Writer, Director, Producer