Bertha Bay-Sa Pan - WRITER / DIRECTOR
BIO
Pan’s feature film debut “Face”, co-written by Oscar nominee and Emmy Award winner Oren Moverman, starring Bai Ling, Kieu Chinh, Kristy Wu, Will Yun Lee, Ken Leung, and Treach of Naughty by Nature, featuring a score composed by Grammy Award winner Hub of The Roots, premiered at Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Competition, winning the Grand Jury Award for Best Director at Urbanworld Film Festival, the Audience Award at GenArt, the Critics Award for Best Director at CineVegas, nominated for Gotham Award’s Breakthrough Director, and selected as a NY Times Critic’s Pick during its U.S. theatrical release.
Pan’s second feature “Almost Perfect”, starring Kelly Hu, Edison Chen, Ivan Shaw, Christina Chang, Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Tina Chen, Olivier and Tony Award winner Roger Rees, premiered at CAAMFest and was selected as the Centerpiece Film at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, a Grand Jury nominee at Friars Club Comedy Film Festival, the American Immigrant On Profile at the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Opening Night Film at San Diego Asian Film Festival, Vancouver Asian Film Festival, and Boston Asian American Film Festival; and the Closing Night Film at Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, winning the HBO Emerging Filmmaker Award. Chosen by Asia Pacific Arts as a Top Ten Film of 2011, theatrical releases in the U.S. and Taiwan garnered glowing reviews from Variety, San Francisco Chronicle, MTV, and China Times during its theatrical releases in U.S. and Taiwan.
For television, Pan has directed Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar,” executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and produced by Array and Warner Bros. for Own TV.
In addition to Mando-pop superstar Leehom Wang’s 3D concert film “Open Fire” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pan has directed docu-commercials, music videos for artists including Pharcyde’s SlimKid3 (a BET-Soul top rotation), and award winning shorts “Lucy in the Sky” starring SAG Award winner Catherine Curtin, Tony Award winner Danny Burstein, Zoe Colletti, Quinn McColgan, Kelly Hu, and Whoopi Goldberg winner of Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards; and “Sluggers” starring Hassan Johnson and Corey Parker Robinson both of the acclaimed HBO series “The Wire”.
Born in New Jersey and raised in Taiwan, Pan received an MFA from Columbia University where her thesis film won the Directors Guild Award for Best Asian American Filmmaker and the Polo Ralph Lauren Best Screenplay Award.