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Set in Los Angeles during the 1992 race riots, Gook – the spellbinding second feature from writer-director Justin Chon, following Man Up – looks at bigotry through the eyes of two Korean brothers caught in the firestorm. Chon, best known as an actor in the Twilight series, plays Eli, who teams with his brother Daniel (David So), a wannabe R&B singer, to run a women's shoe store that their father established on the border of South Central, where the customers are mostly black and Chicano. Eli and Daniel are of the community,...

Almost certainly the most confrontational film about the Asian-American experience since “Better Luck Tomorrow,” Justin Chon’s “Gook” is about as subtle as a trash can smashing through a pizzeria window, but this isn’t a story for subtle times. Set on April 29, 1992 — the first night of the Los Angeles Riots — it’s not a story about subtle times, either. On the contrary, this messy but lived-in drama is intended for a climate that’s tilted towards hatred and erasure, an environment in which people are forced to scream their voices hoarse just to remind the world of their basic humanity. You don’t call a movie “Gook” because you feel heard.

A frequently angry call to action that’s shot in spare black-and-white (all the better to evoke the scrappy kind of indies that were arriving on the scene back in the “Clerks” era), “Gook” hinges on two normal Korean-American guys.

Actor Justin Chon appeared in all five Twilight films and a number of TV shows before making his directorial debut in 2015 with Man Up. His second feature, the provocatively titled Gook, premiered in the Next lineup at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film was shot by Ante Cheng, a Los Angeles-based cinematographer from Taipei. Cheng had previously shot shorts and directed commercials and music videos before getting tapped by Chon for Gook. Prior to the film’s debut at Sundance, Cheng spoke with Filmmaker about shooting in black and white, his favorite Los Angeles-set films and finding inspiration in the words of cinematographer Harris Savides. […]...

Indie video company Gunpowder & Sky has acquired Supergravity Pictures. The deal comes after G&S made a strategic investment in the film and TV studio in July 2015 to create an equity financing and co-production relationship on film projects. The tie-up now will look to produce, market and distribute series and films directly to global audiences. Supergravity, founded in 2014 by Max Benator and Marc Hustvedt, released the buddy comedy Man Up starring Justin Chon and Kevin…...

Indie video company Gunpowder & Sky has acquired Supergravity Pictures. The deal comes after G&S made a strategic investment in the film and TV studio in July 2015 to create an equity financing and co-production relationship on film projects. The tie-up now will look to produce, market and distribute series and films directly to global audiences. Supergravity, founded in 2014 by Max Benator and Marc Hustvedt, released the buddy comedy Man Up starring Justin Chon and Kevin…...

The latest film led by online video stars is Man Up, and as of May 28th, it is available through Video On Demand. The film, which stars Kevin Wu as a slacker who must learn how to become a dad and Justin Chon as his crazy best friend, can be purchased for $9.99 or rented for half that price.

In Man Up, announced in March 2015, Martin (played by Wu, who is known as KevJumba on YouTube) must quickly mature after his girlfriend (Galadriel Stineman) reveals she is pregnant. Off the Dock, a digital studio run by production company Lakeshore Entertainment, produced the film, and Supergravity Pictures, a recently-launched studio that works with YouTube stars, handled distribution. Chon, whose film roles include Twilight, directed.

On Vimeo On Demand, Man Up joins several other film projects led by online video stars. Specifically, Vimeo’s premium content library is also home to Taryn Southern...

Beverly Hills production studio Lakeshore Entertainment is eying the digital space. The company that has produced films like Million Dollar Baby and Crank has launched Off the Dock, a studio that will work with digital content creators on film projects.

The first project on Off the Dock's slate is Man Up, a project created, written, and directed by Justin Chon. Chon, best known for his role in Twilight and his vlog and sketch-based YouTube channel, will star as a swoopy-haired weirdo who must help his friend, played by Kevin "KevJumba" Wu, get ready for life as a father. A trailer is available on the YouTube channel of Supergravity Pictures, which will handle Us distribution of the film.

By launching Off the Dock, Lakeshore is jumping on the recent trend of feature films led by YouTube and Vine stars. AwesomenessTV recently announced its plan to cast digital influencers in an upcoming film called Shovel Buddies,...

Lakeshore Entertainment, which earlier this week unveiled plans to boost its film production pipeline, is targeting the YouTube generation with a full-service digital studio.

Off The Dock will finance, produce, acquire and distribute digital influencer-led content in a bid to free up the fiercely guarded disposable income of Millennials and their younger Generation Z counterparts.

“We are excited to blend Lakeshore’s knowledge and skills gained from its 20-year track record of traditional film-making and distribution with the new world of digital influencers,” said CFO Marc Reid. “We think each world can elevate the other.”

The first film is Kinetic Films’ Man Up from and starring Justin Chon with Us comedian and YouTube celebrity Kevin Wu (pictured) aka KevJumba.

Man Up centres on two 19-year-old friends who are forced to prepare for the unintended arrival of a baby.

Off The Dock has partnered with Supergravity Pictures, led by Marc Hustvedt and Max Benator, to distribute...