Film Team
SHULING YONG | Producer/Director
Shuling Yong is a Singaporean documentary filmmaker with a passion for social change. She has over 10 years of documentary production experience, playing key crew positions on films such as Becoming (Michelle Obama Documentary, Netflix, 2020, dir. Nadia Hallgren), (The Feeling of Being Watched (Tribeca, 2018, dir. Assia Boundaoui), America To Me (Sundance, 2018, dir. Steve James), In Time To Come (Visions du Réel, 2017, dir. Tan Pin Pin), Radical Grace (Hot Docs, 2015, dir. Rebecca Parrish) and Growing Roots (Discovery Channel, 2015, dir. Yong Shu Ling).
Shuling does regular speaking engagements about documentary filmmaking, and has also been on the film jury of the Talking Pictures Festival in Chicago. Shuling is a Tribeca Film Institute Alumni, Kartemquin Films Diverse Voices in Docs Fellow, DocNet Southeast Asia Alumni, KOMAS Video for Change Fellow and Doc Society’s Queer Impact Producers Lab Fellow. She was also selected as an honouree for DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 List 2019 and the NewCity Film 50 Chicago Screen Gems 2020. Unteachable is Shuling’s first feature-length documentary film as a director.
LISA TEH | Producer
Lisa Teh is a writer-producer based in Singapore. She is a story editor for pre-school television programs at the award-winning animation company, Omens Studios.
Lisa produced and co-directed Growing Roots, a television documentary on the growing urban farming culture in Singapore. Growing Roots premiered on the Discovery Channel in 2015 and had its North American premiere at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington D.C in 2016.
With more than 7 years of media advertising experience, Lisa is well-versed in the local media landscape, having worked on multiple award-winning campaigns across various industries.
Lisa pays it forward by leveraging on her marketing background to help produce brand videos for non-profit organizations to aid in their fundraising efforts. Her skills in storytelling and pitching have also contributed to winning the Best Pitch award at the CNEX Chinese Documentary Forum 2017 for Unteachable.
MIRABELLE ANG | Editor
Mirabelle Ang’s early introduction to cinema cultivated her love for storytelling. Through her work, she hopes to engage people across different sectors of society, build deeper understanding for differences and encourage greater empathy between communities. She has lived in the United States and Taiwan, and is currently based in Singapore.
Mirabelle received her BFA and MFA from California Institute of the Arts and has worked on numerous award-winning broadcast and theatrical documentaries. Her work has screened at international film festivals and museums such as the Viennale, Cinema du Reel, Mar del Plata, Full Frame and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
TAN PIN PIN | Executive Producer
Tan Pin Pin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, who’s films chronicle and question the gaps in history, memory and documentation. She has won or been nominated for more than 20 awards.
In 2013, To Singapore, with Love won Best Director from Dubai International Film Festival. Invisible City (2007) won the Scam International Award at Cinéma du Réel. Singapore GaGa (2005) was voted Best Film by Singapore’s The Straits Times. Moving House (2001), her thesis film, won the Student Academy Award for Best Documentary. In 2015, her short film Pineapple Town (2015) was one of seven in the 7 Letters omnibus which was Singapore’s submission to the Oscars. Pin Pin is on the “Asian Cinema 100” list of top 100 Directors compiled by Busan International Film Festival.
She has been on film juries of Cinemanila, Jiffest, Busan and DMZDocs. She has mentored at labs like Docs Port Incheon. She has toured universities with her work, and had retrospectives at Memory Film Festival, Yangon and RIDM, Montreal. In 2018, she was admitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
VIOLET DU FENG | Executive Producer
Violet Du Feng is an Emmy Award winning documentary film producer. Her recent films have screened at numerous film festivals internationally. In 2007, she co-produced Nanking, which received a Peabody Award and a Sundance Grand Jury Award. It was the highest grossing documentary in China.
From 2011 to 2013, Violet joined CNEX in Beijing. As the in-house producer, the films she produced received support from Sundance Documentary Fund, Ford Foundation, ITVS and co-productions from Asia and Europe. She produced Please Remember Me, which premiered at IDFA in 2015 and received three awards at China’s biggest documentary film festival GZDoc in 2016.
Violet also produced Maine-Land. The film received Special Jury Award of SXSW in 2017. She is the Executive Producer of 24th Street, nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary of IDFA 2017.
Her first documentary short Changing the Taste of Mud was nominated for the Golden Gate Award.
ANDREW ECKLUND | Composer
Andrew Ecklund chose music as his calling at a young age. Through his schooling years he buried himself in records and musical studies, spending countless hours in rock bands and educational ensembles. This obsession led him to study Jazz Studies at Elmhurst College, where he honed his craft as a performer as well as a composer.
Andrews scores can be heard accompanying some of the world’s largest brands - Google, McDonalds, and Verizon to name a few. Andrew maintains a vibrant career as a performer, composer, and producer.
MEDIA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE | Production Company
Media For Social Change dedicates its existence to making the world a better place through the power of film, video, audio and the web.
Its work includes the Discovery Channel documentary Growing Roots, the feature-length documentary film-in-progress Unteachable, and over 150 video projects for various non-profit organizations and socially conscious businesses.
Community Partners
DANIEL MORETTI | Impact & Outreach Advisor
Daniel Moretti is a media and community engagement specialist who is passionate about LGBTQ+ issues, film festivals, and program development/management.
He was previously the Director of Distribution & Educational Programming at Frameline, and the Senior Manager, Engagement & Impact at ITVS, where managed the national program Indie Lens Pop-Up. Prior to joining ITVS, he worked in both media production and community engagement in diverse locations including San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Philippines, and London.
Daniel previously worked with Active Voice, and contributed to the development, implementation, and evaluation of film-based campaigns that engaged audiences in social issues. He also worked with the Global Film Initiative, where he supported acquisition, distribution, and education programs for their world cinema series to promote cross-cultural understanding through film.
REBEKAH LIN | Impact & Outreach Partner
Rebekah Lin is the Co-Founder of The Social Co., a youth-led organization that aims to activate youths and businesses to leverage on their skills to give back to lesser-known charities in Singapore. Their first movement, 50 For 50, raised $4.5 million and heaps of awareness for more than 50 charities.
Rebekah is also the Co-Founder of Chloros Solutions, a SPRING-seeded green consultancy boutique firm that provides a complete suite of solutions for Environmental Sustainability Design (ESD), energy consultancy and project implementation management services. To date, the company has been involved in over 150 projects of varying sizes. She has been on the committee of the Yellow Ribbon Fund since 2011 and recently joined the Community Chest of Singapore as a main committee member.
Her corporate experiences include stints with Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore Press Holdings, Tung Lok Group and Be An Idea. In her day job, Rebekah works at Tembusu Partners, a boutique private equity fund.
CHERYL CHONG | Impact & Outreach Partner
Cheryl is co-founder of The Social Co., the team that initiated the 50 For 50 project in September 2014 where they brought together more than 80 young people under the age of 35, and 70 corporations to raise awareness of and funds for lesser-known causes such as mental health, suicide prevention and charities that serve those with physical and mental disabilities. Over 2 phases of the 50 For 50 movement, 38 sustainable projects were created and a total of S$4.5 million was raised for 58 local charities.
As they roll out a series of new initiatives, one of the projects that The Social Co. is currently working on is The Social Pantry, where they partner Samsui Supplies & Services in providing meaningful employment for beneficiaries at the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN), by reaching out to companies to regularly order their office pantry supplies from thesocialpantry.com.
Cheryl currently also chairs the Young Women’s Leadership Connection (YWLC). In her day job, Cheryl heads the private investor division of equity and debt crowdfunding platform, FundedHere.
SAMANTHA CHOO | Good Pitch Outreach Coordinator
A creative thinker and doer, Samantha worked as an advertising strategist in London and Singapore before seeking out a world of change and meaning in the nonprofit sector. She is obsessed with using creativity for good and has worked on change campaigns for both the private and nonprofit sectors for organisations like IKEA, Unilever and Refuge UK.
Samantha volunteers with TWC2, a migrant workers rights group in Singapore, and Human Library, a global movement that challenges stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue. The causes she is most passionate about are human rights, social justice and environmental sustainability.
Samantha played a vital role in forming a network of collaborators for the film’s impact campaign.
JIA FOUNDATION
Jia Foundation (家基金会) was established in 2013 and is particularly interested in projects that support education (youths), healthcare (mental health) and the arts (documentaries). Jia Foundation has started new projects in Siem Reap, Cambodia and would be interested to collaborate on new opportunities as well.
INTUITIVE FILMS
Intuitive Films is a full-service video production house established in Singapore since 2007. We keep our eyes and ears tuned to the constantly evolving pace, taste and demands of audiences, so as to provide concepts and treatments that connect.
Programs & Grants
Tribeca Film Institute champions storytellers to be catalysts for change in their communities and around the world.
Each year, they identify a diverse group of exceptional filmmakers and media artists then empower them with funding and resources to fully realize their stories and connect with audiences. Further, their education programs empower students through hands-on training and exposure to socially relevant films, offering young people the media skills necessary to be creative and productive global citizens.
TFI is a year-round nonprofit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001.
Unteachable participated in the TFI Network Market in 2018.
Good Pitch brings together documentary filmmakers with foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, policymakers, brands and media around leading social and environmental issues - to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society.
Four filmmaking teams, including Unteachable, were handpicked for Good Pitch² Southeast Asia, which took place in May 2017.
Over a year, these teams receive sustained mentorship and professional development. This includes two campaign development workshops, taking place right after project selection and again on the eve of the live event.
Diverse Voices in Docs (DVID) is a nine-month professional mentorship and development program for documentary filmmakers of color, organized by Kartemquin Films and the Community Film Workshop of Chicago.
Founded in 2013, DVID aims to inspire collaboration and skill-sharing among its fellows, and among the larger Midwestern independent documentary filmmaking community.
Unteachable was first developed through Diverse Voices in Docs in 2013.
KTQ Labs is a free monthly service at which filmmakers present their demos and rough cuts to the Kartemquin community in return for constructive critique. The KTQ Labs program has helped improve over 100 projects in the past decade. Notable titles that have been through our process include Making a Murderer; Quest; Louder Than a Bomb; What’s the Matter With Kansas?; The Prison in 12 Landscapes; Shot in the Dark; Scrappers; ¡Las Sandinistas!; Andrew Bird: Fever Year; and The Blood is at the Doorstep.
Unteachable participated in KTQ LABS in 2017.
CNEX Chinese Documentary Forum (CCDF) is a professional platform created to support documentary filmmaking. Modeled after international documentary pitching forums, CCDF connects Chinese filmmakers with international commissioning editors, buyers or funders in order to facilitate international co-production.
Unteachable participated in CCDF8 in 2017, where it won the “Best Pitch” award.
Docs By The Sea is an international documentary forum for creative documentary projects with the focus of Southeast Asia.
It is an excellent platform to network, obtain industry insights, and get projects funded and distributed. Docs By The Sea is initiated and organized by Bekraf, in partnership with In-Docs.
Unteachable participated in Docs By The Sea in 2017.
In-Docs is a non-profit institution that is committed to cultivating a culture of openness through documentary films.
In-Docs believes in the power of documentary films to spark conversations, to touch people’s hearts, to open minds, and to enable change.
That is why we strive to build an ecosystem where great documentaries can be made and shared to the widest audience possible.
Scrappers Film Group is a down & dirty cinéma vérité for good & for hire. A partnership of Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak, David Jacobson, Peter Galassi & David Schalliol.
Unteachable participated in Scrappers Film Group’s Rough Cut Lab in 2018.
Sparking democracy through documentary since 1966, Kartemquin is a collaborative community that empowers documentary makers who create stories that foster a more engaged and just society.
Kartemquin's films have received four Academy Award® nominations, and won six Emmys® and three Peabody Awards, among several more major prizes. In 2019, Kartemquin was recognized with an Institutional Peabody Award for "its commitment to unflinching documentary filmmaking and telling an American history rooted in social justice and the stories of the marginalized." Recognized as a leading advocate for independent public media, Kartemquin has helped hundreds of artists via its filmmaker development programs and championing of documentary.
Kartemquin is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization based in Chicago.
The Awesome Foundation is a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe, $1000 at a time.
Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. These micro-grants, $1000 or the local equivalent, come out of pockets of the chapter's "trustees" and are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects.
Unteachable received a grant from The Awesome Foundation Singapore in 2017.