Find out how HBO is celebrating Asian Pacific Heritage Month

HBO marked Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in 2017 by launching its first Asian Pacific American Visionaries Short Film Competition and premiering three winning shorts on its platforms. The program spotlighted emerging APA directors and placed their stories in front of a national audience.

The three films tackled crime, addiction, and family obligation through intimate, character-driven narratives. They originally reached viewers on HBO Now, HBO Go, HBO On Demand, and HBO Zone during May 2017, and the winning shorts also screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

2017 Film Descriptions and Availability

Monday, written and directed by Dinh Thai, follows a young drug dealer confronting the moral weight of his choices. Wonderland, directed by Tiffanie Hsu, tracks a twelve-year-old girl navigating the surreal isolation of life with her gambling-addicted mother in Las Vegas over Christmas; Joan Chen stars. Toenail, directed by Jingyi Shao, centers on a career-driven yuppie forced to care for his ailing father just before a long-awaited promotion; Justin Lee and Dante Swain appear.

Jackie Gagne Quote and HBO Commitment

Jackie Gagne, then HBO’s Vice President of Multicultural Marketing, noted that the Visionaries program exemplified the network’s leadership in advancing conversations about race and representation while also delivering concrete opportunities. The competition’s multi-year continuation confirmed that commitment in practice.

Legacy of the Visionaries Competition

What began in 2017 became an annual showcase that ran through at least 2022. Each cycle selected new winners whose films premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival before streaming on HBO platforms. Later editions explored themes such as Breaking Barriers and Power of Love, keeping the focus on fresh APA voices and expanding the pipeline of supported filmmakers.

Career Trajectories of the 2017 Winners

Dinh Thai moved from newcomer to working television director, helming episodes of Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Warrior, New Amsterdam, The Good Doctor, and American Born Chinese, the last earning him a Directors Guild of America nomination. Jingyi Shao wrote and directed the 2023 Disney+ feature Chang Can Dunk, expanding from his Black List script into a studio production. Tiffanie Hsu continued to write and direct independent projects that screened at Sundance and Cannes after her Visionaries selection.

HBO's Broader AAPI Initiatives

The network built on the Visionaries model with additional programming. In 2021 it introduced the See Us spotlight page to highlight AAPI talent across its slate. The following year HBO Max launched the Asian American and Pacific Islander Voices collection, curating films and series for Heritage Month and making them available year-round. These efforts extended the original competition’s goal of consistent visibility.

Impact on APA Representation in Hollywood

The competition was judged by a mix of HBO executives, established industry figures, and APA filmmakers, ensuring peer-level evaluation. Winners received cash prizes, festival premieres, and licensing on HBO platforms. Over time the program contributed to a wider industry conversation about access and storytelling, with several participants advancing into features, series work, and festival circuits that might otherwise have remained out of reach.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month continues to serve as an annual reminder of these incremental gains. HBO’s decision to turn a single 2017 contest into a sustained platform showed how sustained investment can shift both opportunity and narrative range for APA creators.