The story so far… 

Sophia Wong Boccio founded non-profit Sophia’s Choice (蘇菲亞的精選) in 2015 as a vehicle for our signature, Chicago film festival, Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC - 亞洲躍動電影節).

Our vision is to foster an appreciation for a diverse range of Asian cultures through film. We also aim to promote Chicago as a destination for international visitors, and connect the Asian film industry with local students, educators and film professionals. In short, we bridge east and west cultures through film.

As a 501 C 3 Not-for-Profit, we realize our vision through a multi-pronged mission to:

• cultivate an interest in and understanding of Asian cultures via a diverse offering of Asian films;

• connect the Asian film industry with local Chicago film students, educators, and professionals; and

• promote Chicago as a destination for international visitors.

Since 2015, we have gone from strength to strength. We have presented more than 300 films from across Asia since our formation - from mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

We screen films in their original languages with English subtitles. The films we carefully select often depict everyday stories of everyday people and their myriad issues, challenges, hopes and aspirations.

We also hosted a wide range of guests: directors, writers, producers and actors from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mongolia, Singapore, PRC China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea have come to Chicago to present their films and give us their valuable insights. Guest moderators have included Japan Times Film critic Mark Schilling, Canadian Chinese films scholar Shelly Kraicer and Korean cinema expert Darcy Paquet. And our in-house host, critic and moderator is Columbia College Chicago professor, Ron Falzone.

We also co-present two free public events each year with the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago. The first event occurs during the Lunar New Year and showcases culturally significant films from China. We present our second event “Movie with Mooncakes” in the fall to celebrate the harvest festival observed by Chinese and Vietnamese people.

And throughout the year we collaborate with other Chicago-based cultural partners with an Asian perspective for specially themed screenings.

Sophia has cinema in her blood. Her mother, Yu Wan Fei, was an actress active in Hong Kong Cinema between the 1950’s and 1970’s with 65 film credits to her name. Her father was an award-winning Hong Kong film editor. Sophia says: “Through the festival, I want to invite Asian filmmakers here to see our beautiful city, connect with our industry people who share their passion for filmmaking, and for the public to enjoy a diverse and educational spectrum of Asian films.”