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A Sneak Peek at the 2014 New American Filmmakers

Aloha! The Hawaii International Film Festival is just around the corner, marking the eighth year that the Vilcek Foundation has partnered with the festival to present the New Americans Filmmakers (NAF) program.

Shonali Bose: Activism, with a Film

While Shonali is driven by political activism, her movies remain personal and heartfelt. Margarita, with a Straw was inspired by her cousin Mali, who has cerebral palsy.

Vilcek Prizewinner Spotlight: Sun Hur

South Korean-born Sun Hur has been on a lifelong quest to apply theory to reality, order to chaos. It is a quest that has brought her from painting to physics, physics to computational chemistry, and from there, to structural biology, biochemistry, and finally, immunology.

James Leng: Architectural Afterlives

“For our generation of designers, the notion of having a blank slate to design from is largely a myth,” says Creative Promise Prizewinner James Leng. “The reality is that there’s a great deal of existing building fabric that’s out there already. Things like preservation, resilience, renewal—these are instead the strategies that we have to work with.”

Architect James Leng designs birdhouse for Vilcek Foundation Rooftop

The Vilcek Foundation rooftop is now the site of a new birdhouse designed by prizewinning architect James Leng.

The birdhouse fully installed.

Sergiu P. Pasca: Reaching for the Inaccessible

“This prize is a recognition that it is possible to do exciting research in the U.S.,” says Creative Promise Prizewinner Sergiu P. Pasca, “even if you start [somewhere] far away.”

New American Perspectives in Filmmaking at HIFF 2021

The Vilcek Foundation presents films and programs centering foreign-born filmmakers at the 2021 Hawai’i International Film Festival.

A still from 7 Days, featuring Geraldine Viswanathan and Karan Soni.

Vilcek Prizewinner Spotlight: Franziska Michor

When the stakes are life and death, as they so often are with cancer, one would hope for a rigorous analysis of all available options. Until recently, this was not the case with the disease. That’s where Austrian-born Franziska Michor comes in. Franziska is a professor of computational biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health.

Edward Chouchani seeks to understand the role of metabolism in disease

Born in Canada, biochemist and cell biologist Edward Chouchani uses mass spectrometry to illuminate the metabolic pathways that drive cellular function and disease.

A portrait of Edward Chouchani smiling.

Immigrants Win Big: Announcing the 2014 Simons Foundation Investigators and Fields Medalists

It’s been a tremendous couple of weeks for immigrants in the math and sciences! First, the 2014 Simons Foundation Investigators were announced on August 13. Of the 16 scientists and mathematicians selected for the prestigious five-year awards, 15 are based in the United States, and 12 are immigrants—that’s a whopping 75% of this year’s awardees!