Profile: Arthur Dong
Arthur Dong is an openly gay Chinese-American filmmaker. A graduate of the Film School at San Francisco State University and the American Film Institute's Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, Dong currently sits on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences.
Dong's films focus on the GLBT and Asian-American communities. They include Coming Out Under Fire, which told the stories of gay and lesbian soldiers during World War II, Licensed to Kill, which looked into the minds of those who had killed gay men, and Family Fundamentals, which looked at the culture wars between fundamentalist families and their GLBT children.
Once asked what motivates him, Dong replied: "Anger. Anger that the world is an unfair place. Anger that after 25 years, I still need to make films that attack social injustices. And most of all, anger that any sexuality other than heterosexuality is condemned equally by all sectors of our society, regardless of race, religion, nationality, class or gender. My films are my weapon." (Column by Dong in InformAsian, the GAPSN Newsletter, December 1999)
Dong has won a Peabody Award and three Sundance Film Festival awards. He has also garnered an Academy Award nomination and five Emmy Award nominations.