In collaboration with The Digital Arts Studio at City Arts, the festival is honored have Chicago based indie filmmaker James Choi share his passion and insight into filmmaking, art, and storytelling. The World Premiere of his film FAITH IN DESTINY, will follow, at 5:45 pm at the Orpheum Theatre.

Choi is a prolific, award-winning filmmaker with over a decade of film industry experience in Los Angeles. Starting in representation at Innovative Artists and The Firm, James developed a solid reputation for working productively with a diverse range of talent which included writers, directors, actors and musicians. These skills were essential for his subsequent production success at Sarkissian Productions working on RUSH HOUR 2 and also producing web content for Ifilm and Spike.com.
 
Choi's first film, MADE IN CHINA, written and directed by Judi Krant, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival and is currently being distributed by IFC Films. In 2011, James produced his second feature film, JOINT BODY, written and directed by Brian Jun and stars Mark Pellegrino and Alicia Witt . JOINT BODY was released in 2011 through Level 33 Entertainment. Both films screened at the Tallgrass Film Festival.
 
FAITH IN DESTINY marks Mr. Choi’s first feature film as a writer/director. He graduated from Pepperdine University and is currently based out of Chicago, IL where he teaches film at DePaul University and Tribeca Flashpoint Academy.