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Last week, during the Asian World Film Festival in Culver City in Los Angeles, an event was held which featured four Asian-American relating the challenges they’ve experienced working in the industry. The event was organized by Soo-jin HWANG, the head of the U.S. office of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC - Chairman, KIM Sae-hoon). The session was moderated by entertainment PR and marketing specialist David Magdael.

The panel featured Sunny PARK, the executive in charge of music at DreamWorks Animation who has worked on the Shrek and Kung Fu Panda franchises, Sarah SHYN, 3 Arts Entertainment talent manager who reps Olivia Thirlby among others, Su-jin NAM, a film composer and orchestrator for the Spider-Man films, and cinematographer Quyen TRAN, whose credits include Pali Road and HBO pilot Mogadishu, Minnesota.

Each offered examples of the difficulties they’ve experienced due to their race and gender, with TRAN explaining that only 2% of the workers in her field are women and that her crews tend to populated exclusively with white men. However, most of the panelists appeared optimistic, noting that in the last few years, genders have become more equal. After referencing the #OscarsSoWhite movement that has made inequality a major issue in Hollywood, SHYN chimed in that “Doors are opening and they’re hiring more nonwhites and women, so if you’re a minority, go for it.”