Five Dollar Friday — Jimmy Chhiu & ‘Khmerican’
A filmmaker and their short film deserving of your attention
Happy Five Dollar Friday!
Today I’m so stoked to introduce you to Jimmy Chhiu, a Cambodian American director and stunt designer based in Los Angeles. We were introduced by Kenzen Takahashi, an amazing cinematographer we’ve both had the privilege of working with.
Jimmy’s upcoming project is a short film called Khmerican.
After a robbery gone wrong leads a wounded fugitive to seek refuge in their donut shop, two friends trying to escape the cycle of gang life must find a way to open their store without resorting to violence. Khmerican is a story about Cambodian Americans navigating identity and culture in a country that isn't theirs.
“This isn't Crazy Rich Asians." You highlight the importance of telling a uniquely Cambodian American story and mention on your campaign page how, growing up, stereotypes rooted in Japanese or Korean cultures were often projected onto you. Can you talk more about that experience and what inspired you to make Khmerican?
Yes, so growing up, my friends and I fell under the same stereotypes that were projected onto people of East Asian descent. I was expected to be good at math, to have strict Asian parents that poured their resources into my education and some common stereotypes like the food I ate, etc.
My experience was much different. My parents and their siblings (my aunts and uncles) are survivors of genocide. and with that, they carried a certain amount of PTSD and I’m sure other mental health issues that weren’t addressed. It wasn't exactly a warm family oriented environment. I would say, we were fragmented and I do feel, as a family, we were trying to find normal, and even force normal, but the effects of war still bled into our day to day lives. Our household wasn’t what was shown in media at the time regarding Asian families.
When I would bring up these differences, again due to the prevailing broad representations of Asian Americans, I felt like my experiences were not taken seriously or seen as valid. A lot of us turned to gang activity because the ideas of masculinity and how to be American weren't being taught at home — we sought it out in the "manlier" gang leaders and criminals. I remember doing an assignment in class where my classmates and I had to make a family tree. Mine ended at one grandparent on each side (with one already suffering from dementia and PTSD), and when asked what was beyond that, my parents and grandparents weren’t very interested in getting into their stories and what happened to our other relatives. All I would get was: "They died in the war." "They died in the camps." "Stop asking stupid questions." "Why do you care what our culture is? You're in America now, be American."
When I moved to LA to pursue a career in Film and TV, I was told to claim my ethnicity as Chinese or Japanese. I even had an agent tell me that I should claim to be of Hawaiian or Samoan descent. When I said I wasn't comfortable with that idea — except for celebrating Lunar New Year, I did not practice any Chinese traditions and I had no idea how to be Chinese — I was told that most shows wouldn't know where to place me or even how to cast me as a person of Cambodian heritage. So, being young, I stayed out of the sun to stay lighter and even changed my hairstyle to look more Chinese.
I have been fortunate to have a career in TV/Film as a fight/stunt coordinator now and feel I am at a place with skill and resources to shed light on a generation of Asian Americans that were overlooked. Even their unique stories of growing up under parents and grandparents that lost themselves and their culture through genocide. And how this generation of first gen Cambodian Americans have reclaimed our culture and identity despite the environment we grew up in.
Thank you for sharing. I can only imagine the dissonance of being told by someone in a position of power that you had to identify as another ethnicity just to succeed. Was there ever a moment in your career when you felt seen because of your heritage?
Yes, there were times I felt my heritage was valid. I met many stunt coordinators that had Cambodian friends or spouses and was very positive about my heritage. Even celebrated. I also met a few stunt guys that are Cambodian, albeit I could count them on one hand, and we have all become good friends. One in particular was my shoulder when the tough times would hit or hard financial times in the early days.
There was an HBO show titled Getting On which had a scene involving a Cambodian mother. I was cast as background for that scene, a visiting family member, and I remember we were all so proud to be there and watch the actress deliver her dialogue in Cambodian. I believe I had been in the industry for 5 years at this point and it was quite a moment. It was one of the factors that gave me the confidence to walk around with my heritage, instead of trying to hide behind the mask of another.
[Note: This publicity clip of Getting On introduces the Cambodian storyline and the leads up to the scene Jimmy mentions.]
How did your understanding of masculinity evolve, from those early ideas shaped by gang culture to who you are today?
This is a great question and one that really made me dive into my time here in Los Angeles. You know, there is such a large amount of negative rhetoric about living and making a living in Los Angeles these days, it's quite unfortunate. I moved here when I was 18 and looked to reinvent myself, unfortunately, that also meant I was quite gullible and accepted that my heritage needed to be masked, however, outside of that, I met so many creatives and artists early in my life that reshaped my understandings of masculinity and really, what it meant to be a person. LA was so full of compassionate artists that took me under their wing, let me live their experiences through stories, lessons, and even being invited to private events and spaces.
A friend of mine whom I have lost contact with, was a saxophonist for the Rick James band. He invited me to a private practice hosted by Sinbad and other various artists from funk bands. I was intimidated and expected the environment to be an ego driven one. But what I experienced was a very welcoming space, all these men that have traveled the world at the top of their game, were just having fun, singing and dancing and telling stories and never once did I sense a need to prove their masculinity. In some circles I experienced as a kid, even to joke about one's masculinity was a challenge and a threat and would result in some kind of violence.
LA has been very open to philosophical and ideological debates, it's been awesome. I really do hope the city heals and is able to bring back productions and the creatives and artists that came with it.
So say we all. Back to Khmerican — how much of your background as a stunt designer makes it into the film?
My background as a stunt performer has given me the confidence to take reins of the director role. Well, let me say first that I moved to LA to pursue an acting and directing career. As with many people in the business, I found a community and passion for other aspects of filmmaking I didn't know I had.
I joined the stunt community when productions began expecting previzes (previsualization of action sequences) and because I had studied aspects of filmmaking, I quickly found myself designing, filming, editing, even doing the sound mixing and visual effects for the previzes. It fast tracked my career to a coordinator position. I have now shot over 100+ previzes so I feel like I was put through film school with the stakes being a little higher because millions of dollars are on the line. I will approach my film with the same mind set and the real life education of being on set and achieving sequences that make it onto the big screen.
Speaking of previz, I’ve made two short films with your DP, Kenzen Takahashi, and we prepped extensively with previz. He used a 3D software program, set.a.light 3D, to build our sets alongside our incredible production designer, Erin Riegel, and together Ken and I used it to plan the entire shot list remotely. We'd spend hours in it on Zoom—I used to jokingly call it Ken's Dollhouse—and I'm so thankful for how helpful it was to us on the day. Hearing that you also come from a previz religion as a stunt designer, are you approaching prep similarly?
Ken’s dollhouse, that's funny! I'll continue that tradition if you don't mind. Ken is awesome and I love his spirit of collaboration.
Yes, I believe in prep and the success of getting your days can be influenced by how much prep is involved. While I do love allowing the scene to breath and organically inspired moments, due to the tight budget and schedule of our shoot, I think we have to rely on previz, shotlist, and a strict schedule.
Are there any films you and Ken are using as touchstones when discussing your vision for Khmerican?
This short film is inspired by a scene from the film City of God, which shapes the feel of the film. Although Khmerican is less operatic than City of God, I wanted that gritty yet intimate feel through the lens. It's a very subjective style of shooting, and I want the audience to be a part of our characters' thought process and growth through the piece.
We also spoke of condensing the space with specific lenses and framing to ‘trap’ our characters until they can take a breath. We looked at Uncut Gems and their use of cinematography to create tension and unease. I also draw influences from Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society. My friends and I would watch those movies religiously on weekends.
Is the influence of Boyz n the Hood and Menace II Society part of the 'make it loud' mantra that recurs throughout Khmerican’s campaign?
The ‘make it loud’ mantra, that's a funny story. I ran with that mantra because I knew we were writing something that wasn't asked for. I wanted to loudly proclaim through the film that THIS IS WHAT BEING CAMBODIAN AMERICAN IS. Growing up with no money, no culture and no family history. Our adults that came over with our culture were tongue tied from PTSD and a myriad of other mental health issues. I didn't want to be a part of another story meant to generalize Asian Americans.
It's time to scream who we are. That's the loud part. I hope that makes sense.
That makes total sense. And it's powerful and I love that. Can't wait to see how it translates on the screen!
You can join me in supporting Jimmy and his film Khmerican by contributing to the campaign here:
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💰 Vimeo is offering $30,000 grants for short films! Hurry! The application window closes today, April 18th!
💰 Boulder Crest Foundation is offering cash prizes of up to $10,000 for short films and other video content on the theme of post-traumatic growth. The application window is currently open and closes May 23, 2025.
🥂 Congratulations to Emily Rolen on the success of her campaign!
⏳ There’s still time to contribute to Jon Densk’s campaign for Axolodyssey, Rachael Kuecher’s campaign for The Stress of IT!, and William Smart’s campaign for Quick Fix.
✍️ And, finally, feel free to write back if you have a question for one of the filmmakers, an update on a short film project of your own, or if you just want to say hi!