Joanna Vasquez Arong
Producer / Director

Joanna decided to move to Beijing in 2002 when she switched careers to filmmaking. Since then she premiered her first feature documentary, NEO-LOUNGE, in 2007 recounting intimate stories of foreigners who came to Beijing searching to break from their past. It played in over 20 festivals around the world and has won four awards, including two Best Documentary awards. Her second film, YUGONG YISHAN, which explores an ancient Chinese fable and how it relates to three generations, premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2008. It won the Kyobo Award at the 29th Busan Asian Short Film Festival and the Best Short Documentary at the 8th Festival Internacional del Cine Pobre Humberto Solas. In 2009, she was one of 12 non-African filmmakers commissioned by the Rotterdam Film Festival for their Forget Africa series. Joanna relocated back to her hometown, Cebu, earlier this year to also start working on Philippine projects.

Prior to working with documentaries, Joanna worked in various fields around the world including finance (Deutsche Bank, Asia-Pacific) and economic development (United Nations, Bangkok, Beijing & NY; Asian Development Bank, Manila). She pursued her Bachelor's degree at Boston College with a year exchange at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (BA Political Science & International Studies) and her Master's degree at the London School of Economics (MSc Development & Environmental Studies).
Contact : joanna@oldfoolfilms.com