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Quincy Woo (G15) calls his film Us. Them. Me. an “extracurricular side project.” The Oregon Independent Film Festival called it the best dramatic short film of the year in its 2017 competition, honoring Woo and other winners at an awards ceremony in September.

A cinema and media communication major, Woo directed, filmed and edited the 17-minute film in his final semester at ���ӽ紫ý. Filming took four weekends followed by months of editing with the assistance of classmates “who were just as crazy and excited to help me out,” says Woo. The resulting film won the 18th annual Fox Film Festival Best Picture award in 2016.

Now a freelance videographer and photographer based in Portland, Woo says he was “pleasantly surprised and honored” that the film was accepted to be part of the Oregon Independent Film Festival competition. “I did not expect it to receive any awards,” he says, “but I was definitely pleased and excited upon hearing the festival award announcement.”

Us. Them. Me. is not the only film from Woo to receive positive attention. This year he produced a short film, A Day, for the Portland Japanese Garden, capturing a day from sunrise to sunset at the nine-acre garden that draws 350,000 tourists annually.

Woo toured the garden a little more than a year ago and filmed his own short video, which caught the eye of officials at the Japanese garden. “They really enjoyed the video and contacted me about possibly working together to produce a video for the garden itself,” Woo says. The result was a short film about a day in the life of the garden, though it actually took three days to film the people who curate and take care of the garden spaces.

“We decided to focus on the story behind the scenes and the many hands it takes to create and run such a beautiful campus,” Woo says. It took two weeks of editing and fine-tuning to create the final result, now shared on the Japanese Garden website and social media to create interaction and engagement with local residents, visitors and donors.

Next up for Woo is another short film, Immunity, which he cowrote and filmed in the summer and is set to be released in early 2018. Woo hopes to continue to expand his portfolio and build up enough experience and clientele to eventually work full time in film. Until then, he says he’ll continue to enjoy his role as a freelancer. “Ultimately, any time I do get the opportunity to craft and tell a story through film that is able to connect with others, I find a certain fulfillment and reward.”