Indie filmmaker Quentin Lee will World Premiere his latest narrative feature film Last Summer Of Nathan Lee at CAAMFest 2023. Celebrating its 41st year in 2023, CAAMFest takes place May 11-21, 2023
Shot on an iPhone 12 Pro during the 2021 pandemic year, the teen dramedy unspools the tale of an AAPI teenager who refuses to let a terminal illness stop him from living life to its fullest.
Teenager Nathan Lee (Harrison Xu) finds out that he has brain cancer right before he turns 18 and vows to live the remainder of his life with passion… and refuses to die a virgin. Knowing that his gay best friend, Dash (Matthew Mitchell Espinosa), wants to become a filmmaker, Nathan offers himself as a documentary subject to Dash – who is also in love with Nathan. Nathan and Dash decide to document as much of his remaining life as possible. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Natasha Tina Liu, Aaron Guest, and Dru Perez.
Quentin Lee and the cast and crew will be present at the Festival screening.
“We’re excited to welcome back Quentin Lee, one of the most recognized Asian American independent filmmakers,” says CAAM Executive Director Stephen Gong. “Quentin has screened many films at CAAMFest over the decades, including White Frog and his earliest short Flow.”
Winner of the 2020 Roddenberry Foundation Impact Awards for TV Creators and a member of the Producers Guild of America, fiercely independent filmmaker Quentin Lee has directed and produced over ten features. His first feature Shopping For Fangs (co-directed with Justin Lin/ Fast & Furious franchise) premiered at Toronto International Film Festival and became an audience favorite at CAAMFest 1997, an essential part of the Asian American New Wave Class of 1997. His subsequent features – Ethan Mao (CAAMFest 2004), The People I’ve Slept With (CAAMFest 2010), White Frog (CAAMFest 2012), THE Unbidden (CAAMFest 2016), and Drift (Frameline 2002) – have screened at festivals around the globe and opened theatrically.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Quentin went to high school in Montreal, holds a B.A. in English from UC Berkeley, an M.A. in English from Yale University, and an M.F.A. in Film Directing from UCLA.