Encore
Short Film
UBCP / ACTRA
This is for VAFF - MAMM 21 (MIGHTY ASIAN MOVIEMAKING MARATHON). Open to both UBCP/ACTRA ULB and non-union performers. Encore is a short drama about identity, success, and the quiet space that opens up when you finally arrive at the life you were chasing. On the night world-renowned pianist Daniel Chen receives the highest honour of his career, a family celebration and a familiar childhood melody send him drifting into memory. As fragments of his life surface, a boy at the piano, a first love, the long climb to fame. Daniel begins to see something he never had time to notice: somewhere along the way, while focused on becoming the polished, public version of himself, he quietly lost track of the boy who started music for love. He isn't unhappy. He isn't searching. He's just, for the first time, reflecting.
Roles For This Project
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's aunt and Lily's younger sister. Loud, funny, opinionated, and endlessly energetic. She brings warmth, humor, and chaos to every room while masking a deep love for her family. Language: Must be fluent in Mandarin. Skills: Strong comedic timing and improvisational energy.
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's former love. We meet him over a series of warm, intimate flashbacks. Alex is the only person in the film who looks at Daniel and sees him, not Daniel Chen, the pianist. He represents a version of Daniel that was unselfconscious, freely in love, freely himself.
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
A world-renowned concert pianist who has just become the first Asian American to win one of the biggest piano prizes in the world. On the surface, Daniel has everything: a beautiful home, a wife who adores him, a proud family, and the exact career he dreamed of as a child. Underneath, on this single... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
A gifted young Daniel whose passion for music is pure and joyful before ambition and expectations reshape his life. Skills: Must play piano at a basic level (or be very coachable). Piano proficiency strongly preferred.
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's wife. A successful Chinese American lawyer. She loves Daniel completely and looks at him like a fan who can't believe she gets to be married to him. She is gracious, warm, capable, and slightly guarded. She loves Daniel deeply, and she is unaware of the deeper conflict Daniel carries within... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's widowed mother. Loving, proud, and emotionally resilient. Lily devoted much of her life to supporting her son's success and remains one of the most important people in his life. Language: Must be Fluent in Mandarin. Skills: Strong dramatic actor capable of conveying deep emotion with minim... [See More]
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Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's teenage cousin. Auntie Mei's son. Permanently glued to his phone, perpetually mortified by his mother, but in one moment, he looks up and asks Daniel to play the song he used to play as a kid — the line that triggers the entire emotional movement of the film. Authentic teenage energy is ess... [See More]
More Roles For This Project
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's aunt and Lily's younger sister. Loud, funny, opinionated, and endlessly energetic. She brings warmth, humor, and chaos to every room while masking a deep love for her family. Language: Must be fluent in Mandarin. Skills: Strong comedic timing and improvisational energy.
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's former love. We meet him over a series of warm, intimate flashbacks. Alex is the only person in the film who looks at Daniel and sees him, not Daniel Chen, the pianist. He represents a version of Daniel that was unselfconscious, freely in love, freely himself.
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
A world-renowned concert pianist who has just become the first Asian American to win one of the biggest piano prizes in the world. On the surface, Daniel has everything: a beautiful home, a wife who adores him, a proud family, and the exact career he dreamed of as a child. Underneath, on this single... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
A gifted young Daniel whose passion for music is pure and joyful before ambition and expectations reshape his life. Skills: Must play piano at a basic level (or be very coachable). Piano proficiency strongly preferred.
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's wife. A successful Chinese American lawyer. She loves Daniel completely and looks at him like a fan who can't believe she gets to be married to him. She is gracious, warm, capable, and slightly guarded. She loves Daniel deeply, and she is unaware of the deeper conflict Daniel carries within... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's widowed mother. Loving, proud, and emotionally resilient. Lily devoted much of her life to supporting her son's success and remains one of the most important people in his life. Language: Must be Fluent in Mandarin. Skills: Strong dramatic actor capable of conveying deep emotion with minim... [See More]
-
Submissions Due:
07/10/2026
Daniel's teenage cousin. Auntie Mei's son. Permanently glued to his phone, perpetually mortified by his mother, but in one moment, he looks up and asks Daniel to play the song he used to play as a kid — the line that triggers the entire emotional movement of the film. Authentic teenage energy is ess... [See More]
