About
Justyn Ah Chong is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker from Mililani, Hawaiʻi. After graduating from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in 2011, Justyn worked as a cinematographer and editor at ʻŌiwi Television Network - Hawaii's premiere Indigenous broadcast station. In 2019 his narrative short DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK IN WAIKĪKĪ premiered at the Maoriland Film Festival in New Zealand and shared the People’s Choice Award for Best Short Drama before continuing on to screen at 20+ festivals around the world and winning several other awards.
Most recently, Justyn was a producer on the George Helm narrative bio-pic, HAWAIIAN SOUL (2020), which premiered at the 2020 Hawaii International Film Festival and won best Made in Hawaii Short and an Audience Award. He's currently producing Kekama Amona's narrative short film, E MĀLAMA PONO WILLY BOY, and is in pre-production for his second directorial narrative short, THE MAN AND THE TREE. In collaboration with Nia Tero and Upstander Project, Justyn is one of six indigenous filmmakers working on a collaborative documentary film called the RECIPROCITY PROJECT, currently in post-production.
Concurrently, Justyn continues to create culturally-inspired, place-based stories on a work-for-hire basis through his production company, Olonā Media.