A Berkeley-born daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and Vietnamese parents, American Film Institute grad Jennifer Phang's thesis project, "Love Ltd." , a suburban dramedy, was screened at over thirty international film festivals. As an honoree for the Film Independent Project: Involve program, Jennifer worked under the mentorship of acclaimed director Tony Bui and developed "Half-Life", her first feature, at the Film Independent Directors' Lab under Rodrigo Garcia. In 2006, she was nominated for the Rockefeller Foundation's Film and Video Fellowship and the IFP NY Adrienne Shelly Director's Grant.

If we made a movie out of your life so far, what would the title be?
The Good Girl

You wake up tomorrow and movies no longer exist. What would we find you doing professionally?
Astronaut-painter hyphenate

If you could have a drink with any character from a movie who would it be and why?
Orlando (as played by Tilda Swinton) because she has lived across centuries and genders, and could say something we could trust as true.

What happened to advance your film from an idea on the page into a reality?
The idea for the setup was sparked long ago when I observed my baby brother open a can of peaches. His will and independence at 6 years struck me as both moving and strange. The end came to me as I watched a sunset with a childhood friend. I outlined the script in a workshop while I was getting my MFA at the American Film Institute. In my spare time I developed the contemporary pre-apocalyptic themes after graduation and then the FilmIndependent Directors Lab selected the script for development. This was a critical step in our getting recognition, my initial crewing up with my DP Aasulv Austad, editor Gloria Vela, and producer Reuben Lim, and our developing and shooting scenes that presented our vision for Half-Life to potential investors. The investors fell into place as we locked in our cast and the rest of our crew.