Lawrence Le Lam's Cypher Cleans up at the Vancouver Short Film Festival

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By Roxanne Toronto

Posted on February 08, 2018 | Updated August 06, 2019, 9:06am

The 20 minute short film is a Top 6 Winner in the Crazy 8s Film Festival and recently received honourable mention from Whistler Film Festival.

Congratulations to alumnus Lawrence Le Lam (2016) on the roaring success of his short film Cypher at the 2018 Vancouver Short Film Festival. Directed and co-written by Le Lam, Cypher took home several prizes at the Vancouver Short Film Festival, including Best Sound Design, Best Actor (Male), Best Cinematographer, Best Director for Le Lam himself, and finally, Best Short Film.

True to Le Lam's passion for fringe arts movements, Cypher tells the story of a Korean high school student's introduction to the world of underground hip hop set amidst the racial tensions of 90s Los Angeles. Cypher follows the success of Le Lam's previous award-winning short film, The Blue Jet, about a radio DJ in Taiwan playing banned rock 'n' roll on the airwaves.

Check out this feature article on Le Lam in The Georgia Straight!

About Lawrence Le Lam:

Lawrence Le Lam is an award-winning filmmaker from Richmond, BC, Canada who loves exploring underground worlds. His short film, The Blue Jet, about a rebellious radio DJ broadcasting banned rock & roll in 1970s Taiwan has screened at festivals all around the world, and has won many awards including Best Student Production (Whistler Film Festival / Leo Awards 2016) and Best in Canada (Toronto Shorts International Film Festival). His most recent film, Cypher, explores the underground hip hop scene in 1990s post-riot LA. Le Lam was a part of the TIFF Talent Lab program in 2017. He has also directed and co-wrote a feature documentary about the social enterprise movement, Not Business As Usual, which continues to spread online and in classrooms for free, accumulating more than 100,000 views. Lawrence is currently working as a co-director and editor on Ying Wang's conspiracy thriller feature docudrama "A Brighter World".

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