An Interview with Grace Lee, Documentary Filmmaker and Co-Founder of A-Doc

3 min readMay 27, 2020

A-Doc, the Asian American Documentary Network was established in 2016 and is a resource and network for nonfiction filmmakers at all different stages of their career. I spoke with one of A-Doc’s Co-founders, Grace Lee, about the organization, and its “Stories of the Coronavirus” microdoc series, with microdocs being released throughout the month of May and beyond.

Grace also told me about two of her most recent documentary film projects, the PBS five-part documentary “Asian Americans,” which will air May 11 and May 12, and the “And She Could Be Next” docuseries for POV on PBS that will be released in June. And she shared an interesting piece of advice for aspiring documentary filmmakers, to learn the difference between asking questions that reveal a story or insight vs. information.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How Grace got involved with the Auntie Sewing Squad
A-Doc (Asian American Documentary Network) and its mission
The A-Doc “Stories of the Coronavirus” microdoc series
How Valerie Soe’s microdoc “Sewing in the Time of Coronavirus” became A-Doc’s proof of concept for the “Stories of the Coronavirus” microdoc series
The events, work and initiatives of A-Doc
Resources that Grace recommends for documentary filmmakers to deal with the COVI-19 pandemic
A-Doc’s partnership with the Center for Asian American Media (in San Francisco) on a mentorship/fellowship program
A-Doc’s work on creating a database of documentary films made by Asian American filmmakers
The networking opportunities for filmmakers facilitated by A-Doc
What’s in the future for A-Doc
How has the landscape of Asian American documentary films and filmmakers changed since Grace started her career
The PBS five-part documentary “Asian Americans,” that Grace worked on
“And She Could Be Next” series for POV (television’s longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films on PBS) that Grace has worked on
Grace’s advice for aspiring documentary filmmakers

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