Sophoan Sorn,
SJCCM Founding President
Creator of San Joaquin Film Festival

Sophoan Sorn, is a multi-faceted, Cambodian-American artist and cultural entrepreneur in festival programming, documentary filmmaking, the visual arts, and contemporary piano performance. He was born on the border of Cambodia in a refugee camp in 1985. He arrived in the United States of America in 1991. After being self-taught for one year, he began classical piano training at the age of 11. A Lodi Seventh-day Adventist Academy Class of 2003 alumnus, he has studied at San Joaquin Delta College, and currently studies motion picture and television (focused in cinematography) at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

A community advocate, he is active in various community projects and organizations. In 2005, he founded Stockton Crossing Cultural Bridge (SCCB) project, and gained multi-facted support of various community people and organizations. In 2007, SCCB became San Joaquin Cross-Cultural Media (SJCCM).

He serves on the boards of: Sister Cities International - Northern California Chapter, in support of global citizen diplomacy; and Stockton Arts Center Alliance - a new organization with a mission "to promote and support arts organizations and cultural activities in our City through the development of a cultural, visual, and performing arts center" - in which SJCCM Is one of six pioneer, member organizations.

Active in business in the last five years, he owns Sophoan Sorn Productions, a diverse business servicing a broad clientele with visual arts; fine arts; multimedia creations; and marketing consulting and solutions.

He is a recipient of the 2005 and the 2007 Stockton Arts Commission Endowment for the Arts Awards (grants). He served as a photographer for “Stockton Speaks” oral history project (2004), and his local documentaries include SJCCM's “To: Iloilo and Battambang” (2006); and an SJCCM documentary on Mexican-American culture is currently in production.

He is the creator of the San Joaquin Film Festival, which opened from June 4 to 8, 2008 as the Northern San Joaquin Valley's first global film festival, featuring 54 films from 18 nations in 35 events across the city of Stockton. He hopes that through SJCCM, he would be able to promote film art and cultural appreciation, locally and globally. Through SJCCM's Youth Video Vision (YVV) program, he instructs and mentors young, aspiring filmmakers. Two YVV films premiered at the 2008 festival.

His hobbies and enjoyment include travel, gardening, running, journalism, music improvisation, hiking, meeting people, and time with his family. In the future, he hopes to attain a PhD in Film and to work in mainstream film and television as a director and a director of photography.

Official Website: www.sophoan.com

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