Esther Veronin (Russian: Есфирь Майкловна Веронина, born 11 March 1987), is a Taiwanese director, singer, actress and CEO of entertainment startup Meimeiwawa Multimedia. She is the elder sister of singer Lara Veronin.
Esther Veronin 梁妍熙 | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | 11 March 1987 California, United States |
| Occupation(s) | director, singer, actress, ceo |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | 2013–present |
Career
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In May 2013, Veronin and sister Lara Veronin founded Meimeiwawa Multimedia,[1] (Chinese: 妹妹娃娃多媒體; pinyin: mèimèi wáwá dūo méi tǐ; "Meiwa Media" for short), an entertainment and lifestyle themed start-up that creates multimedia content. Esther, as CEO and co-founder has directed all short and long-form content produced by Meimeiwawa, including their entries in the Taipei stop of the 48-hour film project,[2] as well as their award-winning contribution to the Tainan 39 Hour Short Film Contestival,[3] for which they received the accolade of ‘Best Cinematography’ in 2015.
In 2015, the sisters introduced a new online web series called ‘Meiwa Diaries’[4] under a new concept ‘Faux reality’, which depicts snippets of their daily lives in a partly fictional manner.
One of their first international film project was "Taipei As We Know It (TAWKI), an English-language webseries set in Taipei, Taiwan touching on social issues and quirks of the sisters' homeland, Taipei.[5]
In 2018, Veronin wrote, directed, and produced her first feature-length film, "Tomorrow's Star", which starred her sister Lara and combined the music from Lara's third solo album "Thousand-Faced Beast" into a cinematic visual album.
Performance
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During mid-2014, Veronin also participated in the "Global Taiwanese songwriting and singing competition",[6] gaining attention for her similarity in appearance to Taiwanese actress Mirandu Lu, and for her moving performance. Veronin also participated in the direction of sister Lara Veronin’s music video for her 2014 single "Dida",[7] which was selected as the theme song for the "Fluid Sexuality International Film Festival" in 2015. Both sisters have publicly expressed their advocacy of LGBT rights.[8]
Veronin also received glowing reviews of her performance in The LAB's stage performance of the 1966 play Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, having been praised by the Taipei Times to "shine in the challenging lead role".[9]
From 2014 to 2015, both Veronin sisters sang regularly at Brown Sugar, a jazz club in Taipei, where they performed a medley of both Taiwanese and Western music.
Activism
editVeronin is an outspoken participant in feminist[10] and LGBT issues, having participated in many women-powered events in Taiwan. Both Veronin sisters also use Meimeiwawa Multimedia and their own popularity as platforms to raise awareness on various social issues via mediums such as events,[11] music videos, short films, and movies.
Most recently in 2019, Esther and Lara were both named as spokespeople and partners to the Modern Women's Association in their campaign against sexual violence of "Only Yes Means Yes".[12]
Personal life
editOn 29 May 2015, Veronin's mother died after collapsing from a cardiac stress test.[13]
Filmography
editAs CEO and Co-founder of Meimeiwawa, Veronin also takes on the roles of screenwriting, directing, editing, and producing various visual content put forth by the company. The genres of such visual content range from short films to music videos and even a feature film.
| Year | Role | English title | Chinese title | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Writer-director | 《Taipei As We Know It "TAWKI"》 | 《台北據我們所知》 | Comedy short film |
| 2014 | Writer-director | 《Who Killed Joanna Wang?》 | 《誰殺了王若琳》 | Best Soundtrack & Costume in 48 Hour Film Project Taipei[14] |
| 2015 | Writer-director | 《She Wore Red》 | 《紅》 | Best Cinematography in the Tainan 39-Hour Short Film Contestival[15] |
| Executive Producer | 《Still Better Than Love[16]》 | 《比真愛還好》 | Official selection for the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival[17] | |
| Writer-director | 《Meiwa Diaries》 | 《妹娃日記》 | Faux reality web series | |
| 2016 | Writer-director | 《Taipei As We Know It》 | 《台北據我們所知》 | Mini short film series |
| Writer-director | 《Newbie Dad》 | 《那些被罵後才知道的事》 | Collaboration with the National Development Council (Republic of China) |
| Year | Role | English title | Chinese title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Writer-director | 《Tomorrow's Star》 | 《明日之星》 | Cinematic Visual Album |
| Year | Role | English title | Chinese title | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Writer-director | 《Dida》 | 《滴答》 | Lara Liang |
| 2016 | Writer-director | 《Where Do We Go》 | Lara Liang | |
| 2017 | Writer-director | 《Play/Turn》 | 《玩轉》 | Lara Liang |
| 2018 | Writer-director | 《Watch Out》 | 《蹦蹦蹦》 | Lara Liang |
| Writer-director | 《Tomorrow's Star》 | 《明日之星》 | Lara Liang | |
| Writer-director | 《Precious Pain》 | 《最愛的痛》 | Lara Liang | |
| Writer-director | 《No Absolutes》 | 《沒有絕對》 | Lara Liang | |
| Writer-director | 《Thousand-Faced Beast》 | 《千面獸》 | Lara Liang |
References
edit- ^ "【創意人房間】梁心頤＆梁妍熙：城市裡的禪意生活 | Simple Life". www.simplelife.streetvoice.com. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
- ^ "tawki, lara & esther veronin: house of champions short now out!". Asian Pop Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Lai awards filmmakers with Tainan accolades". China Post. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
- ^ "Meimeiwawa Multimedia Introduces New Genre Faux Reality Show 'Meiwa Diaries'". Hello Asia. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ^ "Tawki: Taipei as we know it: just to jog your memory…". Asian Pop Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ^ "LARA姊姊進軍演藝圈 混血兒梁妍熙激似女星路嘉". ET Today. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ^ "今日最song：Lara梁心頤 （滴答）". 中時電子報. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ^ "Lara姊妹超麻吉 錯當蕾絲邊". Liberty Times Net. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ "Surviving in the dark". Taipei Times. 10 December 2015.
- ^ "INTERVIEW: Meimeiwawa's Esther Veronin on Feminism in Taiwan". TheNewsLens. 19 April 2018.
- ^ "Lara and Esther Veronin to Voice for Women's Equal Right". Toggle.[dead link]
- ^ 半夜被男同學偷摸 Lara卻錯愕自責「沒有保護好自己」 Mirror Media
- ^ "Lara Liang(梁心頤)'s Mom Passes Away From Heart Attack During Physical AHMIKE.COM | 阿咪 – Hong Kong TVB Entertainment News in English". www.ahmike.com. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ "Announcing the Winners – All Titles". The 48 Hour Film Project Taipei. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "2015 Tainan 39 Hour Short Film Contestival 臺南39小時拍片競賽" – via YouTube.
- ^ "Finding love in a hi-tech world?". Taipei Times. 10 August 2017.
- ^ "2016 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – Program Guide". issuu.
External links
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