ABOUT US
Philippe COUTURE . Filmmaker . Coordinator .
After studying and practicing architecture in Paris, Philippe oriented his carrier to the cinema industry and worked on long feature films and advertising. He then turned his interest to documentary film making, writing and travelling. Travelling the world for over two decades, he published articles in magazines such as Geo Magazine, VSD, El Païs; and directed films that have been broadcast on national and international channels as well as film festivals. Becoming an award wining film maker, he grew more and more concerned by the fast evolving social and environmental degradation worldwide. His personal research about complex systems lead him to permaculture, for which he got his first certification in 2010. Since then he has been designing and leading projects, applying permaculture principles, concepts and techniques in Haiti, France, Hong Kong and now the Philippines.
Kevin MING . Anthropologue
Kevin’s lifelong work in Asia began in 1994, when after finishing a degree in Philosophy he spent over two years teaching in southern China and working with educational non-profits in northeastern Thailand. He then pursued an MA in Asian Cultural Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, worked on educational development and cultural exchange issues for the Lingnan Foundation and the Yale-China Association, and then finished his PhD in cultural anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Kevin is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, which he has studied formally for a number of years, including at Taiwan National University, and gets by in Cantonese, which he has studied at Chinese University of Hong Kong. His ongoing ethnographic research on migration, labor, gender, and changing rural/urban spaces in China, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia began as a Fulbright Fellow in 2004, during which he also began collaboration with leading activists on migrant worker rights, sex worker rights, land displacement issues, and socio-economic/environmental ecologies. Kevin is now conducting a three-year ethnographic project in the New Territories of Hong Kong on behalf of Project Share, a local NPO dedicated to helping young people realize more diverse and sustainable futures. This research focuses on the social, political-economic, and historically-constituted spatial/environmental ecologies that undermine the conditions of livability in the New Territories, in part through forms of material and imaginative displacement
Josephine LANE . Theatre Facilitator
Josephine is a theatre facilitator, director and producer from London. Josephine holds an MA in Applied Theatre from the Central School of Speech and Drama and has created theatre in many countries with children, young people and those involved with the criminal justice system. She has extensive experience with inclusive theatre. She enjoys working with different cultural communities and relishes the challenges that come with it, having recently run arts documentation projects in South Africa and Ethiopia. It was during these projects that she discovered a love for film editing. Josephine has a passion for films and has directed and produced a short film,”You, the Silence and I”. A creative and dynamic practitioner with a solid sense of humour, Josephine loves working with young people and helping them to realise their true potential through drama and acting.​
Tom HOPE . Theatre Facilitator -Lawyer
Tom Hope has worked for multinational companies in the Intellectual Property (IP) field since 1984, based in both Hong Kong and London. He assists companies in a wide range of IP matters in Hong Kong and globally, including portfolio management, contentious matters and transactional support.
As a partner with international law firm Linklaters, Tom headed its IP practice in Hong Kong until 1998, assisting companies mainly in protecting their IP rights in Hong Kong and mainland China. Thereafter, Tom managed the global Brand Protection Unit for Linklaters in London.
While with Linklaters, Tom was consistently ranked as a leading IP lawyer in Asia and the UK, known for his work in contentious IP as well as transactional support and portfolio management for a wide range of clients, especially those in the IT, fashion, leisure and entertainment sectors, such as Sony, Gucci, De Beers, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and the BBC.
In 2003, Tom established Appella, a consultancy assisting global companies in developing new brands for use globally and in local markets, including Greater China.
From 1998 to 2009, Tom was a visiting lecturer on IP in Greater China at the ETH Zurich University.
Tom graduated in law from Cambridge University (Jesus College). Tom is a non-practising solicitor in both Hong Kong and England.
‘Since the 1990s, Tom has also worked as a theatre professional, writing, directing, performing and producing shows in London and Hong Kong.’
Graduated from Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (E.S.A. Paris, France), created the group Spontact (Urban live theatre), Technical-Scenographic Director at Maison de la Culture de Créteil, Manager of Plastic Arts at Maison des Arts & de la Culture de Créteil (Under the direction of Jean Negroni), Graphic Designer for Théâtre Nattional de Chaillot (Director Jack Lang), Lecturer at l’Institut des Sciences de la Communication de l’Université M. de Montaigne (Bordeaux). Film director for commercials and TV programs, Michel Bastian is essentially a words magician, some would say a poet, yet, he still believes to be a visual artist and a painter.
