Joe Yang is the author of all film reviews here at foreign-films-for-you.com. Although he speaks only three languages, he has unwittingly caused minor trouble in four museums (in four different nations), but was never caught.

He has been kicked out of a Las Vegas casino only once, enjoys skydiving, but is scared to death of roller coasters.



Born in Dayton, Ohio, Joe Yang spent the early part of his childhood in Richland, Washington and Pleasanton, California. He finished primary school and middle school after moving to Schenectady, NY, and went on to graduate from Niskayuna High School.

Having a great affinity for both writing and film, Joe decided to study film production and attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. While there, he managed to study abroad in Taipei, Taiwan and in Cádiz, Spain, and graduated with a degree in Cinema/Photography and minor in Spanish.

During his junior year, he interned in LA on some direct-to-DVD movie where he earned college credit working as Joey Lawrence's stand-in. His other cinematic claim to fame was being an extra in the profane comedy Base-ketball from the guys responsible for South Park.

After completing coursework at the University of Albany in Albany, NY (SUNY) that fulfilled requirements for a Spanish major, he was accepted into a graduate program at SUNY where he planned to get a Masters Degree in Spanish Linguistics.

But despite a successful first semester and an enjoyable teaching assistantship to boot, Joe's taste for adventure took over and he relocated to New York City.



He found a job in advertising, and helped produce multi-lingual TV ads for the Asian-American market. Since he spent a substantial amount of time supervising post-production sessions, and as digital technology started to revolutionize the film/TV industry, Joe became interested in digital effects and rekindled his love of film.

Upon leaving the advertising industry after a year, he applied to NYU's Center for Advanced Digital Applications (CADA) where he earned a Masters Degree in Digital Imaging and Design. From the Big Apple Joe headed to Urbana, Ohio (about an hour west of Columbus), a small town not too far from where he was born.

There he worked for Urbana University's football team, the Blue Knights (now a Division 2 school), and rebuilt the football video program from the ground up. At Urbana, Joe was positioned outside the press box during game days where he was responsible for shooting the sideline angle of the team while avoiding being pelted by beer cans and other objects/fluids.

Through the help of connections, Joe took his first step into Division 1 football by being able to gain more video training with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Ironically enough, during Joe Yang's college days, he was way too busy with film production projects to watch football. Yet at the same time, he was developing skills that would later land him a job with that very sport.

His first D1 college football experience was marked by being able to observe the Buckeyes in the endzone of Horeshoe Stadium during the 2004 season opener against the University of Cincinnati.



In 2006, after two record-setting seasons with the Blue Knights, Joe decided to stay with the Big 10 and ended up at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he joined the video staff for the Badgers Football team. One of his responsibilities there included shooting coaches video from the endzone, where he would still, on occasion, have to avoid being pelted by beer cans and other objects/fluids.

And after two successful (and long) seasons with UW, Joe remains active in the Madison community as an Argentine tango instructor.

Tango and football? DONT ASK.

So what does this have to do with film reviews?

Well, just about everything.

Joe's adventures (or misadventures) in diverse disciplines afforded him the opportunity to observe and interact with just about every possible film-going demographic. With this in mind, he decided to put his love of writing, film, and foreign languages to use. Choosing the often underrated topic of foreign films, it is Joe's goal to help all movie-loving folks, not just intellectual elites, appreciate this diverse and fascinating facet of cinema.