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PIONEER LEGACY PROJECT

Invisible Giants

Minds that Built America

A first-of-its-kind micro-documentary series on Asian and Asian American innovators in science and technology for museum installations and mainstream multi-platform distribution.

An AASF Non-Profit Initiative

Invisible Giants Trailer

Executive Summary

Many of the breakthroughs powering today’s global economy and leaps in quality of life—from modern medicine to semiconductor technology—were shaped by a generation of Asian and Asian American innovators whose stories have gone largely unrecognized. Today, that generation risks quietly fading away.

The Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) proposes a national oral history initiative to preserve the life stories and scientific contributions of 50+ pioneering creators whose work underpins today’s biomedical, AI, and technology revolutions. Produced by the Emmy, Peabody, and Murrow Award-winning team at PRISCA, this multiplatform content suite led by a series of micro-documentaries will ensure these stories are on the record, preserved, and distributed at scale.

50+

MICRO-
DOCUMENTARIES

36,000

CODED TAG
DATAPOINTS

5 to 10

NATIONAL MUSEUMS
INSTALL EXHIBITIONS

120M+

HOUSEHOLDS
REACHED

10

EPISODE PBS TV
SERIES

Strategic Objectives

  1. Preserve America’s Innovation Legacy: Safeguard and highlight the contributions of 50+ pioneering scientists, whose work has shaped modern science and technology, yet remains largely unrecognized.
  2. Achieve Broad Mainstream Cultural Imprint: Position stories of Asian and AAPI innovators within mainstream media and cultural institutions for recognition of Asian American scientists as foundational figures in US innovation that have markedly changed quality of life
  3. Make Scientific History Accessible: Create engaging, high-quality content that connects the public—especially students—to the stories of discovery behind major breakthroughs
  1. Inspire Future Innovators: Encourage students to pursue STEM by showcasing how ideas evolve into transformative advancements that shape society
  2. Strengthen Trust in Science: Promote human-centered, accurate narratives that build trust and understanding of science and technology
  3. Document Overlooked Contributions: Ensure the stories of Asian American pioneers, often absent from mainstream media and educational materials, are uplifted and preserved
  4. Capture Firsthand Accounts: Act swiftly to document insights from innovators, as many are in their 80s and 90s, preserving their first-hand perspectives

Deliverables: Nine-Part Content Suite

Over a two-year production timeline, crews will travel globally to record in-depth interviews and create digital assets of 50 Legacy Project Pioneers and those closest to them. PRISCA will also gather key personal and scientific artifacts for museum display. The result—a tailored, comprehensive multiplatform content suite for each pioneer:

  1. “Think Different” Narrative: A modern tribute positioning each Pioneer as innovators in science and technology — in the vein of Einstein, Curie, and Jobs
  2. 50 Oral Histories: Two to three interviews per Pioneer, typically Pioneer plus a colleague and/or expert
  3. 50 Micro-docs: 5 minute films focused on each pioneer, featuring interviews, narration by AAPI celebrities, original animation, and archival material
  4. Education Curriculum: Content for lesson plans for primary, secondary, and university-level institutions
  1. 50 Articles: 1000 words by award-winning journalist
  2. 10-Episode TV Series: Each episode features 6 Pioneer Micro-docs with celebrity host
  3. Portrait Sets  for Museum Collections: White House–level photography by award-winning photojournalists
  4. Social Media Clips: 60 second social-optimized edits
  5. Object Preservation: Collection of physical objects and document digitization for museum exhibition

Urgency And A Narrowing Window

The project will capture firsthand accounts now, while 27 living pioneers are in their late 70s to mid-90s, and the living record still exists. Living memory can be lost if it is not recorded; when these voices go undocumented, the public record shifts to secondhand summaries, and key context disappears. Twenty-four pioneers have already passed without a complete on-the-record account of their work, a gap that widens over time and is most damaging for contributions that history has often overlooked or under-credited. By filming interviews and converting them into a verified, searchable archive for educators, researchers, and the public, the project preserves history in the words of the people who lived it and makes it usable for future generations, while giving emerging innovators a clearer view of the paths, decisions, and tradeoffs behind breakthrough careers.

Distribution: Proven Tier 1 Multiplatform Gtm Strategy

Mainstream, multiplatform distribution is as crucial as the finished production itself. It enables impact at scale by reaching audiences across broad demographics—not a tree falling in a forest. PRISCA has proven success in this process—prior documentary projects, including Sky Blossom, are among the most widely distributed documentaries of their time, with over 120M households reached across platforms.

Broadcast: Ten-episode series hosted by celebrity presenters airs on PBS stations nationwide and/or CNBC; 15,000+ airings with 120M households planned.

Past PRISCA Partners:

Museums: Access PRISCA’s relationships with MOCA (NYC), Wing Luke (SEA), Computer History Museum (SF), Henry Ford (DET), and AAPI Smithsonian (DC).

Past PRISCA Partners:

Streaming: PRISCA to identify Tier 1 streaming partner, for micro documentaries.

Past PRISCA Partners:

Broadcast News Earned Media: PRISCA’s relationships with major news outlets (NBC, CNN, CBS News, NYT) leveraged to promote series release.

Past PRISCA Partners:

Social Media: 60-second algorithm-optimized videos shared by social partners, including TikTok, Instagram.

Educational: Collaboration with STEM and AAPI studies curriculum developers to integrate videos into classes.

Past Prisca Partners:

Oral History Library: Unedited oral history videos, transcripts and documents hosted by major university library.

 

Traveling Exhibit: With additional funding, a traveling exhibition of artifacts, Micro-docs, and portrait photos.

50+ Pioneers Highlighted In Mainstream Micro-documentaries

Asian American innovators spanning eight disciplines whose contributions have shaped modern science, technology, and engineering.

Technology- And Ai-enabled Production And Distribution

Modern production and archival workflows will be used to increase accuracy at scale, documenting and interviewing 50 pioneers with cinema-grade video and sound—later converted into a structured record: time-coded transcripts, searchable metadata, verified timelines, and mapped references to discoveries, institutions, and primary sources. AI-assisted tools will speed transcription, translation, subtitling, and story logging, while producers and fact-checkers retain final editorial control. Most importantly, these stories, at various levels, will be made accessible to viewers in 360 °, at personalized, atomic levels.

To boost SEO and AI-driven search discoverability and increase the visibility of these innovators for both academic researchers and the general public, approximately 36,000 AI-assisted coded tags will be applied. This structured data layer will span hundreds of hours of interviews to systematically identify themes, quantify sentiment and behavioral signals, and transform conversations into structured, research-grade insights.

Outside of film, director Richard Lui has led AI-related initiatives across multiple technology cycles, including Mariana, a deep-learning marketing platform acquired in 2018, a spatial AI healthcare platform, and a national journalism AI initiative. He has launched technology brands spanning data, fintech, and pneumatics, informing PRISCA’s approach to pairing modern AI tooling with narrative strategy, production, and GTM. For that reason, PRISCA will run a repeatable science-review process to validate claims and standardize terminology, using primary materials and expert review. Distribution will combine traditional platforms with targeted partner outreach (CRM + ABM-style campaigns) to reach broadcasters, streamers, universities, museums, foundations, and STEM education networks.

Production Team: Emmy, Peabody, And Murrow Award-winning

PRISCA is the Academy Award®qualifying production team behind films like UNCONDITIONAL, the first-ever caregiving film to be honored by the White House, United Nations, U.S. Congress, and European Parliament. Led by 4x Peabody- and 3x Murrow-winning CNN and NBC News anchor and director Richard Lui and Emmy Award-winning producer Alex Lo, PRISCA creates Tier I content distributed in theaters by Universal Pictures and AMC Theatres, on television by PBS and network/cable platforms, and on streaming by Peacock and Prime Video.

  • Cinematic Craft, Journalistic Rigor: Films shaped by deep reporting instincts, making complex scientific ideas accessible to broad audiences
  • Interviewing Excellence: Interviews conducted by 20-year journalists for depth and authenticity
  • One Team, One Vision, End to End: Dedicated director, producer, crew, and editor for project consistency
  • AAPI-Led with Lived Perspective: experienced at documenting AAPI history for cultural fluency, trust

Credits And Donor Levels Per Micro-documentary — Non-profit Donations With Impact

The project will be made possible through a tiered donor model that ties philanthropic support to formal on-screen recognition. Donors, for their commitment and foresight, will be assigned film credits that appear in all distributed versions, placed in the main titles and/or end titles based on tier and distributor requirements. Credit placement will use standard on-screen formats, including single-card or shared-card title cards in the main titles, and rolling end credits in the end titles. These levels are for each micro-documentary, with tailored approaches available based on donor objectives and interests:

  1. Contributing Producer — $5,000+ — On-screen credit: “Contributing Producer” (End Titles, Rolling Credit). 
  2. Co-Executive Producer — $10,000+ — On-screen credit: “Co-Executive Producer” (Main Titles, Shared Card and/or End Titles). This credit recognizes significant financing support and may appear in the main titles or end titles.
  3. Executive Producer + Presented By — $20,000+ — On-screen credits: “Executive Producer” (Main Titles, Single Card where feasible and/or End Titles) plus a “Presented By” presentation card (top of film) and in the end titles. “Presented By” is a recognized documentary presentation credit category that provides an additional on-screen acknowledgment. All placements remain subject to final distributor/broadcaster credit policies.

These tax-deductible gifts through 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor (Asian American Scholar Forum  close the budget while accomplishing something precedent-setting. These Invisible Giants will be on the record in North America’s museums, cultural history halls, the zeitgeist, and mainstream conversation. In the national record, they will preserve the magnitude of their work with the care it deserves, and help distribute their stories at scale so audiences can see what modern American innovation is built on, and who carried it forward.

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