#78 - Dave Liu & Elisa Gambino - Dave, Film Investor, Philanthropist, and 30 Yr Wall Street Veteran | Elisa, Emmy Award Winning Film Director & Producer

Have you ever wondered what it takes to get a film financed? What are financiers looking for before investing in a film? Or once you have the funds, what it takes to make a film? Well our next guests guests answer all of those questions and more. Please welcome Dave Liu and Elisa Gambino to The FilmUp Podcast!

Dave and Elisa have been collaborating for quite some time now on their wildly successful production Every Day After. A 35-minute documentary that provides a more nuanced look at the complexities of the healing process due to a cleft-lip that we don’t often see. And honors the invisible labor of a sister whose love and action make it possible for Jary to experience the everyday joys and struggles of growing up.

More on Dave and Elisa - get ready for this..


Dave Liu is a 30-year veteran of Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. He is an advisor, author, entrepreneur, investor, filmmaker, and philanthropist.

He started his career on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs and then joined Jefferies where he rose from the entry level to executive ranks of Managing Director and Co-Head of the Digital Media and Internet investment banking. He worked on $15 billion of transactions for hundreds of companies. One of his companies reached $200 million in revenue and 1,000 employees. Through his merchant bank, he is CEO advisor and investor to tech companies, many of which have achieved multi-billion dollar status. He is a member of Catalyst, the Sundance Institute’s film financing program, SF FILM Invest, SF FILM’s film financing program, and started Liucrative Media to invest in Asian American and other underrepresented filmmakers. He was previously CEO advisor to ProSiebenSat.1 Media, one of the largest media companies in Europe. Dave is also a “perspiring” artist and writer who loves to draw and write funny. Dave completed the Management & Technology Program at the University of Pennsylvania where he received a BS in Engineering and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School. He attended Harvard Business School where he received his MBA. He currently serves on the Executive Board of the Management & Technology Program at the University of Pennsylvania and on the Trust Advisory Committee of Tau Beta Pi, the oldest national engineering honor society. He is Chairman of the Philanthropic Advisory Council of Smile Train, the largest cleft-focused organization, and Vice Chairman of AsAmNews, one of the top news sites for Asian America.

Elisa brings to bear an extraordinary journalistic foundation to her film productions. Based first in Rome and then Moscow, Elisa spent her early career chronicling world events. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Gulf War in 1990 and from the collapse of the Soviet Union, to the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Somalia, Elisa was there. Her work in Somalia was recognized with a News and Documentary Emmy Award. She interviewed Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat, refugees in Bosnia, war criminals in Serbia and South Africans celebrating their first free vote.
Elisa believes in the power of short films and has executive produced award-winning shorts on issues related to human rights, global public health and the arts.

Dave & Elisa is also a big supporter of Smile Train, So they are dedicating this episode to their organization. Every 3 minutes a child is born with a cleft-lip. Smile train is a non-profit dedicated to supporting those children and their families who are suffering from this hardship.

You can learn more by going to smiletrain.org

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