Best Picture & Best Student Film
Glodok ’98 · Los Angeles Film Awards
Founder profileLos Angeles / Jakarta
Nicholas
Tjen.
Founder & CEO
Nicholas Tjen is a Los Angeles-based Indonesian filmmaker, editor, and creative technologist whose work is grounded in culturally specific stories and emotional truth.
About Nicholas
01 / ProfileStory first.
Always.
Nicholas Tjen is the Founder and CEO of New Theory Media. Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, he moved to the United States in 2018 to pursue filmmaking and build a career around stories that create connection, preserve memory, and make underrepresented experiences visible.
Working across directing, editing, and creative technology, Nicholas brings a post-production mind to every stage of the process. His approach balances emotional intuition with technical precision—shaping ideas from their earliest creative treatment through the final cut.
His most personal work to date is Glodok ’98, an Indonesian-language short drama he wrote and directed about a Chinese-Indonesian family navigating the May 1998 crisis in Jakarta. The film began as one of four senior thesis projects selected by California State University, Northridge’s film production program.
Selected recognition
02 / MilestonesWork with
resonance.
Nicholas’s work moves between personal narrative, commercial storytelling, and post-production—united by a belief that craft should always serve the human story.
Best Student Director
Glodok ’98 · Indie Short Fest
3 wins & 4 nominations
Glodok ’98 · Festival recognition
Stage 32 Semifinalist
10th Annual Short Film Contest
Selected work
03 / Filmography2025
Glodok ’98
Writer & Director
A deeply personal historical drama about love, sacrifice, and resilience in Jakarta’s Chinese-Indonesian community.2025
Something Good Going On
Senior Lead Editor
A bittersweet coming-of-age story shaped around family, sacrifice, and the messy love between a father and son.2026
My Duplicated Husband
Lead Editor
Editorial leadership for a narrative short-form series, balancing performance, pacing, and story clarity.Work with Nicholas