
Episode 29 - Ann Kaneko & Jin Yoo-Kim - “We Are the Children”
Photo Credit: Todd Gray
[Image Description: Ann is pictured from the chest up. She wears a black, long-sleeved top and a gold necklace. Her black hair is cut into a short bob and her head is titled slightly to the side. She looks to the camera as she stands against a beige and white blurred background.]
Photo Credit: Jin Yoo-Kim
[Image Description: Jin is pictured from the chest up. She wears bright red lipstick and has shoulder lengthed black hair. She wears a graphic print shirt that has a black background with swirly, multi-colored shapes. She stands against a white background in front of some foliage.]
In this episode, I speak with director, producer, and writer Ann Kaneko and producer Jin Yoo-Kim about their latest project, Manzanar: Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust. We chat about Ann’s very impressive matchmaking skills, their work on K-Town ‘92 and their reflections of the 1992 Rebellion, and how they successfully weaved the stories of environmentalism, the Indigenous, and Japanese-Americans into a beautiful tapestry. This episode’s song is classic, “We are the Children” by Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto, and "Charlie" Chin. The song was one of the first bits of artistry that defined the Asian-American identity. And the chorus is a call for all of us to unapologetically embrace every aspect of our beings. It reads, Sing a song for ourselves, What have we got to lose, Sing a song for ourselves We’ve got the right to choose.”

Episode 13 - Denise Hamilton - “We Shall Not Be Moved”
[Image Description: Denise Hamilton is pictured from the torso up. She was an aqua colored button down shirt, tortoise-shell glasses, and a black folded scarf around her head that has white lettering and pink, blue, and yellow graphics. She smiles slightly as her chin rest on her hand.]
In this episode, I speak with educator, filmmaker and former co-chairperson of BADWest: Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers - West, Denise Hamilton, In our conversation we talk about BADWest, her latest doc/interactive project Race Relay, and what it’s like to be educating the next generation of international documentary filmmakers at the New York Film Academy. Because Denise and her family has deep ties to the Black liberation movement that go all the way to Mary McLeod Bethune, the song for this episode is Mavis Staples rendition of the gospel classic, “We Shall Not Be Moved.”

Episode 10 - Jamie Starboisky - “Live Your Life Be Free”
Photo Credit: Jamie Starboisky [Image Description: Jaime stands against a red brick wall. He has a beard and wears a black sleeveless sweater with white heats, spades, diamonds and a red button shirt.]
In this episode, I speak with director, creative producer, writer Jaime Starboisky about the Queer Media Film Festival and his virtual reality project, Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits. In 1991, the two protagonists of the project, Therese & Peta, did a road trip back to Peta’s home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Because in conversations with Jaime, Peta described that time as a moment they felt free, this week’s song is Belinda Carlisle’s “Live Your Life Be Free.”

Episode 9 - Claire Aguilar - “A Meeting in the Ladies Room”
[Image Description: Claire Aguilar is pictured from the shoulders up She stands in front of a screened window and a multicolored abstract painting. She smiles.]
In this episode, I speak with award-winning film curator, film festival director and television commissioning editor and broadcaster, Claire Aguilar about her career in documentary and her recent work with the American Film Showcase Pakistan. Because we first began working together, we always seem to run into each other to and fro from the restroom, this week’s song is Klymaxx’s R&B classic, “Meeting in the Ladies Room.”