ABOUT
Our Purpose
![[Family and War event]](https://re-presentmedia.org/1638778237173/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/family_and_war_cc-300x300-1.jpg)
Our purpose is to humanize media representations of underrepresented communities through a focus on personal stories from those communities in documentary film and nonfiction media.
By underrepresented, we include those from diverse racial/ethnic, religious, LGBTQ+, youth/senior, rural, and other backgrounds who are not often represented in mainstream media in the ways we see ourselves.
Personal stories are those focused on the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Although social issues may intersect with their lives, these stories are not primarily social issue narratives.
We are empowered when we tell our own stories in a deeply authentic way.
Our Story
![[Jennifer, Sabereh, and Adele]](https://re-presentmedia.org/1638778237173/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_6293_cc-e1553528761127-300x300-1.jpg)
Re-Present Media began over henna hair sessions between Sabereh Kashi and Jennifer Crystal Chien.
Our name was created by Ina Adele Ray.
In ancient Persian, African, Indian, and Chinese cultures, women used the henna plant for body art and hair dying. In some places, women would gather in bath houses and share stories and ideas while using henna to dye each others’ hair.
This practice continues today, from which Re-Present Media was born.
We launched our work with a filmmaker screening and panel discussion at the 2017 United States of Asian America Festival presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.
For the first two years, Jennifer Crystal Chien and Sabereh Kashi served as Co-Directors. In February 2019, Sabereh left Re-Present Media with Jennifer continuing as the Director.
Our Approach
– We value personal stories that are grounded in our communities and express shared human experiences.
– We promote work by media makers from underrepresented communities with perspectives and subject matters that they themselves identify as important, relevant, and timely versus those identified as important by outsiders.
– We create and connect to new ways to distribute documentary film and nonfiction media to wider American audiences.
– We support community-building through place-based programming.
– We foster dialogue in the industry to create new opportunities for personal storytelling.
Board Members
JENNIFER CRYSTAL CHIEN
PRESIDENT
Jennifer Crystal Chien is a documentary filmmaker with a focus on personal storytelling from underrepresented communities. She has produced and directed several documentaries focused on stories from the Chinese, Guyana, Polish, and Turkish immigrant communities, including Waiting for Bekir, Advayam, 3JahLove7, and one little bird. Her films have screened at film festivals nationally, including the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival and Big Apple Film Festival. She is a recipient of the Center for Cultural Innovation’s Investing in Artists grant for artistic innovation and is a former filmmaker-in-residence with the Center for Asian American Media.
TRACEY QUEZADA
TREASURER
Tracey Quezada is a Mexican-American documentary filmmaker and editor with over fifteen years of experience. Quezada recently edited a feature produced by KQED that premiered in March 2020, “Dear Homeland.” She writes, directs and edits independent documentaries and branded content for organizations such as the Othering and Belonging Institute, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, The New York Hall of Science, and UC Berkeley, among others. Raised by her single mother and Mexican-American grandparents who were farmworkers, Tracey pulls from her personal experience when telling stories about marginalized communities.
ADELE RAY
SECRETARY
Ina Adele Ray is a media-maker of Vietnamese and Scots-Irish American descent. She has worked in film and video production (from broadcast tv to social media) as a producer, director, and editor for over 20 years to support her passion for new technology, experimental media, and personal storytelling. She is an Executive Producer for MyHealthTeams in San Francisco. Her most recent short VR documentary is “The Red Room Project.” Adele has also taught film and media courses at the New School University, NYU, Parsons School of Design, Eugene Lang College, and Berkeley City College.
