PARAMITA, directed by Re-Take Oakland filmmaker Kirthi Nath is screening in Cinema as Prayer: A Night of Queer South Asian Films on August 19.

Cinema as Prayer: A Night of Queer South Asian Films is a special one-night-only film event featuring PARAMITA by Kirthi Nath and Longing Suite by Lata Mani and Nicolás Grandi. These two poetic films move through longing, belonging and spiritual transformation, opening a space for reflection, healing and connection.

PARAMITA bears witness to Prajna Choudhury’s 25-year journey of coming out to her traditional Bangladeshi mother. Told with intimacy and tenderness, the film invites us into a meditative experience as Prajna connects with Buddhist practice and nature as gateways for intergenerational healing.

Longing Suite is a lyrical exploration of awakening to the feminine Divine. Building on a cycle of poems written by Mani in the 1990s, the film traces the arc of a heart-mind-body awakening to the sacred in all that exists.

Together, these intimate, spiritual films invite us to experience cinema as prayer.

The screening will be followed by a conversation and Q&A with the filmmakers, moderated by Madeleine Lim, Executive and Artistic Director of QWOCMAP (Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project).

Wednesday, August 19, 2026
6:15 PM
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, 2966 College Avenue, Berkeley
ADA-accessible theatre

Yu & Me, produced by For Us, By Us fellow, Chad Santo Tomas, will have its New York Premiere at AAIFF on August 7. The film recently had its Bay Area Premiere at SF DocFest and has screened at Mountainfilm Festival, HAAPIFEST, International Queer Women of Color Film Festival, Asian American Showcase, and DisOrient Film Festival.

Yu & Me is a documentary short that explores the aftermath of a fire that destroys a beloved Chinatown bookstore. Faced with the loss of her dream, its hyper-independent owner, Lucy, learns that community is necessary for survival.

Safar (Journey), directed by For Us, By Us fellow Priyanka Suryaneni, is premiering at the United States of Asian America Festival. The event will include a live dance performance by choreographer Joti Singh and her team, panel discussion, and audience dialogue.

🙏 Opening Grounding Session — a guided wellness experience led by Manpreet Singh, MSW
📖 Poetry Reading — Gursewak Musafir and Sonia Dhami read the poetry of Avtar Singh Pash
🎶 Live Dance Performance — Joti Singh and Duniya Dance & Drum Company
🎬 Film Premiere — SAFAR (Journey), a poetic short documentary exploring South Asian histories at Angel Island
🎤 Panel Discussion — Priyanka Suryaneni, Joti Singh, and Edward Tepporn, Executive Director of AIISF, moderated by Moazzam Sheikh
💫 Closing Community Reflection — inviting personal stories and shared experience

Sunday, June 14, 2026
3:30–5:30 PM
Creativity Theater, Children’s Creativity Museum, Yerba Buena Gardens
Tickets

Safar is a poetic short documentary that explores the overlooked history of South Asians at the Angel Island Immigration Station. The film follows Oakland-based choreographer Joti Singh as she retraces the life of her great-grandfather, Bhagwan Singh Gyanee — a poet, organizer, and possible detainee at Angel Island. Through site-specific performance and re-enactment, Safar examines migration, colonial oppression, and racial exclusion through a deeply personal diasporic lens.

PARAMITA, directed by Re-Take Oakland filmmaker Kirthi Nath is having its Oakland premiere on June 12!

Opening Doorways for Belonging and Liberation is a special community event featuring the film PARAMITA and a healing workshop that invites us to slow down and explore what it means to belong — to ourselves, each other, and the natural world.

The evening weaves together meditation, sacred reflection, community care circles, rituals and a screening of PARAMITA, a poetic documentary that bears witness to Prajna Choudhury’s 25-year coming out journey with her traditional Bangladeshi mother and her connection to Buddhist practices and nature as gateways for acceptance and intergenerational healing.

PARAMITA has screened internationally at more than 35 film festivals, and we are thrilled to celebrate its hometown Oakland premiere and companion healing workshop at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Local filmmaker and meditation teacher Kirthi Nath will be present to facilitate the film screening and healing workshop.

Friday, June 12, 2026
6–8 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM)
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
FREE (registration requested • limited seats)

Women Who Ride, directed by Re-Take Oakland filmmaker Jessica Jones, had a preview screening and fundraiser at KALW‘s 220 Montgomery Live Event Studio and Gallery on March 13, 2026.

Women Who Ride is an intimate portrait of D’Vious Wayz Motorcycle Club, Oakland’s first Black all-women motorcycle club. Led by Tish Edwards, this group has been together for 20 years, but as membership dwindles during COVID and family responsibilities mount, multiple challenges will need to be addressed on the journey ahead.

For Us, By Us fellow Thanh Tran was selected as a 2026 Film Independent Amplifier Fellow. Each Fellow will receive a $30,000 grant along with a year-long program of creative and strategic support, customized mentorship, professional coaching, and financial and business advisement.

Thanh’s current project is Finding Má, a documentary about an Amerasian Vietnamese and Black family shattered by the foster care and prison systems who reunite to heal old wounds and rebuild their family, starting with finding their unhoused mother in the streets of Sacramento.

PARAMITA, directed by Re-Take Oakland filmmaker Kirthi Nath will have a film screening and healing workshop on March 7. This experiential workshop invites you to slow down and experience what it means to belong—to oneself, one another, and the natural world. The workshop weaves together meditation, healing rituals, sacred reflection, community care circles, and a screening of the film PARAMITA.

Opening Doorways for Healing and Belonging

Sat, March 7, 10AM-2PM
San Francisco Dharma Collective

PARAMITA is a documentary short that blends poetry, memoir, and prayer to explore the transformative power of mindfulness, acceptance, and belonging. The film bears witness to Prajna Choudhury’s 25-year journey of coming out to her traditional Bangladeshi mother. Told with intimacy, tenderness, and quiet power, PARAMITA invites viewers into a meditative spiritual experience, as Prajna connects with Buddhist practices and nature as pathways to intergenerational healing and reconciliation.

For Us, By Us fellow Priyanka Suryaneni was awarded the East Bay Fund for Artists grant from the East Bay Community Foundation for her film, Inkilab (Revolution). All works supported by the East Bay Fund for Artists highlight narratives of cultural identity, resistance, healing, and belonging, centering the histories and futures of BIPOC communities in the East Bay.

Inkilab (Revolution) follows dancer Joti Singh as she seeks to reclaim the tarnished legacy of her great-grandfather, Bhagwan Singh Gyanee—a freedom fighter in the San Francisco–based Ghadar Party, the first organized transnational Indian freedom movement led by immigrant workers.