Author: representmedia
Congratulations to For Us, By Us fellow, Priyanka Suryaneni, for being awarded the East Bay Fund for Artists grant from the East Bay Community Foundation for her film, Saranam Gacchâmi (I take refuge).
Saranam Gacchâmi is a documentary film about an enterprising Buddhist Monk who defies all odds to set up one of the largest Tibetan Monasteries in the Bay Area to preserve the endangered Tibetan culture and traditions.
For Us, By Us fellow, Chad Santo Tomas, was featured in BAVC Media‘s SF Commons Presents: Personal Docs event on December 14, 2023 at Ninth Street Independent Film Center in San Francisco.
The event highlighted personal documentary filmmaking from local Bay Area filmmakers through a series of snippets from films and moderated discussion with the filmmakers about the challenges and triumphs in their creative process from development to distribution. Other featured filmmakers were Elizabeth Herrera, Mabel Valdevizio, and Vanessa Smith.
Congratulations to Re-Take Oakland filmmaker, Jay Gash, for being awarded a Black Women Photographers x Nikon Grant. This grant fund awards monetary grants and Nikon Z gear to Black creatives working in the industry. The grants are marked to aid the completion of visual projects and help with business expenses.
ALIVE IN BRONZE: Huey P. Newton, directed by Re-Take Oakland filmmaker A.K. Sandhu, was acquired by MTV Films and is now streaming on Paramount+.
In ALIVE IN BRONZE: Huey P. Newton, sculptor Dana King’s hands and activist Fredrika Newton’s memories come together to build a new monument that honors the Black Panther Party’s vital place in American history.
Toni Bell, Re-Present Media’s Impact Consultant, and Jennifer Crystal Chien, Re-Present Media’s Director, presented a workshop, Restorative Practices for BIPOC Arts Administrators, at the Arts Administrators Color Network Annual Convening on November 12, 2023 in Chicago.
This workshop focused on principles and practices for BIPOC arts administrators working within environments rooted in white supremacist culture. The vision was to focus on working sustainably and effectively amid predictable challenges that arise.
We discussed common institutional and interpersonal dynamics within white dominant culture organizations and introduced restorative practices and strategies within the areas of sustainability, recentering BIPOCs, and community building.
Concepts we covered included:
The goal of this workshop was to support decolonization of participants towards healthier ways of relating to organizations, others, oneself, and the work, which relates to the conference theme of “We Will Flourish.” This session was intended for those who are BIPOC working with or inside white dominant culture organizations and environments and come from a collective empowerment cultural lens.
Congratulations to Re-Take Oakland filmmaker, Pallavi Somusetty, for being awarded the IDA Logan Elevate Grant, for her film, Coach Emily. With this grant, she will receive $30,000, story consulting, dedicated artist support, year-long individualized professional development opportunities and filmmaker-guided public programming.
Coach Emily is a feature documentary that follows Emily Taylor, an Oakland-based Black and queer rock climbing coach, as she battles systemic racism in her professional and personal life. Through her Brown Girls Climbing program, Emily trains young girls of color, including her own daughter, as they resist discrimination in the climbing world and work to define themselves in the outdoors.
We are excited to announce that Re-Present Media received a California Humanities grant for our event series, For Us, By Us: Our Beloved Communities. The series is planned to take place in Spring 2024.
In partnership with Filmmakers Collaborative SF, we are presenting a film screening and discussion event series highlighting six documentary films made by a multicultural group of local filmmakers who are telling personal stories of Bay Area community heroes. The featured filmmakers were fellows in our inaugural For Us, By Us Filmmaker Incubator program in 2023. We look forward to continuing to amplify their work and are grateful to California Humanities for their support!
Helping Independent Filmmakers Navigate the PBS System
Cost: Free for Filmmakers Collaborative SF members. Sliding scale ($0-$25) for non-members.
There are many ways independent filmmakers can work with PBS to get their film broadcast. This is a practical workshop covering:
Facilitated by Jennifer Crystal Chien and Kevin White, with special guests filmmaker Stephen Talbot (who has had films on PBS American Experience, Frontline, and Independent Lens) and former Vice President of Program Management at PBS, Donald Thoms (POV, Independent Lens, and VOCES).
We participated in the Color Congress National Convening, a biannual event for member organizations of Color Congress.
At the inaugural National Convening, 78 leaders of documentary organizations based in the United States and US islands gathered in Atlanta and online for three days with the aim of building trust, a shared vision for a reimagined documentary landscape, and a plan for our collective work forward.
Oakland’s communities tell our own stories through short personal films followed by community dialogues with guest speakers. This is the third in a series of three events in October 2023.
Sat, Oct 28, 1-3pm
East Bay Community Space
507 55th St, Oakland
For free tickets: https://re-presentmedia.ticketleap.com/oaktownstories2023-3/
“Synchronized” (Corinne Cueva)
Inspired by Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi, Synchronized was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic and features voices from BIPOC LGBTQ+ Oakland residents along with beautiful takes of Oakland’s changing urban landscape.
– With guest speaker Maria Clara Merçon and community partner Carmen Wong (Three Thirty Three Arts).
“Wake The Town” (Bryan Wiley)
Wake The Town features the personal stories of former Oakland residents from the Black community and their complex relationship with rapid gentrification.
– With guest speaker La’Donna Mitchell.
“Coach Emily” (Pallavi Somusetty)
Emily Taylor is an Oakland-based queer Black rock climbing coach who supports young girls and non-binary kids of color as they grapple with discrimination in the outdoors.
– With guest speaker and community partner Emily Taylor (Brown Girls Climbing).