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WTTF…a modern day Guess Who is Coming To Dinner?

 

WTTF…a modern day Guess Who is Coming To Dinner?

I have seen several previews on TV for NBC’s new comedy Welcome To The Family. I wasn’t too interested until I saw a commercial yesterday that talked about interracial families.  The two teenagers in the show were talking about the growing number of multiracial families in America and how they will be one too.  I have NOT been able to find the clip anywhere online…but when I do, I will be sure to post it.  Now as I look into the storyline more… I see that it is more than a teenage pregnancy story.  It is a story of the Yoder and Hernandez families being joined by their teenagers falling in love.  A classic Romeo and Juliet plot with a splash of racial and cultural differences.  Though it is nice to see the presence of multiracial families on TV, I am not surprised that it again will be under an unwelcomed relationship, and child.  We will have to stay tuned to see how the story unfolds…

 

http://www.nbc.com/welcome-to-the-family/

MIT Documentary Workshop DEADLINE

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is hosting a workshop for emerging filmmakers and film students. Here’s a chance to learn how to take those Mixed experience stories floating around in your head and get them into a visual medium. The deadline to apply is September 12 – so get those applications IN!

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Workshop “In a single shot” for emerging filmmakers and film students October 9 – 22, 2013

Instructors: Harun Farocki and Antje Ehmann

Application deadline: September 12, 2013

The Goethe Institute Boston in close collaboration with MIT’s OpenDocLab and HyperStudio offers this unique workshop for emerging filmmakers, to be held at the Goethe Institute Boston and MIT from October 9 to October 22, 2013. Application deadline: September 12, 2013.

“The task at hand is to present the topic “work” by means of a single video sequence; in other words, you will produce videos consisting of only one sequence. The topic is work: paid, unpaid, material or immaterial, traditional or entirely new work. This assignment formally introduces the foundations of filming, as you need to find out: When can we find a beginning and an end even if a repetitive process is being shown? Should the camera be moved or stand still? What is the best way to capture the choreography of a work process in a single sequence? Early films told us: Every detail of the mobile world is worth being documented and considered. And they had a fixed point of view, whereas today’s documentary film only too often presents sequence upon sequence because it is undecided.”

H. Farocki/Antje Ehmann

OBJECTIVES

Workshops

The workshop in Boston/Cambridge is part of a series of workshops held by German artists Harun Farocki and Antje Ehmann in 15 cities worldwide. Workshops already took place in Sligo (Ireland), Lisbon, Bangalore (India), Geneva (Switzerland), Tel Aviv, Berlin, Cairo (Egypt), Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Lodz (Poland), Moscow, and Hanoi (Vietnam). Besides Boston, additional workshops will be held in Mexico City, Johannesburg, and Tsingtao (China).

Web Catalogue

Selected films from the workshops can be accessed at the following sites:

http://www.labour-in-a-single-shot.net http://www.eine-einstellung-zur-arbeit.net

Exhibits

Selected films will be shown in museums and galleries in seven international locations. Initial exhibits took place in Tel Aviv and Lisbon.
Exhibits are currently being planned for Lodz (Poland), Bangalore (India), Mexico City, and Montreal. Final exhibits are being planned for Boston (October 2014) and Berlin (January 2015). A number of completed films have been selected for the Venice Biennale, where they are currently being shown in the Latin America Pavilion.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 25 film students or filmmakers will be selected from all applicants to participate in the workshop. All age groups are welcome – students, independent film makers, professors dedicated to documentary film making, and alumni. Selection criteria are: creativity in film-making, ideas, engagement, and outstanding film results. The Boston workshop will have a special focus on the representation of intellectual work. Several workshop spots are reserved for MIT and Harvard students.

LOCATIONS

Goethe Institute Boston, 170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02116 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Building E15-3rd floor) – Cambridge

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE Wednesday, Oct. 9, 5 p.m.: (Goethe-Institut) Thursday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m.: (MIT) Sunday, Oct. 13, 1 p.m.:(MIT) Wednesday, Oct. 16, 5 p.m.: (Goethe-Institut Saturday, Oct. 19, 1 p.m.: (MIT)` Monday, Oct. 21, 1 p.m.,5:pm: (MIT and Goethe-Institut)

Tuesday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.: ( Final public screening of workshop films) Goethe-Institut

METHODOLOGY

At the beginning of the workshop, each participant will present a proposal based on advance research and comprising the specific type of work to be filmed, the manner of filming in a single sequence, the protagonist and/or the location. The workshop will include theory as well as practical work. Days without scheduled sessions are reserved for research and filming in groups. Exact schedules will be decided during the workshop. Participants will take on various assignments.

Application DEADLINE: September 12, 2013

REQUIREMENTS

a) Fluency in English (the workshop will be held in English)

b) US Visa or U.S. citizenship

c) The applicant has either participated in a short film or a movie (as an actor or in the production process) or is a film student at a film school.

d) Workshop attendance is free of charge. Participants will cover their own cost for travel, accommodations and meals.

e) The participant agrees to attend all workshop sessions. Upon completion,
participants will receive a certificate of attendance, and their film will be posted on the project’s website.

f) Only individual applications will be accepted – no group applications, please. g) The applicant may bring his/her own camera and equipment.

h) The application form should be completed in full and submitted online.
It can be found athttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/1758Oze0UWvxKIKiBULn32hIApuBQpX67TeBgcoa9NbQ/viewform. If you are selected, your name will be published on the organizers’ website.

i) Along with the application, a film (excerpt) of no more than 2 minutes should be submitted on DVD or as a live stream link. (Selection criteria are the creativity combined with the expressive power of the images in a one-minute time span.)

j) Selected participants will be notified by email on September 20, 2013. On the same day, the list of selected participants will be published.

Toasted Marshmallows

I love the story of how Marcelitte Failla and Anoushka Ratnarajah met: both were Fellows at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics’ Emerging Artist Program. In many ways it parallels my own journey in creating more comfortable spaces for Mixed-identified people: through sharing stories I forged relationships that would lead to wonderful projects like Mixed Chicks Chat, the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival and now, Mixed Roots Stories!

Marcelitte and Anoushka have teamed up to produce Toasted Marshmallows – a documentary exploring the experiences of Mixed-identified North American women. They’ve already completed a successful Indiegogo campaign (raising well-over their initial goal) and are now participating in a project with the Brooklyn Museum. Check them out and support them and the film in any way you can!

Website: www.ToastedMarshmallowProject.com

A Lot Like You

I had the pleasure of meeting Eliaichi Kimaro when she submitted her feature film, A Lot Like You, to the 2012 Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival. We unfortunately were  unable to fit this terrific documentary into our lineup that year, but Eliaichi lead a workshop on documentary filmmaking that was very well received.

Synopsis for the www.alotlikeyoumovie.com:

Eliaichi Kimaro is a mixed-race, first-generation American with a Tanzanian father and Korean mother. When her parents retire and move back to Tanzania, Eliaichi begins a project that evocatively examines the intricate fabric of multiracial identity, and grapples with the complex ties that children have to the cultures of their parents.

Kimaro decides to document her father’s path back to his family and Chagga culture. In the process, she struggles with her own relationship to Tanzania, and learns more about the heritage that she took for granted as a child. Yet as she talks to more family members, especially her aunts, she uncovers a cycle of violence that resonates with her work and life in the United States. When Kimaro speaks with her parents about the oppression her aunts face, she faces a jarring disconnect between immigrant generations on questions of patriarchy and violence.

Here are some upcoming 2013 performance dates (check the website frequently for more!):

October 23:  ALLY screening/lecture events with filmmaker at University of New England(Maine).

October 17 @ 7pm: Director Eliaichi Kimaro will be speaking at Knox College (Galesburg, IL).  Event sponsored by the Center for Intercultural Life.

October 15-16:  ALLY screening/panel/lecture events with filmmaker at DePaul University(Chicago), including Laura Kina‘s class on Mixed Race Art and Identity.

October 14:  ALLY screening/lecture at Lincoln Land Community College (Springfield, IL)

October 8 @ 6:30pm:  Vancouver Asian Film Festival presents A Lot Like You screening + discussion w/Director Eliaichi Kimaro.  Alice MacKay room, Vancouver Public Library.

October 2:  A Lot Like You screening & discussion w/filmmaker at California State University–San Marcos.  Sponsored by Gender Equity Center and LGBTQA Pride Center.

October 1@ 7pm:  A Lot Like You screening & discussion w/filmmaker at University of Redlands (Orton Center).

September 19 @ 7:30pm:  Director Eliaichi Kimaro will be presenting at the 2013 Critical Ethnic Studies Conference, sponsored by The Institute For Research on Race and Public Policy at The University of Illinois At Chicago.

September 18 @ 7:30pm:  Director Eliaichi Kimaro will speak at Venango College (PA) at the Rhoades Center (following ALLY campus screening on 9/16).

Actor breaks silence about being Mixed!

How much are multiracial stories influenced by family/extended family?

Obviously family has influence…but to the point of silence? This story left me with so many questions! I would love to read the script…and better yet sit down and have coffee with Tom Sizemore. Sizemore chose to “modern day pass” as White after his grandfather, who did not like “white folk” told him to “never reveal his mixed-race heritage to anyone in Hollywood if he wanted to become a bona fide movie star.”  Well, now he has chosen to break his silence by telling his grandfather’s story, and in turn part of his own through the storytelling vehicle of theater. How have your family/extended family shaped your mixed race story?

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/02/tom-sizemore-one-man-show-geffen.html

‘White’ Father of a ‘Mixed’ Son is not Trayvon Martin

This is just one example of the beautiful pieces written on the tumblr site wearenottrayvonmartin.com The entries are posted by folks who admit to having white privilege, and who are interested in fighting racism and establishing equality for all. We at Mixed Roots Stories share this goal, and hope that by encouraging stories about the Mixed experience, we are contributing to this goal.

Here’s the father’s post: http://wearenottrayvonmartin.com/post/55830174451/i-am-not-trayvon-martin-but-i-am-a-father

Support Toasted Marshmallows Indiegogo Campaign

I had the pleasure of meeting Marcelitte Failla when we screened her film, Uncovering Color, at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival®. I got to meet Anoushka – the other filmmaker behind this project – at the 2012 Critical Mixed Race Studies conference. Both women are smart, passionate and talented, and I’m really excited about this project which is precisely the kind of work we are here to promote. Here’s their Indiegogo campaign link: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/toasted-marshmallows

And a short paragraph on the project:

Toasted Marshmallows is a film, performance and community building project chronicling two mixed-race women’s attempt at uncovering the cultures we were separated from. Anoushka Ratnarajah and Marcelitte Failla grew up far from the curry and gumbo that stewed on their grandmothers stove. On our journey to regain what was lost, we will meet and interview other mixed-women and ask what it means to be “authentically” rooted in one’s culture and how we maintain ties in a world of assimilation.

Hapa Voice

Hapa Voice is a website highlighting stories of multiracial Asians from all over the world. As of this posting, they have a very active twitter feed (@hapavoice) and facebook page (‘like’ them here: https://www.facebook.com/hapavoice), and are seeking submissions to be added to their website (http://hapavoice.com/)

Code Switching

NPR has a new blog this year called “Code Switch: Frontiers of Race, Culture and Ethnicity”!  This is their discussion of Code Switching

“In linguistics, “code-switching” means mixing languages or patterns of speech in conversation. But as our blog host Gene Demby explains: “We’re looking at code-switching a little more broadly. Many of us subtly, reflexively change the way we express ourselves all the time. We’re hop-scotching between different cultural and linguistic spaces and different parts of our own identities — sometimes within a single interaction.

“We decided to call this team Code Switch because much of what we’ll be exploring are the different spaces we each inhabit and the tensions of trying to navigate between them. In one sense, code-switching is about dialogue that spans cultures. It evokes the conversation we want to have here.””

Code Switch creates an interesting dialogue about the multiple roles we all play in society.  Check out their April 8th entry How Code-Switching Explains the World where Mixed comedians Key & Peele are referenced, and all their other interesting entries.

 

Mixed Race Studies

Curated by Steven F. Riley, www.mixedracestudies.org is THE go-to resource for scholars of all kinds who want to delve into research on the Mixed experience. The site is not limited to scholarly articles, though. Here’s a list of the categories (as of 6/12/13). Go ahead and click – but we warned you: you will not get anything else done today.