From Skateboarding to the Vietnam War, Student Filmmakers Cover the Gamut at Fi’s ‘Exploring Civil Liberty’ Showcase
Students from two LA County schools – Dominguez High School in Compton and Renaissance High School for the Arts in Long Beach – teamed up with Film Independent to tell stories from their own communities. These 13 films were screened at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center in Downtown LA on May 7, along with a panel discussion helmed by Film Independent’s Senior Manager of Film Education, Sarah Berkovich.
Filmmaker and Film Independent Fellow Ann Kaneko participated in the conversation with insights from making her documentary, Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust. The film features stories from Japanese Americans who were displaced to concentration camps during World War II as well as the Owens Valley Paiute tribe, which was removed from the same region. Joining Kaneko was Monica Embrey, an activist whose family was featured in the film.
Kaneko was full of encouragement and wisdom for her fellow filmmakers, acknowledging the wide range of topics covered – from the immigration experience to the ideal conditions for skateboarding. “It was so amazing to see such a range of issues and topics and perspectives, and it’s really, really important right now,” Kaneko said.
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Timely concerns about immigration and deportation were referenced throughout the day, as films and speakers considered the potential for filmmaking to raise awareness, shift perspective, bring people together, and defend democracy.
Jim Herr, Director of the Democracy Center, kicked things off with a brief address on the purpose of JANM to serve as a monument to civil rights in the United States. “We need the voices of young people to stand up,” he said, encouraging students to use their voices and speak into the kind of country they want America to be.
“I love the process of making documentaries because it puts me in the same space with people and I get to learn from people,” said Kaneko, who spent five years making Manzanar, Diverted. “It’s a great way to bring communities together to talk about issues that are important … It’s such an honor to be able to hear people’s stories and to have these kinds of conversations that you don’t normally have the opportunity to have.”
For the student filmmakers, participating in the Film Independent program was both eye-opening about personal stories and also stressful to navigate constraints of time and availability for locations, subjects and crew (sounds like filmmaking, alright). But the rewards of capturing a story rose to the surface.
Student panelists Quetzal Colunga-Hutxins, and Sy’Enna Wallace-Collins shared highlights from the filmmaking process according to their specific stories and interests. Colunga-Hutxins – an avid skateboarder – got to showcase friends in Urban Canvas, a love letter to the concrete slabs and handrails of Long Beach. Wallace-Collins’ A Building for the People was a departure from her comfort zone making genre films, but with an architect for a dad she saw the opportunity to highlight social issues and gentrification in her film about Studio 111.
Urban Canvas
Quetzal Colunga- Hutxins
A Building For The People
Sy-Enna Wallace Collins
COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING
Maybe the collaborative essence of documentary filmmaking is a given, but Kaneko found it worthwhile to mention the power balance between the person holding the camera and the person speaking into it. Trust and cooperation are key. “I think it’s all of us, our responsibility to remember that we are doing these things in collaboration.”
Films like Grandpa’s Interview – the story of a drafted Vietnam War veteran – depended on family trust, contextualized with the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. Voices Between Borders and The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree were similarly situated, offering a peek into existing relationships with filmmakers and subjects as well as the stories told on screen.
Grandpa’s Interview
Cameron Hinshaw
Voices Between Borders
Adrian Pulido, Genesis Pineda, Moon Gomez, Scarlett Lopez
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree
Alarii Gilliam, Vanessa Sotelo
Other interviews sprang from friendships and willing storytellers. Lives Interrupted explored how the 2020 pandemic affected students and faculty at Dominguez High School – familiar territory for the filmmaking team. But Echoes of History – exploring Rancho Los Cerritos, the oldest adobe residence in Southern California – featured stories of the past and the ongoing vision to give back to the community. Playmakers offers a glimpse at playing baseball with kids who have special needs, and the headline is: everyone’s favorite coach is Coach Mike.
Lives Interrupted
Maria M., Oliver S., Ryan, Everado M., Jasmine F, Kingston
Echoes of History
Anastacia Kobliha
Playmakers
Isabella Gomez
PERSPECTIVE SHIFT
Documentaries can change minds, by the admission of filmmakers – opening our eyes to an unknown issue, as in the case of these students watching Kaneko’s Manzanar. Documentaries also showcase story angles and points of view previously unseen.
“I think anyone can tell a story because everyone has their own perspective and views, and how they view life in general,” said Wallace-Collins. “Try to get as many perspectives as you can, to not leave any story left untold.”
Topical films like We See Us in US: A Camp Wall Story – honoring the memory of Japanese Americans sent to internment camps – invited conversation and personal opinions on issues of today. Filmmakers showed what matters to them, whether it’s social change through sports (Playing for Justice), gun violence (The Cost of Freedom: Guns in America) or the stress of not having enough money (Is Money Keeping Us From Freedom?).
We See Us in US: A Camp Wall Story
Quetzal Colunga- Hutxins
Playing for Justice
Kenneth Johnson, Armando Alvarez, Ja’vontay Davis, Cedric Anderson, Emanual Soltera, Gisselle Ramirez
The Cost of Freedom: Guns in America
Devin Sandoval, Jose Jaimes, Yaritza Paz, Yolette Franco, Juan Ayon,
Alessandro Romero, Jorvon Smith
Is Money Keeping Us From Freedom?
Jaime Ramirez, Kaliegha Chandler, Samiah Rhyne, Mya Joy, Laurissa Lee
Kaneko asserted that having a voice, in itself, is resistance. “The act of making things is about creating joy. It’s about fun, right? It’s about building, bringing us together. It’s about expressing ourselves.”
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Film Independent is at the center of the independent film community, and the long term goal of its youth programs are to build a bridge to connect the community of artists with students and educators. Youth programs serving ages 12-18, bring the organization’s vision full circle, where emerging and professional filmmakers who have grown through Film Independent’s Artist Development programs mentor a next generation of youth creators. As youth have distinct artistic vision and provide unique insight into their communities, it’s of great benefit to our culture that this vision be nurtured and these voices be heard.
The Exploring Civil Liberties program was supported by the California State Library Civil Liberties Program, which aims to educate students about the Japanese American internment experience during World War II. Students learned about this history through watching Ann Kaneko’s documentary, Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, and then together with filmmaker mentors, they spent the semester exploring themes of Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, making documentary and oral history projects in their own communities. They celebrated their accomplishments and screened their projects at a showcase at the Japanese American National Museum.
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