Cinematic SF, API Cultural Center’s premiere film program, will be previewing and speaking with filmmakers who highlight the Bay Area’s most underserved and underrepresented communities.
Over 30 film festivals happen yearly in San Francisco and with an increase of feature films shooting in the city, it has become a film destination for industry professionals and film lovers alike, however, the city’s underrepresented communities continue to be overshadowed cinematically by SF’s more prestigious landmarks and pristine aura.
To capture the untold stories of such communities, the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) will be commissioning a collection of locally made short films and creating a cinematic mural of the enduring experiences SF residents most challenged by social, cultural and economic shifts. APICC invites the public to meet the selected filmmakers, screen their previous works, and discuss their upcoming endeavors to film the vivid and yet contradictory place and culture that is San Francisco.
Featured filmmakers include…..
Elizabeth Lo
Kqed.org
Nonfiction filmmaker, Elizabeth Lo, has been broadcast nationally and showcased at festivals and venues across North America and Europe. Elizabeth was born in Hong Kong and holds a B.F.A. in Film from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, and an M.F.A. in Documentary Film from Stanford University. Named one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" by Filmmaker Magazine in 2015, Her work focuses on “exploring the boundaries between species, class, and states of personhood”. She is currently in development on her first feature-length documentary.
RJ Lozada
cowbird.com
Roldan "R.J." Lozada is a multimedia storyteller exploring marginalized communities, diaspora, and popular culture, engaging in dialogues of space, identity, and memory. Lozada has worked in varying capacities from film festival programming, producing documentaries independently and for publications, radio news and feature segments, and photo editorials. He is currently a contributor and host for the weekly radio magazine APEX Express, addressing politics and culture in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Lozada recently obtained his MFA in Documentary Film and Video from Stanford University, where he produced four short films and is currently in post-production for his first feature-length documentary/installation.
Abhi Singh
Abhi Singh is a filmmaker based in San Francisco. His work on a Bay Area Ballerina has been nominated for a 2016 Webby Award. His most recent work has been a series of short films for KQED Arts.
Jimmy Zhang
Jimmy is a second generation Chinese-Cambodian from the southeast parts of San Francisco. Queer, soul searching and wandering, he is looking to reveal the intimate development of people of color in San Francisco with the places they call home. Outside of filmmaking, Jimmy is a youth worker who is engaged in the healing abilities of storytelling through general counseling and support groups. He works with students from the southeast parts of San Francisco where he is constantly moved by his youths’ observations and reflections. His films inspire community members’ connection with home in San Francisco--a relatively recent home for his ancestors. His work and curatorial style is inspired by the ways in which his community can be resilient in the midst of blessing and traumas.
$8-$10 suggested donation
9th Street Independent Film Center
145 Ninth St., San Francisco, CA 94103