C3:CONVERSE | Don’t Know Much about History: Spotlighting AAPI History in Film and Media

It has been said that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but what happens when the history of our communities aren’t even taught? Often it falls on storytellers from the community to keep the past alive. Join us for an in-depth panel discussion with filmmakers and artists who preserve and spotlight AAPI history through their work. From highlighting important figures to exploring cultural traditions, we will discuss not only the importance of knowing our histories, but also the importance of who gets to tell them.

Panelists:

Quyên Nguyen-Le (they/them) is a daytime emmy nominated queer vietnamese filmmaker born to refugee parents where Chumash and Tongva lands meet (San Fernando Valley, Los Ángeles). Quyên’s film work focuses on the ways histories are deeply felt in the quotidian everyday.

Alex Bocchieri is an award winning Native Hawaiian director who lives and works in Honolulu. The connecting thread of his creative work that extends into his commercial projects is the desire to use his unique visual style to share real human stories, spotlight those that do good, and inspire action. 

Paula Fuga is an internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter known for her originality in songwriting and soulful vocals. She has captivated audiences worldwide with her heartfelt lyrics and powerful melodies.
Her debut album, LILIKOI, earned her the prestigious Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for ‘Most Promising Artist’, marking her as a rising star in the music industry.

Pulkit Datta (Moderator) is a producer, director, and film programmer, based in New York. Over fifteen years, he has worked on a wide range of scripted films, documentaries, commercials, short films, music videos and multimedia campaigns. His films have screened at festivals such as Toronto, Tribeca, Atlanta, Cinequest, Fantasia, LAAPFF, Cleveland, and OutFest. As a producer with Tikkun Olam Productions, he has co-produced the feature documentary ISRAELISM (Big Sky, CPH:Dox, Brooklyn Film Festival), and is currently producing climate activism doc series VS. GOLIATH. Pulkit is also a producer on INVISIBLE, a feature documentary about fibromyalgia (Amazon Prime, Tubi), the gun-violence themed short documentary DO WE BELONG? (The Atlantic, 2018 IDA Doc Award shortlist), and has produced the upcoming fiction feature JERSEY BOY. Other scripted films include BEAST, a magic realism film executive produced jointly by Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Indeed, and co-produced COMING OUT WITH THE HELP OF A TIME MACHINE, which has screened at over 60 festivals, won several awards, and recently got licensed by Jio Cinema, one of India’s largest streaming platforms. Pulkit has been a Producing Fellow at Center for Asian American Media as well as Impact Partners. He is also active in the filmmaking community, having established initiatives that nurture South Asian talent for careers in American film and television, building alternative strategies for distribution and impact, as well as programming and curating for film festivals.