Films
FEATURE FILMS
Black, White and Yellow
Saturday, June 12th
2:00 PM- 3:15 PM
National Center for Democracy, Tateuchi Democracy Forum
Q&A with director Nicole Koschmann after the screening
Director: Nicole Koschmann 
Black, White and Yellow is a personal documentary about Koschmann and her sister growing up in a multi-racial family in three different countries: Hong Kong, Japan and the U.S. She and her sister struggled to define their own identities as well as their relationship to each other. Her sister is adopted, half-Black and half-Chinese, and Koschmann is Caucasian.
This is the story of a unique American family and addresses contemporary issues of transracial adoption, ethnicity and nationality.
About the filmmaker: Nicole Koschmann is an award-winning filmmaker and video artist.
Her experimental 35mm short Fishing For Brad won the Best Experimental Film Award at the Athens International Film and Video Festival, and her most recent documentary Black, White and Yellow won the Best of Arizona Award at the Arizona International Film Festival.
Nicole Koschmann received her MFA from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University in 1998.
Her films and videos have been shown in over 50 festivals worldwide, including at the Telluride Experimental Film Exposition, New York Underground Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema, Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival and many more.
Her experimental videos have shown at galleries and art spaces across the United States. She teaches Film Studies on-line at New School University.
Q&A Moderator: Dr. Ulli K. Ryder is a Visiting Professor in Ethnic Studies at Brown University. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies & Ethnicity from the University of Southern California (USC). Her work focuses on the literature and history of people of color in the United States, racial representations in media, and race and the law.
Awards and Festivals
| Cornell University, East Asia Program Speaker Series NY 2008
Athens International Film and Video Festival, OH 2007 Arizona International Film and Video Festival, AZ 2007, award winner Arizona Black Film Showcase, AZ 2007 Boulder Asian-American Film Festival, CO 2007 Cape Cod Screening Society, MA 2007 |
University Film and Video Association Conference, CA 2006
Best of Arizona Award, Arizona International Film Festival, 2007 for Black, White and Yellow Honorable Mention, Black Maria Film Festival, 2007 for Black, White and Yellow Director’s Citation Award, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 2004 for Burkha Dreams Best Experimental Film Award, Athens Independent Film and Video Festival 1999 for Fishing For Brad |
Biracial Not Black Damn It-part 2
Setting the record straight-perceptions and misconceptions
Saturday, June 12th
4:45 PM- 6:15 PM
National Center for Democracy, Tateuchi Democracy Forum
Q&A with director Carolyn Battle Cochrane after the screening
Director: Carolyn Battle Cochrane
The film includes individual commentary on what it’s like to look “different” from your parents; with a group discussion—does self identifying get misinterpreted? A white mother and black father speak openly about raising biracial children from different perspectives . It also includes a segment on social networking and the impact it is having on bringing the mixed community together.
About the filmmaker: A native New Yorker, Carolyn is an independent filmmaker and writer who has been involved in the entertainment field for decades in several capacities; from her tenure at Disney to working with Grammy winning artist. Along with filmmaking, Carolyn has written two memoirs. She is currently working on a reality television series.
Q&A Moderator: Marcia Alesan Dawkins, Ph.D. is a blogger, professor and communication researcher in Los Angeles. Her interests are mixed race identification, politics, popular culture and new media. Her new book, “Things Said in Passing,” looks at racial passing as a viable form of communication. She lectures and consults on these issues at conferences worldwide.
Off and Running
Sunday, June 13th
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
National Center for Democracy, Tateuchi Democracy Forum
Q&A with Lacey Schwartz, Director of Outreach, Be’chol Lashon
Director: Nicole Opper
With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean—Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household.
But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she’s always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of.
But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. OFF AND RUNNING follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.
About the filmmaker: Nicole Opper most recently produced Linton Media’s five-part documentary series LSS for Here! Networks, America’s premium gay television network (aired Fall 2008).
She was line producer of Macky Alston’s Emmy-nominated The Killer Within, (premiered Toronto Int’l Film Festival 2006, aired on Discovery Channel 2007) and associate producer of Peter Miller’s Sacco and Vanzetti (premiered Full Frame 2006, First Run Features theatrical release 2007, Winner ‘Best Historical Film’ from the American Historical Association). Her documentary short, Song of Hannah, is distributed by The National Center for Jewish Film and her short films have won multiple ‘Best Short’ awards and screened internationally. She has also directed and produced advocacy videos for Oxfam America, The Grameen Foundation and Positive Planet. Off and Running, Opper’s feature-length debut, is a co-production of ITVS, in association with American Documentary/P.O.V. and The National Black Programming Consortium, with support from The Foundation for Jewish Culture and The Puffin Foundation. Opper holds a BFA in Film Production from New York University and teaches filmmaking to high school students through The School of Cinema and Performing Arts, Magic Box Productions and other media education groups.
Outside the Box
(trailer shown prior to Off and Running)
Director: Lacey A. Schwartz.
Schwartz is the Director of Outreach, North America, for Be’chol Lashon, an organization working on Jewish ethnic, cultural, and racial inclusiveness.
She is also a film and television director/producer who is working on “Outside the Box,” a documentary about dual identity and family secrets.
Lacey received a B.A. in Government from Georgetown University in 1998 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2003.
A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration
Sunday, June 13th
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM
National Center for Democracy, Tateuchi Democracy Forum
Director: Amy Schatz
In A Family is a Family is a Family, kids offer touching, profound and often funny insights about what being a family means to them. Among those featured are: children with two fathers or two mothers; a girl whose mother and father adopted her in China; three brothers who live with their mother and grandmother; a pair of mothers who are getting married to make one big family; and families with adopted kids and children born through in-vitro fertilization.
Interspersed with these portraits are musical performances and animated interludes, including: reggae star Ziggy Marley, his mother Rita Marley and sister Cedella Marley performing “I Love You Too”; four-year-old Najorae and her father singing their original song “Love is the Thing;” 11-year-old Martin and his seven brothers and sisters performing “Cariño (My Love),” nine-year-old Joey singing “Raised on Love,” a song he wrote with his mom and dad; and folk musician Elizabeth Mitchell performing “Blue Clouds” with husband Daniel Littleton and seven-year-old daughter Storey.
About the filmmakers: A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration is executive produced by Rosie O’Donnell and Sheila Nevins for HBO Documentary Films; directed and produced by Amy Schatz; produced by Beth Aala and Sabina Barach; edited by Tom Patterson; directors of photography, Alex Rappoport and Joel Shapiro; animation by Maciek Albrecht; music supervisor, Linda Cohen; production executive, Susan Benaroya; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover.
