Past Festival Highlights

Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts

Kim Wayans & Kevin Knotts, authors of Amy Hodgepodge Books

Frank Buckley Host for Mixed Roots History Panel

Frank Buckley Host for Mixed Roots History Panel

The Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival (TM) has celebrated so many wonderful moments since its establishment in 2008 by co-founders Fanshen Cox and Heidi Durrow. In fact, in 2011, attendance topped 1500 attendees!

Target Free Family Day at Mixed Roots

Target Free Family Day at Mixed Roots

We have celebrated the achievements of Kip Fulbeck, Dr. Maria P. P. Root, Angela Nissel, James McBride, Dr. Maya Soetor-Ng, Nancy Brown, Hines Ward, Velina Hasu Houston, Paul Spickard and Jenny Lumet–all award-winner’s of the Festival’s Loving Prize.

We have screened dozens of films including the award-winning documentaries One Big Hapa Family dir. Jeff Chiba Stearns, Off and Running dir. Nicole Opper, Biracial Not Black Damn It directed by Carolyn Battle Cochrane, Black White Yellow directed by Nicole Koschmann, Running Dragon directed by Kim Noonan, the stirring Silences directed by Octavio Warnock-Graham, and dozens more all about the Mixed experience. In 2011, Yelling to the Sky (dir. Victoria Mahoney) celebrated its LA Premiere at the Festival!

Kip Fulbeck at Mixed Roots 2010

Kip Fulbeck at Mixed Roots 2010

Our literary line-up has been stellar including best-selling and beloved writers Danzy Senna, and Rebecca Walker. In 2011, we were proud to present Susan Straight, Nina Revoyr, and Sarah Culberson. We’ve highlighted the work of wonderful new poets Neil Aitken, Tara Betts, and Jennifer Lisa Vest among others. And we’ve been excited to feature some wonderful emerging voices of the Mixed experience curly hair expert Teri LaFlesh, Liberty Hultberg, Monique Fields, Kerina Pharr and Jason Sublette.

Each year we love to see the families gather for our Target Free Family Day activities which wouldn’t have been the same without husband-wife team Kim Wayans and Kevin Knotts, authors of the popular children’s book series Amy Hodgepodge.

Learn more about the Festival and see video and photos from past years on our gallery pages: video gallery, and photo gallery. Please also visit our YouTube channel where you can see video footage of the 2011 Festival in cluding our awesome Mixed Unplugged LIVE event.

Latest News

Festival in Sight! February 14, 2012 2:24 am
Hello again! This week we’re taking a break from the usual “Where Are They Now?” updates to focus on a bit of Mixed Roots news. By this, of course, I mean the upcoming Festival!! (Well, upcoming may be a bit of a stretch. After all, the Festival isn’t until this June, but that doesn’t mean [...] […]
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Spotlight on Athena Asklipiadis February 7, 2012 8:01 pm
This week we’re shining the spotlight on Athena Asklipiadis, a woman who has attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival for the past few years. At her first Festival, Asklipiadis came as an attendee, but in years following she has manned a booth. A part of the Festival that Asklipiadis enjoyed greatly was seeing [...] […]
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A Chat with Nicole Koschmann January 31, 2012 1:31 am
Today we’re having a chat with Nicole Koschmann, a film-maker who participated in the 2010 Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival! At the Festival, Koschmann’s documentary Black, White, and Yellow was screened in front of an audience that she felt was the best possible for the film. The documentary is about transracial adoption, a subject [...] […]
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An Interview with Tara Betts January 22, 2012 9:33 pm
Time for another of our “Where Are They Now?” specials. This week we’re focusing on Tara Betts, a writer who took part in the Festival in June, 2010. During the Festival, she read from her book Arc & Hue and also spoke with other authors about literature. Betts especially enjoyed these chats at the Mixed [...] […]
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And We’re Back!! January 16, 2012 5:27 pm
Hello again, all you lovely people! I admit that it’s been a while, but the blog is back. That’s right, B-A-C-K, back! So make sure to check it out periodically for spotlights, Mixed Root Festival news, and more! Ooh, this is so exciting, I can’t wait! […]
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Festival Today and Tomorrow!! :D June 11, 2011 5:27 pm
After the painstaking wait, it’s finally here! The time for the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival has finally arrived! I do hope you can all attend today and tomorrow; it will only be here for two days! And since I cannot make it (I fly back just ten days later, what a bummer!), you [...] […]
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An Interview with Marcia Alesan Dawkins June 8, 2011 8:08 pm
I hope you’re all ready to read a little something because here’s our next “Where Are They Now?” post! Today we’re focusing on Marcia Dawkins, author of the book “Things Said in Passing” and a volunteer at last year’s Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival. As a volunteer, she was a moderator for the film [...] […]
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A Chat with Fanshen Cox June 1, 2011 2:53 pm
I am pleased to announce to anyone who comes across this blog that after much managing, waiting, and all-around cursing of the time difference between Los Angeles and Berlin, Miss Fanshen Cox and I were able to get in an interview via email. (Thank goodness for internet!) While we were unable to chat face-to-face (or [...] […]
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Hines Ward on Dancing With the Stars May 22, 2011 8:48 pm
Hines Ward, an MVP of the Superbowl XL and a winner of the Mixed Roots Loving Prize, is currently one of the three finalists for the ABC show Dancing With the Stars. Who will win the coveted and frankly, sparkly mirror ball trophy? How will this season of the ABC celebrity dance competition end? The two-day finale starts [...] […]
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Spotlight on Christen Lee May 20, 2011 1:24 pm
Time for another little game of Let’s See What They’re Up to Now! This time we’re checking up on Kristen Lee, who attended the Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival in May 2010. At the Festival, she screened her short documentary film, “MiXeD mE” (directed Chris Woon and Nancy Wen, as well as Kristen Lee [...] […]
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