Extraordinary lives, everyday people. Specific voices, universal stories.

NEW
MUSLIM COOL

When the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza confronts the post-9/11 world –– and challenges himself.

 

“NEW MUSLIM COOL possesses a kind of beauty that sneaks up on you.  The film is an opportunity to access a closer view of human decency.” New York Times

 

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National broadcast on PBS’s POV
Film website
Educational distribution

PAULINA

When Paulina was a child in rural Mexico, her parents traded her away for land rights.  Decades later, Paulina returns to her village to confront her family, and encounters a web of intrigue and denial.

 

“Blending real-life and re-enactment footage with dazzling virtuosity…a favorite at the Sundance Film Festival, it has a magical glow.” —San Francisco Chronicle

 

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Educational Distribution

SPECIAL
CIRCUMSTANCES

Héctor Salgado returns to Chile to confront the men who tortured him and killed his friends after the 1973 coup.

 

“Brings home the personal costs of political conflict in ways that history lessons rarely do.” Gwen Kirkpatrick, Georgetown University

 

Co-directed & produced w/Marianne Teleki

 

FIND OUT MORE:
National Broadcast, PBS’sVoces
Film Website

HOME FRONT

Set during the millenial tech boom as it transforms the San Francisco Bay Area into one of the most expensive areas in the world, HOME FRONT dives straight into pitched and passionate street fights over gentrification and urban change.

 

As artists, community activists, landlords, kids, grandmas, planners, dot-commers and a flower vendor go head to head, the battle lines start to blur.

 

Emmy Award-winning co-production with KQED-TV for the Bay Window series.

IMMIGRATION CALCULATIONS

Cutting through the noise with data-driven reporting and real-life stories, this half-hour documentary and website examines the effects of immigration on California’s economy with case studies and interviews with top experts.

 

Produced for Northern California Public Broadcasting’s Immigration In Focus initiative.

 

FIND OUT MORE:
Immigration In Focus website

CALLIGRAPHY OF THOUGHT

This short segment follows Chicana Muslim spoken word artist Kathy Espinoza as she creates a new performance piece with the poetry collective Calligraphy of Thought and Anas Canon from Oakland’s Remarkable Current label.

 

Emmy Award-winning production for KQED-TV’s series Spark.

 

FIND OUT MORE:
Spark website

 

RAMADAN PRIMETIME

Every year during Ramadan hundreds of millions of viewers tune in to the Arabic television “sweeps” to watch hours of new tv shows in all imaginable genres. Experts, scholars and regular viewers explore Arabic storytelling traditions and the effects of global media culture.

 

Produced and directed for Link TV.

 

FIND OUT MORE:
Ramadan Primetime on Link TV

THE TRACK

Oakland’s International Boulevard, also known as “The Track,” is notorious for drug deals and sex trafficking involving underage girls.

 

Working with KDOL-TV and mentored by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, three teenaged producers investigate The Track for Project VoiceScape, a partnership with P.O.V., PBS, and Adobe Youth Voices.

 

FIND OUT MORE:
Project VoiceScape website 

STREET KNOWLEDGE TO COLLEGE

Collaboratively made short films and interactive features explore how a small school called FREE L.A. High helps youth change the school-to-jail track –– for themselves and others.

 

Launches Spring 2012.  Major support provided by the USC Annenberg School for Journalism, Latino Public Broadcasting for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Graduate.