October 24, 2013

Vote for Life on Four Strings for Gotham Award


I'm honored that Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, the film I directed for CAAM and PIC, was nominated for the Gotham Independent Film Audience Award and the winner is determined by a public vote!  The Gotham awards is a huge thing for independent films and it would be awesome to win.

There are two rounds of voting and the first starts today. I would really appreciate if you can go to the link, log-in (even if you've never signed up before just type in your email address and a password) and vote for Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings. You get to vote for five different films in this round, and those top five will make it to the final round.
Click here to vote.

October 9, 2013

Classroom-In-Residence at the Hammer


I made this video for an amazing arts education pilot program Classroom-In-Residence at the Hammer (CIR@H) developed by UCLA's School of the Arts & Architecture and the Hammer Museum. I was lucky to be able to witness the transformation of some of the students in just a week.

This was my first collaboration with Form follows Function, cinematography by the talented Maya Santos!

I also got to reunite with my dude Miles Senzaki and his partner Dan Marschak of Well Versed Productions who created the music at Grandma's Dojo!


More info about CIR@H: Classroom-in-Residence at the Hammer is an innovative pilot project, designed to strengthen and advance student and teacher learning through a unique weeklong, immersive experience at the UCLA Hammer Museum.

Developed by the Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (VAPAE) in UCLA's School of the Arts and Architecture, in collaboration with the Hammer Museum and the UCLA Community School (UCS), this ground-­‐breaking project provides a collaborative, multi-‐faceted, co‐cognitive learning experience, with an emphasis on arts­‐integration, for 60 sixth‐grade pupils, 2 UCS classroom teachers, UCLA undergraduates, graduates and faculty, along with Hammer Museum educators, curators, artists, and staff.
More info at: www.arts.ucla.edu/vapae     www.hammer.ucla.edu

Director/Editor: Tadashi Nakamura
Cinematographer:  Maya Santos
Location Sound: Rani De Leon
Music:  Miles Senzaki & Dan Marschak
Sound Mix:  Jon Oh
Colorist:  Kyle Peters

October 8, 2013

A Song For Ourselves Mixtape is back online!



DJ Phatrick recently uploaded the mixtape he produced for A Song For Ourselves back in 2009. It's been a minute since I listened to it, almost forgot how classic it is!

Features songs from Chris Iijima, with his groupmates Nobuko Miyamoto & Charlie Chin interlaced with the music of Kiwi, Bambu, & the Blue Scholars. It also features exclusive Chris Iijima remixes produced by Fatgums, Will Bracy, and Miles Senzaki.

Like, download and BUMP!

October 3, 2013

My path to becoming a filmmaker


October is American Archives Month (who knew) and Visual Communications is participating in a series of events in celebration of it. Each week this month they will feature "Asian Pacific Americans who have made their mark on their communities and history". I was honored that they asked me to participate in project. Here is my response to the prompt "How did you choose your path to becoming a filmmaker?"

Also, that's pops in the above photo!