Mele Murals at Univ. of Minnesota - Oct. 25

Going to Minnesnowta for the first time to screen Mele Murals at the Univ. of Minnesota! 

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 7:30p

Rapson Hall, Room 100 

UMN East Bank Campus
89 Church St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 65455

Mele Murals at CSU Fullerton - Oct. 23

I'll be headed to CSU Fullerton to screen Mele Murals on 10/23. 

Monday, October 23, 2017 from 10a - 12noon
Titan Student Union Theater
800 N State College Blvd.
Fullerton, CA 92831

Link to Facebook Event Page

Mele Murals at UH Hilo - Oct. 18

Mele Murals will be screening at UH Hilo as part of Pacific Islanders in Communications' Deep Waters series.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 from 5-7p
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Lumipahiahia
Hilo, HI 96720

Film screening will be followed by a panel talk with Prime, Kanoa Castro, community members, and students.

Mele Murals at Arizona State University - April 11

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at Arizona State University on April 11th.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:00p
ASU Memorial Union - Pima Auditorium
301 E Orange St
Tempe, AZ 85287

Facebook Event Page

Mele Murals at Northwestern - April 6

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at Northwestern on April 6th.

Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 5:00p
Kresge Hall - Room 1515 (The Forum)
1880 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208

FREE and open to the public!

More information HERE

Mele Murals at Columbia College Chicago - April 6

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at Columbia College Chicago on April 6th.

Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 12:30p

Hokin Hall - 1st floor

623 S. Wabash

Chicago, IL 60605

More information HERE

Facebook Event Page

Mele Murals at DePaul University - April 5

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at DePaul University on April 5th.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 6:00p
DePaul University Richardson Library
2350 N. Kenmore Room #115Chicago, IL 60614

More information HERE

Mele Murals at Purdue - April 4

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at Purdue University on April 4th.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 6:00p

Beering Hall 1245

100 N University St.

West Lafayette, IN 47907

More information HERE
Facebook Event Page

Mele Murals at UC Riverside

I'll be presenting Mele Murals at UC Riverside on March 3rd.

Friday, March 3, 2017 at 7:00p (Reception at 6:00p)

UCR Culver Center of the Arts

3834 Main St

Riverside, CA 92501

FREE and open to the public!

Mele Murals in Colorlines Magazine

Mele Murals Kickstarter campaign got mentioned in Colorlines!

Topless Kickstarter Video!

We are more than halfway through the Mele Murals Kickstarter campaign and doing whatever it takes to reach our goal! Please help push us over the top! Check out this fun video we shot the day of our World Premiere in March:

Mele Murals - Festival Premiere Night from Oiwi TV on Vimeo.

Shouts out to Mele Murals DP Justyn Ah Chong for conceptualizing and creating this video!

Mele Murals World Premiere

Cinematographer Justyn Ah Chong, me, Executive Producer Keoni Lee, Associate Producer Aina Paikai

We did it! The sold-out World Premiere of Mele Murals at the Oakland Museum of California was exactly what we had envisioned! We were privileged to have our premiere at CAAMFest which has been supporting my work since my first film.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out. The strength of our communities were on full display that night and left me grateful and inspired. The event started with live paintings by Prime and Estria - the artists featured in the film - and ended with performances by Bambu, Geo and Sabzi.

The premiere was part of Friday Nights @ OMCA featuring Off The Grid food trucks.

Prime and Estria (the artists featured in the film) doing what they do best.

Me and the rents!

Cast and crew.

Prometheus Brown and Bambu performed at The Bar after the screening.

Impromptu Blue Scholars set! Sabzi produced the score for Mele Murals.

The Mele Murals 'Ohana in San Francisco's Japantown after the second sold-out screening.

Remembering the Atomic and Troy Cafe

Nancy Sekizawa holding up a photo of the Atomic Cafe, a restaurant run by her parents until she took it over.

I'm currently working with the Little Tokyo Service Center and filmmaker Akira Boch on a short documentary on two small cafes in Little Tokyo that had a legendary impact on LA's music scene, the Atomic Cafe and the Troy Cafe.  The famous brick building that housed both businesses will be demolished this year and a metro station will be built in it's place.

Both KPCC and LA Weekly have recently ran short pieces that layout the main elements of the Atomic and Troy Cafe story. 

The interviews for the project have been fun so far.  Listening to stories about LA's punk scene in the 80's and the Chicano arts scene of the 90's have expanded my appreciation for Little Tokyo as a cultural hub for the arts.

Nancy Sekizawa as Atomic Nancy back in the day.

Went all the way to NYC to interview Sean Carrillo, who ran the Troy Cafe with his wife Bibbe Hansen.

Musician Maceo Hernandez talking about growing up in Little Tokyo and his memories at the Atomic and Troy Cafe.  As a kid I always thought Maceo Hernandez was the coolest guy in the community. 

Musician Quetzal Flores talking about the Troy Cafe where his band Quetzal performed for the first time.

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

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!

Special screening at Pixar Studios

Don Young (producer of film) and I had the privilege of visiting Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA to preview Life on Four Strings at Pixar University, an extensive in-house educational program where filmmakers come to share their films and stories with directors, executives and staff.




Jake was able to take a break from his West Coast tour and join us. We were treated to a tour of the studio by Michelle Radcliff, coordinator for in-house education at Pixar University and production designer (and a huge Jake fan!) Ricky Nierva.


Hardware on display in the Pixar lobby

Huge thanks to Michelle and Pixar for an amazing day!

Here's the tribute reel I cut for my dad's (Robert Nakamura) retirement reception. Besides founding three major institutions (Visual Communications / JANM's Media Arts Center / UCLA's Center for EthnoCommunications) and training an army of filmmakers, he also made a lot of good films.

Save Sessions LA!

It's as simple as this. We all know how important youth programs are, especially in underfunded communities of color. We all know how important the arts can be in shaping the lives of young people, especially when nurtured in safe, positive spaces. So please pay back the people who are doing the work we all want to do but can't make the time for. Save Sessions LA!

Please watch the video and donate:

Alto Arizona!

Big Bang Big Boom by BLU

Favorite parts are the plastic bag at 3:15 and the use of building at 8:18.



Direction and animation by BLU
Production by ARTSH.it