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.

CAAM Interview about Gotham

Photo by Aaron Yoshinio

Momo Chang from CAAM recently interviewed me about the Gotham Awards.  You can read the interview HERE.

Life on Four Strings wins the Gotham Audience Award!

As a result of all your votes, Life on Four Strings won the Gotham Film Audience Award! Cindy and I had a great time at the awards ceremony and the win was totally unexpected. Thank you for all your help mobilizing our community to vote and spread the word. Many of you have been backing me since day one and I really wouldn't be making films if it were not for all your love and support.

We got some ink in Variety but only as an example of how bad 12 Years of Slave did at the Gotham Awards, hilarious!

Geeked that I got to meet one of my favorite actors Mike B. Jordan. I’ve been a fan since he was Wallace in The Wire and Friday Night Lights just sealed the deal. He won the Breakthrough Actor Award that night for his lead role as Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station.

Talk about geeked, Cindy was screaming inside while meeting her idol Rashida Jones.

Got to meet Director Ryan Coogler who won Breakthrough Director Award for this film Fruitvale Station.

Jake was in NYC but couldn't make it to the awards ceremony because he was performing with Paul Simon at a fundraiser that night. I got to catch up with him and his manager Chris the next day.

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.

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!

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!

A Song For Ourselves available On Demand on Comcast through August

My film A Song For Ourselves is available on demand for Comcast subscribers this month.

Comcast subscribers may access Cinema Asian America via the navigation path:
XFINITY On Demand > Movies > Movie Collections > Cinema Asian America