2009 Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival June 12-13, 2009, Los Angeles, CA
Visit our new website: www.mxroots.org!



We are pleased to announce the schedule for the inaugural Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival. Download the complete schedule with presentation and workshop information here (pdf) or scroll down for the complete schedule. You can also preview the full-color Festival program (pdf) designed by zerflin.




Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival Schedule 2008

hosted by Mixed Chicks Chat



June 12-14, 2008

Japanese American National Museum

369 East First Street

Los Angeles, California


www.mixedrootsfilmandliteraryfestival.org

Thursday, June 12
6:30pm - 7:00pm
Check-in & Registration
Boeing Company Lobby
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Loving Day Celebration
Opening Address: Rebecca Walker
DJs Life and Vika
Democracy Forum

Friday, June 13
9:15 am - 10:00 am
Check-in & Registration
Boeing Company Lobby
10:15 am - 11:15 am
Democracy Lab: New Media 101: Creating an Online Show, Zadi Diaz
National Center Conference Room: Screenwriting & Personal Storytelling, Dawn Wilkinson


11:30 am - 12:30 pm
National Center Conference Room: Putting Transracial Adoptions First: Moving Beyond the Mixed Race Community, Lisa Marie Rollins
Democracy Forum: Race-centric Baggage R U Ready to Lighten Ur Load? Kim-Marie Walker


12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
BREAK
Informational and Vendor Tables
Boeing Company Lobby
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Democracy Lab:
Literary Readings
Cassandra Love, poetry
Neil Aitken, poetry
Jennifer Lisa Vest, poetry
Terry Culpepper, fiction
Jason Sublette, fiction
Kim-Marie Walker, memoir
Lori Tharps, memoir


2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Democracy Forum:
Short Film Screenings
My People Are . . . Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage dir. Aaron Birch
Silences dir. Octavio Warnock-Graham
Our Pride: The Spirits of Black Japanese in Georgia dir.Yohei Suzuki
Secret Asian Woman dir. Dmae Roberts
A Single Rose dir. Hanelle Culpepper
Nigel's Fingerprint dir. Amy McConnell
The Pendulum dir. Justin Bradshaw
The Touch dir. Jane Clark
On My Skin dir. Amy André
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm BREAK
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Democracy Forum:
Loving Prize Presentation:Kip Fulbeck and James McBride

Mixed Unplugged: Live Performance of the Mixed Experience (Mature Subject Matter)

Host: Victoria Tilford
  • Joe Hernandez-Kolski & Joshua RKB Silverstein: So Fresh and So Clean
  • Maya Lilly: Mixed
  • Warren Hutcherson, stand-up
  • Kaypri, Babygirl, the coming-of-age sitcom/drama/confessions of a media-codependa-lova-holic
  • Esther Friedman, 4525 Henry Hudson Parkway

Saturday, June 14
9:15 am - 10:00 am
Check-in & Registration
Boeing Company Lobby
10:00 am - 11:15 am
Democracy Lab:
iPride Family Event: Story Hour with Kim Wayans and Sundee Frazier & Multiracial Playgroup

National Center Conference Room:
The Process of Writing a Solo Show
Esther Friedman (10:15am-11:15am)
11:15 am - 12:30 pm
Democracy Forum:
iPride Family Event: Film Screening & Discussion
My People Are . . . Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage dir. Aaron Birch

National Center Conference Room:
Crafting the Multicultural Memoir: Mining the Mixed Experience for Universal Appeal, Lori Tharps
(11:30am-12:30pm)
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Informational and Vendor Tables
Boeing Company Lobby

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Brown Bag Lunch Discussion: Growing Up Betwixt & Between:
Writers Jordan Elgrably, Elliott Lewis, Angela Nissel
Moderator: Michelle Maltais, Los Angeles Times
Democracy Lab
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Democracy Lab
Literary Readings
Cassandra Love, poetry
Allison Hart, poetry
Neil Aitken, poetry
Jennifer Lisa Vest, poetry
Terry Culpepper, fiction
Lori Tharps, memoir
Kim-Marie Walker, memoir
Jason Sublette, fiction
Sundee Frazier, fiction
Susan Straight, fiction

2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Democracy Forum
Film Screenings
Silences dir. Octavio Warnock-Graham
Slaves in the Family (Slavernes Slaegt): Part 1 dir. Alex Frank Larsen
NoHo, PA dir. Dawn Green
Slaves in the Family (Slavernes Slaegt): Part 2 dir. Alex Frank Larsen
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Boeing Company Lobby/Democracy Lab/Democracy Forum
Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA) Reception
Multigenerational Mixed Roots Community Dialogue presented by Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC)
7:00 pm - 8:40 pm
Democracy Forum:
Feature Film Screening: Crossing the Line: Multiracial Comedians
8:40 pm - 9:00pm
Democracy Forum:
Closing Remarks

SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS




Opening Address: Rebecca Walker



Rebecca Walker is a best-selling author, an acclaimed speaker and teacher, and an award-winning visionary. When she was just twenty-five, Time Magazine named her one of the fifty most influential future leaders of America-an award which has since been followed by many others, including the Women Who Could Be President Award from the League of Women Voters, the Champion of Choice Award from CARAL, and the Women of Distinction Award from the American Association of University Women. Rebecca's memoir, Black, White, & Jewish, became an international bestseller and won the Alex Award from the American Library Association. People Magazine called Black, White, and Jewish, "A heartbreaking tale of self-creation...Walker masterfully illuminates differences between black and white America." Rebecca is the daughter of Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Alice Walker and esteemed civil rights attorney Mel Leventhal. She lives in Hawaii and Northern California with her son and his father. Rebecca will give the Opening Address June 12, 2008, at 7pm for our Loving Day Party, featuring DJ Life & DJ Vika, food, fun and festivities.

Loving Prize Presentation



Friday, June 13, 2008 at 7pm.

Kip Fulbeck & James McBride

Award-winning artist, filmmaker and slam poet Kip Fulbeck will join us for a special ceremony on Friday June 13, 2008 at 7pm when he will receive the inaugural Loving Prize in honor of his inspirational dedication to celebrating and illuminating the Mixed racial and cultural experience. Honoree writer and musician James McBride will receive the prize in absentia.







Mixed Unplugged:
Live Performance of the Mixed Experience





Friday, June 13, 2008 directly following the Loving Prize Presentation (7pm)

Join us for an incredible line-up of comedy, performance, and spoken-word artistry. Featured performers include: Joe Hernandez-Kolski and Joshua RKB Silverstein; Maya Lilly; Esther Friedman; Warren Hutcherson; and Kaypri.











Special Family Event




Saturday, June 14, 2008 10am-11am.



Multiracial Children's Playgroup and Story Time hosted by iPride.



Enjoy a Multiracial Family Playgroup and Story Time with featured readings by Sundee Frazier --Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It, and Kim Wayans--Amy Hodgepodge.
Spend an hour together as a community. Meet other parents, accidental neighbors and new friends! Children will enjoy arts and crafts and free play as well as the story time. Light snacks and drinks will be provided. All ages.






Saturday, June 14, 2008, 11:15am-12:30pm

Watch the celebrated family film, My People Are . . . Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage dir. Aarin Burch, which addresses the Mixed experience from young people's perspectives. My People Are...Youth Pride in Mixed Heritage promotes positive racial & ethnic identity in ALL children, highlighting the multiracial experience. Discover a language that embraces multiracial identity and gives visibility to experiences this community faces. In this 20-minute film, Young performers share pride in cultures, history & ethnic roots through theater, spoken word, interview, dance, rap & song. Panel discussion moderated by Jil Christina of iPride with panelists Sundee Frazier, Kim Wayans and Tarah Fleming (producer of My People Are..) on their experiences writing literature and making films for Mixed children. Ages: 8 to adult. Since 1979, iPride has supported multiethnic, multiracial and transracially adopted youth and their families.




Brown Bag Lunch Discussion

Saturday, June 14, 2008, 12:45pm-1:45pm

Growing Up Betwixt & Between: Writers Jordan Elgrably, Elliott Lewis, Angela Nissel
Moderator: Michelle Maltais, Los Angeles Times






Jordan Elgrably is a writer, producer and cultural activist. Most recently he laid the groundwork for the creation of Levantine Cultural Center and is a member of the Board of Directors. Elgrably is an Arab Jew who is in demand as a public speaker on Sephardi/Mizrahi cultures and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has appeared on television including channels 4, 5 and 7, as well as Armenian TV; and has been a guest on such public radio stations as KABC, KCRW, KPFK, KPCC and KXLU, in Los Angeles, as well as WBAI inNew York, the BBC and the Voice of America. Elgrably's fiction has appeared in such literary publications as The Paris Review and Salmagundi and in the anthology Sephardic American Voices, Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy (Brandeis 1996).


Elliott Lewis is a freelance television news reporter in Washington, DC. His clients have included CNN Headline News, BET, Associated Press Television, WJLA-TV, and the Washington bureaus of Tribune Broadcasting and Hearst-Argyle Television. He is the author or Fade: My Journeys in Multiracial America.





Angela Nissel is the author of two best-selling comedic memoirs, Mixed: My Life in Black and White and The Broke Diaries: The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke. She is also co-executive producer / writer for the Emmy award-winning television show, Scrubs.

Closing Night Events



Saturday, June 14, 2008, 5pm-7pm


Reception presented by Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA)

Multigenerational Mixed Roots Community Dialogue Multiracial Americans of Southern California


Enjoy a family-friendly reception hosted by AMEA where the scholarship winner of the first AMEA/Biracial Family Network (BFN) will be announced. Media Aid Center students will interview guests for a documentary in celebration of AMEA's 20th Anniversary, and bid in silent auction.

The Association of MultiEthnic Americans is a 501(c)(3) non-profit national umbrella advocacy organization for multiracial, multiethnic, and transracially adopted individuals, families, organizations, and allies currently headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. AMEA initiates and represents through public policy and other advocacy oriented services that concern the community. AMEA was instrumental in changing the 2000 U.S. Census, for the first time in U.S. history, to allow people to choose “two or more” racial/ethnic categories. Today, they still maintain a seat on the Census Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau, the only organization representing the multiracial community.


Multigenerational Mixed Roots Community Dialogue (MASC) Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC) Join us for a moderated panel discussion featuring an array of multiracial community figures covering the issues of youth, parenting, activism, and scholarship. This talk will bring forth the perspectives of different generations and members of the community, and features Dr. Rudy P. Guevarra, Jr. of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara, a scholar who has done groundbreaking research on the “Mexipino” – Mexican and Filipino identity. The panel discussion will culminate with an open forum, an opportunity for the community to dialogue with panelists and each other, to have an important conversation about the mixed-heritage community today. All ages welcome. Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to broaden self and public understanding of our interracial, multiethnic, and cross-cultural segments of society by facilitating interethnic dialogue and providing cultural, educational, and recreational activities. MASC is an affiliate of the Association of Multiethnic Americans (AMEA), supporting national initiatives to support multiracial and multiethnic families. For more information about MASC, please visit: www.mascsite.org.



Saturday, June 14, 7pm-9pm


Multiracial Comedians: Crossing the Line (feature documentary) & Closing Remarks

Freedom of speech, The 'N'-word, Race, Bigotry, Power, Pain, Laughter, Healing.
Produced by: Teja Arboleda, MEd: Emmy-Award Winner, Comedian/Performer, and Professor of Media Darby Li Po Price, PhD: Ethnic Studies Professor, Diversity Specialist & Researcher