Mixed Remixed Festival

A Writing Workshop for Kids 6/14 FREE!

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KIDS-MIXED-REMIXED-Love Stories Told By Kids (For Kids!)
June 14, 2014 1:00pm-2:20pm

Instructor: Lora Nakamura

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.

In this storytelling workshop, children will be able to explore the love they currently experience in their lives, from family love to friendship love, and even to love they have for themselves. Through the use of illustrations, they will learn to sequence their stories and share with others in a safe and fun environment.

Lora Nakamura is the author and illustrator of, The Bonsai Babes: A Love Story, a cross-cultural tale of unconditional love and friendship set in Los Angeles and its neighboring San Gabriel Valley. She has a background in education and social work, receiving her B.A. in Spanish Literature from the University of California, San Diego, her teaching credential from Cal State L.A., and her Masters in Social Work from Cal State Long Beach. She has been a guest lecturer on issues of diversity at Cal State L.A., and an advocate for underrepresented communities in Compton, Lynwood, Los Angeles, and the San Gabriel Valley.

Featured Writers Reading 6/14

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READINGS-MIXED-REMIXED-

Readings: June 14, 2014, 1:00pm – 2:20pm

Book signing immediately following the reading and Q & A.

Books for sale by the Mixed Remixed Festival Official Bookseller Skylight Books.

 Krista Bremer

mx14_bremerKrista Bremer’s writing has won a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a North Carolina Arts Fellowship. Krista’s essays have appeared in magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine, MORE, The Sun,Utne, and The Sunday Times (London). Her work has also appeared on CNN and MSN, and she is a regular contributor to National Public Radio.

Krista lives in Carrboro, North Carolina, and works as associate publisher of The Sun.  Her memoir about her bicultural marriage, My Accidental Jihad (Algonquin Books), has met great critical acclaim.  Eat, Pray, Lovebestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert calls My Accidental Jihad “a bold piece of writing (and thinking) by an incredibly brave woman.”

 

 

Crystal Chan

mx14_crystal_chanCrystal Chan grew up as a mixed-race kid in the middle of the Wisconsin cornfields and has been trying to find her place in the world ever since. Over time, she found that her heart lies in public speaking, performing, and ultimately, writing. She has published articles in several magazines; given talks and workshops across the country; facilitated discussion groups at national conferences; and been a professional storyteller for children and adults alike.

In Chicago, where Crystal now lives, you will find her biking along the city streets and talking to her pet turtle. Her debut middle-grade novel, Bird, is published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. She is represented by Emily van Beek of Folio Literary Management.  Visit her website for more information.

 

 

Chris Terry

mx14_ChrisLTerryTribStaceyWescottChris L. Terry recently relocated to L.A. from Chicago, where he got a Creative Writing MFA from Columbia College. Slate and Kirkus included his novel, Zero Fade, (Curbside Splendor, 2013), on their Best of 2013 lists. Kirkus called it, “Original, hilarious, thought-provoking and wicked smart: not to be missed.” ChrisLTerry.com has links to more of his writing.

 

 

Brannon Rockwell-Charland

mx14_Brannon Rockwell-Charland Photo (mixed remixed)Brannon Rockwell-Charland is a multimedia artist originally hailing from Berkeley, California. She recently graduated from Oberlin College where she majored in Africana Studies and Visual Art. She is a Mellon-Mays Research Fellow whose scholarship deals with historical mixed-race media representation, race in contemporary advertising, and post-racialism. Much of her artistic work focuses on visual intersections of queerness, blackness, gender, legacy, autobiography, and mythology. Her photographic and sculptural work has been shown at the Lansing Art Gallery in Lansing, Michigan and at the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People in Oberlin, Ohio. In her spare time, she enjoys stream of consciousness writing, playing the guitar, singing, and mixing lipstick colors to find the perfect shade. She was probably a mermaid in a past life. Visit her website for more information.

 

 

Shannon Luders-Manuel

mx14_shannon_ludersShannon received her B.A. in English and Writing from Southern Oregon University, and her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her previous publications include a scholarly article in AmeriQuests about the child abductee, Elizabeth Smart, online articles about movies and dating for The Content Cruncher, a twice-monthly column in the SOU student newspaper, and a poem in the online journal Jellyfish Magazine. She currently work as an SAT Prep instructor at HS2 Academy in the Silicon Valley.

Shannon was born in San Francisco to a white mother and a black father, and  lived on the famous Haight Street in the 70s. She has dedicated her scholarship to devouring biracial literature from the past two centuries and wrote her Master’s thesis on the role of the black mother and white suitor in the “tragic mulatta” genre. She has previously been an active member of the Bay Area group “Sisters and White Misters,” and is currently in a happy relationship with a Colombian.  Visit her website to find out more.

 

Feature Film: Closure, a documentary about transracial adoption

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CLOSURE-MIXED-REMIXED-Don’t miss this excellent feature documentary, Closure, about a young African-American woman who was raised by white parents who goes looking for her biological parents.

Closure dir. Bryan Tucker

June 14, 2014 11:00am-12:30pm

Discussion on Transracial Adoption immediately following screening.

Running Time 76 minutes

Pre-registration strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.

Angela, an African-American, was raised by a Caucasian couple in a large, multiracial family in Washington State.  She was adopted at the age of one from foster care in the state of Tennessee, under the terms of a closed adoption.  As Angela grew older, it became apparent that the unanswered questions about her birth story would continue to haunt her if she did not attempt to find some answers.  Filmed and edited by her husband, Bryan, this documentary follows Angela for two years during the search for her birth family.  Several twists and surprising revelations ultimately lead Angela and her family across the country to her place of birth.  It is here where Angela comes face to face with her birth mother for the first time, and meets family members who had never known she was even born – including her birth father.
http://closuredocumentary.com/

SHORT FILMS PROGRAM

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Don’t miss the wonderful line-up of short films with a Q & A with the filmmakers immediately following.

Short Films 2014

Short_Films

SHORT-FILM-MIXED-REMIXED-Short Film Program

June 14, 2014 10:00am-10:50am

The United Colors of Amani, dir. Amani Starnes (Running time 15 minutes)

Ozzy & Harry dir. Jeffrey Moline (Running time 6:25 minutes)

Tender Love dir. Joseph Hernandez-Kolski (Running time 5:17 minutes)

Covered in Grass dir. Celso White & Matt Malis (Running time 4:45 minutes)

There will be a short Q&A with the filmmakers and actors involved immediately following the screenings.

Pre-registration strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.

The United Colors of Amani

In the tradition of Robert mx14_Amani Starnes Commercial Headshot PrimaryTownsend’s Hollywood Shuffle, the web series “The United Colors of Amani,” explores Amani’s uncomfortable racial adventures in Hollywood. Amani, an ethnically ambiguous performer, has dealt with the “What are you question” her whole life. But what does it mean to be black, white, and everything in between as she navigates the entertainment industry and life in LA? “The United Colors of Amani,” a with sociological undertones, sheds light on the uncomfortable, awkward, and outrageous constructions of race permeating showbiz. It will evoke laughter, discomfort, and outrage. Despite the specific circumstances of the protagonist’s journey through the big bad world of Hollywood, viewers will be surprised to find that they, too, can relate on some level to the identity politics and interpersonal catastrophes highlighted in “The United Colors of Amani.”

Amani Starnes is a multiracial actress, writer, producer, and singer. She graduated from Yale, where she studied Theater and African American Studies. Amani is the face of several national television commercials and a member of Tim Robbins’ Actors’ Gang. She also sings, choreographs, and stars in independent films, plays, concerts, music videos, and rock operas.

 

Ozzy & Harry

mx14_molineA biting satire on Conservative American Family Values “Ozzy and Harry” (a play on “Ozzy and Harriet”). Features Ozzy, a closeted, conservative Mixed race business executive and Harry his Nordic spouse and homemaker are trying to raise Pumpkin, their Latino son in a world that only existed on their television sets. Pumpkin tries to pull the wool from over his parents eyes by confronting the family dynamic of two fathers. Shot in 2003 in glorious black and white “Ozzy and Harry” reflects rotten core at buying into the American Dream, through apathy, consumerism and simply the need to be right. It illustrates how we lose our uniqueness in chasing it.

JGM is a singer/songwriter, musician and filmmaker. He uses his art and life to promote a solidarity of enlightened common people. JGM was farm raised in MN and lives in West Hollywood. JGM hopes you enjoy his film Ozzy and Harry.

Tender Love

mx14_joseph_hernandez_kolskiAs a writer who comes from a mixed background, I think my perspective is slightly different. I think my comedy tends to reflect that. This comedy short is a commentary on technology and relationships, not specifically about the mixed experience, but I think it’s a universal topic. My goal is to continue to speak about our experience in ways that demonstrate a positive direction in which I think we need to move as a society, where we are not on the outskirts of the mainstream. We need to redefine what that mainstream looks like.

Joe Hernandez-Kolski is a spoken word poet and comedian. His first short film, “Afterschool’d” was an NBC Comedy Short Cuts finalist. He has written several hip-theater shows, both in the solo format and with his partner Joshua Silverstein under the comedy moniker “So Fresh & So Clean.” His first solo show, “You Wanna Piece of Me?” was recently published by the University of Michigan press as part of an anthology entitled, “Say Word: Voices of Hip-Hop Theater.”

 

Covered in Grass

mx14_aaron_samuelsThe film is a video adaptation of a poem that examines a shared history of oppression between the narrator’s Black heritage and Jewish heritage.

Aaron Samuels, raised in Providence, Rhode Island by a Jewish mother and a Black father, is a Cave Canem Fellowand a nationally acclaimed performer. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart, featured on TV One’s Verses & Flow, and has appeared in many journals including Tidal Basin Review and Muzzle Magazine.

PANEL: How to Make Living the Writer’s Life a Reality 6/14 FREE!

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WRITER'S-LIFE-MIXED-REMIXED-Don’t miss this great panel of writers and screenwriters who made the transition from professional and traditional careers to writing full-time!  Find out their steps and secrets! 6/14

How to Make Living the Writer’s Life a Reality

June 14, 2014 at 10:00am-10:50am

Panelists: Lori Lakin Hutcherson, Julie Buxbaum, Heidi Durrow, Marissa Jo Cerar, Ernessa T. Carter

Pre-registration strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.  FREE!

You keep telling yourself one day you’re going to write that novel. Well how can you take practical steps to make that dream a reality? Hear the stories of some successful writers of books and films and how they transitioned into living the writer’s life.

Lori Lakin Hutcherson

mx14_lorilakinhutchersonLori is a Los Angeles native, graduate of Harvard University and a former Vice President of Feature Film Production at 20th Century Fox, where she helped oversee such movies as “Waiting To Exhale,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “The Truth About Cats & Dogs,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Crucible” and “That Thing You Do.”

After six years as a film executive, Lori climbed out of that circle of Hell into the creative one, and has since written for TV shows such as “Daddio,” “Abby,” “The American Embassy,” and the Will Smith/Jada Pinkett Smith-produced “All of Us.” Most recently she was a Supervising Producer and writer on VH1’s “Single Ladies.”

Lori is the mother of two young children, Xavier (7) and Phoebe (4) and is really freakin’ happily married to writer/director/comedian Warren Hutcherson, former executive producer of “Moesha” and “The Bernie Mac Show.” She is currently working on growing her news/media website, goodblacknews.org, freelancing for L.A. Parent Magazine, and de-cluttering her way too kid-friendly home.

Julie Buxbaum

Julie Buxbaum is an internationally renowned novelist, and the author of THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE and AFTER YOU (both published by Dial Press, a division of Random House). Her work has been translated into twenty five languages, and is available in over fifty countries. THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE has been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox with Anne Hathaway attached to star. She has also written for Redbook and The New York Times. A graduate of Harvard Law School and The University of Pennsylvania, Julie now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Heidi Durrow

HDmixedremixedHeidi Durrow is the founder of the Mixed Remixed Festival, a former litigator, a former Life Skills trainer of professional athletes, and the New York Times best-selling novelist of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books) which won the PEN/Bellwether Prize and was named to several Best of Lists in 2010.

mx14_Cerar_Marissa_Jo_300x300Marissa Jo Cerar

Marissa Jo Cerar grew up in a family of eight adopted kids, as the only brown person in the cornfield-lined roads of her rural Illinois town. She has a BA in Film, concentrating in Screenwriting from Columbia College Chicago and is an alumnus of Film Independent’s Project: Involve. During the Project: Involve program, Marissa Jo’s short script STEPS was produced and then screened in multiple film festivals around the world. In 2012 her award-winning feature script CONVERSION was on the prestigious Black List and Hit List as one of best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, and in 2013 she was named on Hollywood’s Young and Hungry List.

Marissa Jo works as a story editor on the critically acclaimed ABC Family show, THE FOSTERS, and her script CONVERSION is in development with Tim Robbins attached to direct.

 Ernessa T. Carter

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Storyteller’s Prize and Live Event with Host Erica Gimpel

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Gimpel_Erica_0984_xret-2We are so elated!  Erica Gimpel will host the Mixed Remixed Festival live event and Storyteller’s Prize presentation featuring a talented group of performers.  I have adored Erica since her days as Coco on Fame.  She was my idol!  Confident, talented, beautiful –and she looked like she was part of my tribe. There really was someone else who looked like me!  Erica has carved out a singular acting and singing career since she was a teen and continues to inspire on stage and on the screen.  We are so lucky to have her as a part of and supporter of the Mixed Remixed Festival.  Don’t miss this amazing event where we will honor Comedy Central’s Key & Peele, writer Susan Straight, and Cheerios.  It’s going to be a great night!–Heidi Durrow

Poets & Writers Connecting Cultures Reading with Mixed Remixed Writers

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mx14_fb_coverYou don’t want to miss this great reading!  Poets & Writers has asked Mixed Remixed Writers to be part of this wonderful reading series on 5/22/14 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.  Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, CA.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Here is more information about the event and the writers participating:

Join us on May 22, 2014 for Poets & Writers Fourth Annual Los Angeles Connecting Cultures Reading featuring writers representing P&W-supported organizations: 826LA, Heartland Institute for Transformation, Lambda Literary Foundation, Levantine Cultural Center, Mixed Remixed Festival, and Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore. Readers include: librecht baker, Jesse Bliss, Laura Davila, Gayle Fuhr, Trebor Healy, Queen Hollins, Juliana Maio, Jeffery Martin, Jamie Moore, Melinda Palacios, Bernard Radfar, Luivette Resto, Chris L. Terry, Tony Valenzuela, Vickie Vértiz, and Esme-Michelle Watkins. This event is free and open to the public! Reception to follow.

 

PANEL: Mixed Latinos in the Flesh 6/14

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Mixed Latinos in the Flesh
June 14, 2014 3:00pm-4:30pm

Facilitator: Thomas Lopez
Panelists: Elizabeth Liang, James Tyner, Jessica Arana, Sandra Ramos O’Briant

Pre-registration strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.  FREE!

Writers, poets, visual artists and performers will share how their identities as mixed Latinos influence their work. The works of the panelists range in diversity from literary and theatrical memoir to historical fiction to poetry. Mixed Latinos are likely the largest single segment of the mixed community although very little is known about them. Even the name “mixed Latino” requires an explanation. Attendees will learn of the unique experience of mixed Latinos as well as the similarities they have to the mixed experience.

Thomas Lopez

Thomas LopezThomas Lopez has been a member of MASC for over fifteen years and is a past president of the organization. He has made numerous television, print, and on-line media appearances and speaking engagements as a keynote and panelist. As a long-time board member he has also organized conferences, a mini-film festival, and diversity training workshops. Apart from MASC, Thomas is a mechanical engineer having worked in multiple industries the most recent being medical devices. He was born and raised in Southern California with parents from Mexican American and German-Polish roots.

Elizabeth Liang

ELElizabeth Liang is an actress and writer. Her one-woman show, Alien Citizen: An Earth Odyssey, had a full run in Hollywood in May 2013 and has begun its national tour in festivals and the college circuit. Her essays on developing the show and producing Chekhov’s Three Sisters have been published and reprinted. Elizabeth was raised in Central America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Connecticut as a Guatemalan-American business brat of Chinese-Spanish-Irish-French-German-English descent. She graduated from Wesleyan University, where she got her B.A. in English Literature with a minor in Film Studies. Elizabeth transferred to Wesleyan from Wellesley College, where she had won the Isabelle Eastman Fisk Performance Prize for acting. After graduating, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City during the summer before she moved to Los Angeles. In L.A. she studied acting with Jonathan Banks, Marilyn Fox & Gar Campbell at Pacific Resident Theatre, and Cinda Jackson at The Lost Studio. She also studied Shakespeare with Louis Fantasia, and improv with ComedySportz and Gary Austin, co-founder of The Groundlings.

On stage Elizabeth has acted at East West Players, Theatre of NOTE, the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Quantum Theatre Company, 2100 Sq Ft, and Pacific Resident Theatre, among others. She also served as Co-President of the Artistic & Management Committee at NOTE. Elizabeth has won Stage Scene LA, Garland, and LA Weekly Awards for her performances. She was twice named one of the “5 Best Actresses of the Year” byReview Plays and was also named one of the “Top 10 Actresses of the Year” by Dave Barton of the OC Weekly. Elizabeth has acted in both English- and Spanish-language features and short films that have been screened all over the globe. Some of her television credits include Law & Order: LA, Criminal Minds, and a recurring role on The West Wing.

James Tyner

James TynerAs Fresno’s first poet laureate, James Tyner is now tasked with endorsing poetry and literary arts, with the goal of increasing awareness of the city’s history of poetic accomplishment. Tyner, 38, graduated Fresno State’s Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts program with distinction in 2009. But he was an accomplished writer even before tossing the graduation cap. During his college years, Tyner earned the Larry Levis Poetry Prize and the Andres Montoya Scholarship. Tyner has run Poets in the Library, one of the longest-running free poetry series in the Valley, a program that has attracted poets and writers from all around since 2005.

Jessica Arana

JessicaHeadShotJessica Arana is a NYC trained artist and designer now based in Los Angeles.

Her artwork expresses her vivencias (its paradoxes and differences), as a multidisciplinary and Multiracial artist. Her most recent work uses memories, embroidered drawings, and photography to reveal her complex identity experiences. Jessica’s artwork acts as sutures to the sometimes-fractured experiences of women and Multiracial individuals. And, she incorporates the concepts of fluid identity, mestiza and hybrid consciousness, diaspora, and feminist theory into her pieces. For Jessica, the creative process is a way of finding home and belonging, and a method of creating Borderland spaces for self-authorship outside of monoracial normativity.

Jessica received her B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and her M.A. degree with distinction from California State University, Northridge. She has also studied fine art and photography at the Instituto Allende in Mexico. As an art director, Jessica has lead design initiatives for many leading brands and firms nationwide.

Sandra Ramos O’Briant

mx14_Sandra Ramos ObriantAs the daughter of a Spanish Catholic and a Texan Baptist, Sandra Ramos O’Briant was introduced to both the self-flagellating Penitentes of New Mexico and the tent show holy-rollers of East Texas. In addition, her hometown of Santa Fe, the city of Holy Faith, is host to state politics and the attendant corruption, artists and their hangers-on, and a thriving tourist economy. All of this went into her first book, The Sandoval Sisters’ Secret of Old Blood. The issues confronted by three sisters are contemporary: racism, sexual and religious intolerance, and the power of superstition. Finally, it is a story of what constitutes a family, and the myths associated with the blood and bounds of loyalty. Sandra Ramos O’Briant’s grandmother was a Sandoval, and married a Gallegos. Her mother married the O’Briant. Her father was no sweetheart, but she’s stubbornly clung to his name. Growing up in Santa Fe, both her brother and she got the sh** kicked out of them for having an Anglo last name. Yet, her mother had proudly relinquished her own father’s Spanish surname because of the discrimination she experienced for being Mexican. For her, an Anglo last name was a step up. She had no idea her future children would experience reverse discrimination.

A Powerful Writing Workshop with Chris Terry

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RACIAL-MOMENTS-MIXED-REMIXED-Writing Significant Racial Moments
June 14, 2014 11:00am-12:20pm

Instructor: Chris Terry

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.  Save your spot by registering here.

Writing Significant Racial Moments is an interactive creative writing workshop where participants read from and discuss a piece of published work with a mixed-race theme, explore the possibilities for mixed-race lit and experience, then share and write their own stories. Everyone leaves having shared and written.
Chris L. Terry recently moved to L.A. from Chicago, where he got a Creative Writing MFA from Columbia College. Slate and Kirkus included his novel, Zero Fade, (Curbside Splendor, 2013), on their Best Of 2013 lists. Kirkus called it, “Original, hilarious, thought-provoking and wicked smart: not to be missed.” ChrisLTerry.com has links to more of his writing.

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