Mahalo nui to the Berkeley Video & Film Festival for awarding “Noho Hewa” in the documentary category. This is a gem of a local fest and they go out of their way to make sure independent film has a venue in their community. Truly appreciated the experience. Also at the festival screening and as part of the talk-story afterward, was an inspiring African-American scholar and all around prolific author, Gerald Horne. He has written about 20 books, one of which is about the Pacific– “The White Pacific — U.S. Imperialism and Black Slavery in the South Seas after the Civil War”.
Big aloha and mahalo to Ku Ching for twisting my arm about this festival, and to Amy Marsh who made sure festival organizers received a copy of the film for consideration. If it had been left up to me none of this would have happened.
Also, mahalo nui to Tia Ballantine who hosted part of my stay. During my time here 3 young black men were gunned down within a few blocks of her home and 2 of them died. The federal government is considering taking control of the Oakland PD. Anywayz, Tia’s blog about Oakland is part reportage, part homage– powerful stuff. www.tiaballantine.org Have a look.
Please see the link below for a review that appeared in the Berkeley Daily Planet. Ignore the photo and the odd reference to “basking.” The Q&A was brief this time so I talked as fast as I could about the occupation. Also, another film mentioned in this review, “Enforcing the Silence,” is a super important story about the 1981 assassination of Vietnamese-American journalist, Lam Duong, who was shot outside his home in San Francisco in broad daylight.