Spencer Nakasako
Artistic Consultant
Spencer Nakasako's latest film Refugee, about three Cambodian American men returning to Cambodia, recently aired nationally on the PBS series Independent Lens. He is perhaps best known for winning a National Emmy Award for a.k.a. Don Bonus, the video diary of a Cambodian refugee teenager that aired on the PBS series P.O.V. and screened at the Berlin International Film Festival. Kelly Loves Tony, a video diary about an Iu Mien refugee teenage couple growing up too fast and too soon in Oakland, CA also aired on P.O.V. Nakasako wrote the screenplay and co-directed a feature film about Hong Kong, Life is Cheap. . . But Toilet Paper is Expensive, with Wayne Wang. He produced and directed Monterey's Boat People, about the conflict between Vietnamese and local fishermen in his hometown of Monterey, CA, and Talking History, about the history of Asian women in the U.S. Both films received numerous awards and aired nationally on PBS. For the past fifteen years, Spencer has been working as an artist-in-residence at VYDC. He has taught film and ethnic studies at University of California at Berkeley. He has also served as an artist-in-residence at Stanford University, UCLA, University of Toronto, the Walker Art Center in Minnesota, and the Virginia Foundation for Humanities to name a few.
Michael Siv
Projects Consultant
Born and raised in San Francisco's Tenderloin Neighborhood, Mike "Adoe" Siv has been hanging out at VYDC since he was 15 years old and has been working there for the past 6 years. He co-directed, edited, and shot his first documentary, Who I Became, which follows the life of Ponnloeu Chea, a 21-year old Cambodian refugee on the brink of fatherhood and in the middle of Federal probation. The film was part of the PBS series Matters of Race that aired nationally in 2003. Mike was the main subject and also co-editor for the nationally broadcast PBS documentary Refugee (winner of several awards including “Best Documentary” at the Hawaii International Film Festival in 2003). When not working on film projects, Mike spends his time coaching the Tenderloin youth basketball team The Tenacious Little Bombers. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Liberal Studies.
Former Lab Staff
Aram Siu Wai Collier
Co-directed Who I Became, Co-edited Refugee,
Co-produced the Lab's Retrospective DVD set
Aram Collier first worked with Spencer Nakasako as a high school student in 1996 as part of a youth video workshop in the Tenderloin. The workshop resulted in Tenderloin Stories, a program of four short videos that won several youth video awards, was broadcast on public television and played at various festivals. Aram co-directed Who I Became, which was part of the PBS series Matters of Race that aired nationally in 2003. He also co-edited the nationally broadcast PBS documentary Refugee. Aram's final project at the Lab was production of the Lab's Retrospective DVD set with Emunah. Aram attended University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 2001 with a B.A. in Film and Digital Media. He is now living in Toronto working with Reel Asian International Film Festival. Aram's narrative short The Chinese Connection will premier March 2007 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
Emunah Yuka Edinburgh
Designed the Media Lab Website,
Co-produced the Lab's Retrospective DVD set
Emunah Edinburgh lived on five different continents before settling in San Francisco in 1990. She first worked in the Tenderloin at the Central City Hospitality House Community Arts Program (a public studio for homeless and low-income artists) teaching basic technique, leading workshops, and curating shows. In 1999, Emunah painted a mural that received the Precita Eyes Public Mural Award. Emunah got started in video through Stanford University’s Digital Art Center and co-teaching documentary video workshops for Upward Bound. Emunah has led video workshops at YUCA in East Palo Alto, helping youth integrate media into their environmental justice campaigns. Emunah was Associate Producer on the new documentary feature To You Sweetheart, Aloha, a film edited by Debbie Lum (who edited Spencer's film a.k.a. Don Bonus). Emunah first worked with Spencer as his T.A. while he was an artist-in-residence at Stanford. In 2005, Emunah and Aram, co-produced the Lab's Retrospective DVD set. Emunah's final project at the Lab was the design and coding of this Media Lab website.
