Who I Became (2003, 20 mins.)
Who I Became follows the life of Pounleou Chea, a 21-year old Cambodian refugee on the brink of fatherhood and in the middle of Federal probation. The film was co-directed, shot, and edited by Michael Siv and Aram Collier and produced by Spencer Nakasako. The film was part of the PBS series Matters of Race, which was executive produced by Orlando Bagwell and aired nationally on PBS in September 2003.
The Crew
Michael Siv, Co-director, Co-editor
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.
Aram Collier, Co-director, Co-editor
Aram Siu Wai Collier most recently co-directed Who I Became
with Mike Siv. The film was part of the nationally televised
PBS series Matters of Race. 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, including the San Francisco
International Asian American Film Festival and Taos
Talking Pictures. Collier attended University
of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated in 2001
with a B.A. in Film and Digital Media.
Executive Producer: Orlando Bagwell
Producer: Spencer Nakasako
A production of ROJA Productions
