June 2020 – Genny Lim

Legacy and Lineage is a series of short films profiling the unique journeys of 5 Asian American community artists – Sammay Dizon, Genny Lim, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Sami See, Francis Wong – whose works consistently place community at the center. The films explore the reasons that drive these outstanding artists and legacies that may point to the direction of the future of Asian American artists in San Francisco. Produced by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.

Co-presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) and the Center for Asian American Media, the series premiered on demand for CAAMFest, May 13-23, 2021.

Legacy & Lineage: Genny Lim

Released Friday, June 19, 2020

DESCRIPTION: “When you have that power, that ability other people don’t have, it’s how you use your authority and your power that counts. It’s not that you have it. It’s what you do with it.” From broadcast journalism to creative writing, Genny discusses the power of poetry and art to speak truth and transform systems.

About the filmmakers: Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s (APICC) mission is to support and present multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the United States. APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups: Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. Since 1998, the center has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of San Francisco’s API arts community by organizing and presenting the annual United States of Asian America Festival (now in its 24th year) as well as commissioning contemporary art for and by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

SERIES FILM PRODUCTION TEAM

Laura Priscilla Paule, Director

Willis Lai, Cinematographer & Editor

Diana Chen, Video Assistant & Editor

Co-Presenters: Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, BAVC

First Voice: Offerings to Mother Earth

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, First Voice proudly presented a series of artist videos, all made during shelter in place, from the First Voice family of artists and healers. With these offerings, we radiate healing energy, and resonate in new and ancient ways with Mother Earth, so we can remember how to love and care for Her and one another.

“I’ve known Brenda and Mark for 35 years. We’ve collaborating on many projects over the years from my 1987 performance piece, XX, about the oppression of women, which featured Brenda in the lead to my many poetry and music collaborations with Mark Izu in the early period of Asian American Jazz in the seventies till now. It gives me great pleasure to culminate our decades-old friendship as artists-in-arms to be a part of First Voice’s Offerings to the Earth.

My ode to water is a plea. If we continue to desecrate, pollute and waste this precious element, we will hasten the death of our planet for all living beings. Sea levels have risen to its highest annual level in just the past year and our coastlines are receding. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the catastrophic state of water justice. Twenty-one million Americans, that’s six percent of the population, get water from systems that violate health standards. The Navaho Nation has seen the highest rate of infections per capita in the U.S. and thirty to forty percent of its population have no running water or electricity. It’s time we reverse our course and heal our oceans, rivers and streams, starting with our melting glaciers.”

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