SFFILM Exclusive

Welcome to SFFILM, Masashi Niwano

Help us celebrate and welcome SFFILM’s new Director of Artist Development Masashi Niwano

SFFILM’s leadership roster received a special addition this fall with Masashi Niwano joining as the Director of Artist Development. Niwano will lead the team elevating and supporting filmmakers from around the world in both fiction and non-fiction realms through direct artist grants, fellowships, residencies, and tailored mentorship. Under the banner of SFFILM Makers, he will help to advance the health and diversity of the independent film arena with a focus on the vibrant community of filmmakers in the Bay Area.

“I am thrilled to welcome Masashi, who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to SFFILM. He is a thoughtful champion for emerging voices and a passionate advocate for building connection and community with and among filmmakers,” said SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai. “We look forward to having his invaluable perspective in our commitment to the regional and national film landscapes.”

For over a decade, Masashi Niwano was the Festival & Exhibitions Director at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), the US’s largest media arts organization that amplifies Asian and Asian American storytelling. Prior to his time with CAAM, he was the Executive Director of the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF). He is a Bay Area native who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Film Production from San Francisco State University.

“SFFILM is truly the gem of the San Francisco Bay Area film scene, and I’m so honored to join them,” said Niwano. “I look forward to collaborating directly with filmmakers to accomplish their visions and dreams, and have their work seen all over the world.”

Masashi has been a jury member or panelist at dozens of prestigious festivals including Sundance Institute, The Gotham (formerly IFP), International Development Association (IDA), New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF) and FRAMELINE LGBTQ+ Film Festival. He has also participated in various industry conversations with leading media entities including AT&T, XFINITY, WarnerMedia, and HBO. He is an active advisory board member for Firelight Media’s William Greaves Fund. Masashi’s life mission is to support diverse media-making communities, especially filmmakers from historically under-served communities.

He has been featured on NPR, CBS Sunday Morning, SF Chronicle, Deadline, and Colorlines. He lives in San Francisco with his partner and adorable cat, Morvey. In his spare time, he enjoys sewing bow ties, tending to his veggie garden, and cooking Japanese-inspired dishes.

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SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.

Guest Post: FilmHouse Resident Patricia Lee on Career Changes and Creativity

On Being Like Water by Patricia Lee

Guest Post: FilmHouse Resident Patricia Lee on Career Changes and Creativity

2020 SFFILM FilmHouse residents. Author Patricia Lee in the bottom square.

On Being Like Water by Patricia Lee

“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it.” — Bruce Lee

I am a filmmaker and current SFFILM FilmHouse resident.

Three years ago I could not have fathomed that sentence applying to me. I had never written a screenplay or worked on any movies. I had only imagined what it might be like to have the energy to write. The luxury of endeavoring into a creative and personal project seemed elusively out of reach, but three years later here I am. Writing a blog post for SFFILM on becoming a filmmaker.

I hope sharing my story of how I began a daunting midlife transition to writing and filmmaking might be helpful to anyone else considering a major change or creative journey. I know in beginning my own transition, I sought out stories of others who had made huge changes in their lives in order to build up the courage to attempt it for myself.

Three years ago I was working in a full-time management role at an architecture and engineering consultancy that I had been with for over twelve years. It was a role that had come to define me in friendships, leisure reading, and the comfort of a regular paycheck. I worked with colleagues that I cared for and respected. Yet, in my mid-thirties, for more reasons than one, I knew it was time to step back and give myself some space to imagine new possibilities. I was expecting a second child and hoped to find something that was a bit more flexible and community oriented. I had little nagging thoughts that this “something else” could be creative work.

When I finally decided to move to a part-time role and take that extra time to sit down and write, I found I didn’t know where to begin. There was no deluge of creativity, no flood of ideas. I had over time been pounded and compressed into a dense, rocklike hardpan. I had become immovable earth — very good at enduring the daily weather of running a small business, but cracking under the pressure of the vast blank page.

The disappointment of not accomplishing enough each day combined with the self applied pressure of having to write something “good” stifled any trickle of creativity hidden within. Panic attacks soon followed. Why had I left a perfectly fine job only to be defeated by a blank computer screen alone in a tiny room? All of those amazing ideas I had before I sat down to write now seemed to lack any substance.

There was work I had to do internally to excavate the hardpan and make room for change before I would be able to create anything.

Finding the Well

It became clear that I needed help if I was going to find any wells of creativity that might be hiding within. I was not going to break down these learned habits or my internalized self critic sitting alone in a room. I began speaking with a therapist to manage the debilitating panic attacks (shout out to my husband for helping me with this — can go on a whole other aside on the importance of proper mental health support!) and enrolled in an online children’s book illustration and writing class. My god how I embraced the structure of that class!

There were deadlines, expectations, assignments! All the familiar approaches of how I had been programmed to get things done in school and at work for the past thirty plus years helped me move past the existential dread of the blank page. I had a little plot of desk I could call my own and made it an inviting place to sit and think. The writing started to trickle out, a little zine about sentient protozoa, the plucky adventures of a young seal, a teenage magician constantly getting into hi-jinx with her guinea pig sidekick. I was writing. By no means were these stories great, or even good, but that was not the point. The dread of the blank page started to turn into the excitement of what idea may (or may not) present itself that day.

Everyday was an exploration into the unknown. For me it required more of the blind faith of dowsing rather than the scientific rigor of a geotechnical survey in search of water. One day might be a day of reflection, another day might be reading and research, and another might involve actually writing (and then likely rewriting it all later). There were no KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure or daily goals to meet. I had to learn to follow the story and the characters and the ideas. I had to be okay with not knowing exactly where it was all leading. When I started to loosen up without overthinking or criticizing myself before I even began, the ideas finally started to flow. I had found an entry point into the creative waters flowing below the dry earth and I was finally pumping some of it up and into my writing.

The online children’s book class also made me realize the value of community in the creative process. I found that my fellow classmates offered the encouragement, critiques and inspiration that I lacked sitting alone in a room. It was fascinating to see how different everyone’s style and approaches were to writing when given the same assignment. It helped remove some of the doubt I had on whether I had any stories important enough or interesting enough or novel enough. Being in community with others made it ever more clear that we each had our own stories to tell and each of our voices were unique.

This exploration took energy. I would end the day exhausted, having used every brain cell I had to imagine a world and story and characters. I was spent in ways that an office job had never taxed me before. I realized I could only sit and write for about four hours at a time if I was to be a functional human and mother to my children afterwards. I also found that while some learned habits had to go to make way for the creative process, other skills I had gained in the decades I spent working in an office were invaluable to the process.

Through my time doing corporate office work I gained a hard earned confidence I did not have when I started off in the professional world. I began my office job barely able to send a benign professional email without being wracked with doubt on if I had used the right words. Should I use “Best” or “Sincerely”? Start with a personal greeting or get straight to the point? Over twelve years I had grown from an anxiety prone entry level assistant into a manager who could go toe-to-toe with chauvinist mansplainers and ruthless real estate tycoons. I had learned focus, confidence, and the importance of a good team. I had grown accustomed to taking two steps forward and one step back in working towards long term goals. This perspective gave me the courage and energy to keep going even when I would end a day disheartened about my projects or when it came time to scrap everything that I had written or when I decided to pull together an application to a film residency — cue SFFILM FilmHouse!

A Confluence of Streams

When I got word that I was a finalist for the SFFILM FilmHouse Residency I was in shock. Could they truly be so open-minded to find a story about an elderly, first generation immigrant, divorcee worth supporting? By a first time screenplay writer no less?

Just before the pandemic hit us in 2020 I had begun meeting a few folks in the film industry who had been incredibly supportive and generous with their time. They offered connections to other filmmakers, advice on process, and generally were excited to meet someone else also trying to make films. One particularly generous and experienced mentor put together a rough budget for my film and introduced me to the person who is now producing my short film, “Hannah’s Biography.”

I was amazed by the welcoming community of filmmakers I was meeting in the Bay Area. Many of them suggested I look to SFFILM as an organization with great programs supporting new filmmakers. Upon reviewing the different programs at SFFILM I decided to apply to the residency program. At minimum, I thought, the structure of an application deadline would be motivation to fine tune the script for my short film. The application process turned out to be much more than that. It was the first time I was asked to write about myself as a filmmaker, my artistic process and my motivations. The application process itself was a journey and required a rigor that I had not placed on this new craft before. It helped me distill the story for “Hannah’s Biography” and my reasons for telling it.

Now about seven months into the residency I can only say how grateful I am to be a part of this cohort. I have been able to form friendships (even through Zoom meetings) and expand the community of amazing artists and mentors in my orbit. The inspiration continues, the projects are fascinating and to see how others approach their craft and their stories is eye opening. I like to call it my own independent study film school. The access to industry members and resources has been invaluable and gave me the boost I needed to get my project ready for production. I know I am still very early on in this journey and have much more to learn and experience, but for now the waters are flowing towards making this film, strengthened by the overflowing reservoir of SFFILM.

I am a filmmaker and current SFFILM FilmHouse resident. If I can say it, maybe someday you can too.

The FilmHouse Residency application deadline is Friday, August 13.

Partnering with Pixar to Assist Pandemic Parenting

They took the opportunity to share some appreciation for one of our most valued local collaborators in developing world-class educational content for kids. Learn more about what SFFILM Education is up to at sffilm.org/education.

Well, we are fully into the fall semester and Bay Area schools remain mostly shuttered. Somehow, through it all, superhero teachers continue to push ahead with remote learning to provide their students great educational opportunities. Families have also experienced a whole new set of challenges in their households, with parents suddenly entering a new level of involvement in assisting with their children’s schoolwork. Being trapped inside has also tested the patience of both parents and children alike. Families long for the days of going out and doing fun and enriching activities together.

SFFILM Education would normally be engaging with teachers, students, and families directly in classrooms and theaters around the Bay Area. Since March, we’ve pivoted to the world of virtual programming with SFFILM at Home. While we would definitely prefer to see everyone in person, we’re pleased to be able to continue programming interactive film experiences that allow our youth audiences to engage with talented storytellers, filmmakers, and industry professionals from around the world. Thus, we are able to continue providing valuable resources to help develop media literacy and critical thinking skills, illuminate diverse world cultures, and inspire a lifelong appreciation of cinema in our kids.

We’re also fortunate to have deep working relationships with some of the most renowned film studios and artists in the world who gladly give their time to assist us in our work. Recently we had two fantastic programs with our neighbors right across the Bay, Pixar Animation Studios. In September we spoke with Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter and Senior VP of Production (and SFFILM Board member) Jonas Rivera. The creative partnership of this award-winning team has produced the beloved films Up and Inside Out. Our discussion focused on the Pixar storytelling process and how personal aspects of the filmmaking team’s lives are often examined and utilized to discover the emotional core of their films. We also hoped the program would help kids process the complex feelings that they’ve been experiencing during the pandemic, and inspire them to think about creative outlets they can explore to express themselves.

Then on October 4, we gave families the opportunity to get out of the house and experience something only the parents might have done before during their own childhoods. While we didn’t make it back into the theater, we did the next best thing by screening Inside Out during our SFFILM at the Drive-In series at Fort Mason Flix. It was a particularly fitting film with its San Francisco setting, and it gave our team much joy to see families cozied up in blankets in the backs of their cars, munching on popcorn and delighting in the emotional storytelling displayed on the big screen.

We are truly lucky to have such a strong ongoing partnership with Pixar — for over ten years they have worked closely with us to provide our audiences once-in-a-lifetime educational events. We’ve been able to hold sneak-peek screenings of their newest feature film releases, sometimes even within the walls of the studio. Talented directors, writers, and animators have been brought directly into classrooms to discuss their creative process, giving students guidance and inspiration they need to help them on their way toward fulfilling their dreams of growing up to be artists. Teachers have been provided with valuable STEAM learning tools which have allowed them to think outside the box and engage their kids in new ways around math and science. We’ve also held hands-on workshops where kids have learned how to tell stories using visual imagery, sculpted original characters out of clay, made stop-motion animation with everyday objects, and drawn beloved Pixar characters.

We can’t think of a better partner in our mission to educate and entertain Bay Area teachers, students, and families. We look forward to at least ten more years of partnership — indeed, to infinity and beyond!

Learn more about SFFILM Education here.

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Guest Post: SFFILM Rainin Grantee Chris Cole on Rap, Reinvention, and the Process of (Re)Writing…

It’s March 2015. I’m sitting anxiously in the lobby of an Austin hotel waiting for Migos to show up for our interview. I’m a young…

Guest Post: SFFILM Rainin Grantee Chris Cole on Rap, Reinvention, and the Process of (Re)Writing “Rolling Stone”

It’s March 2015. I’m sitting anxiously in the lobby of an Austin hotel waiting for Migos to show up for our interview. I’m a young journalist whose editor lobbed him this opportunity last second in between free shows and drinks at SXSW. Migos? You know them. But keep in mind that this is pre-Bad and Boujee Migos. Before Carpool Karaoke, Mountain Dew Commercials, and a marriage to Cardi B.

The trio showed up late and what followed was a rather dull, hazy, conversation — due in part to my freshman status as an interviewer. But when I began to transcribe the interview days later, it revealed itself to be fascinating for other reasons: Everyone in the interview was sticking to a script. They played their roles within the group that they still play to this day, and gave predictable answers to my admittedly predictable questions. I didn’t know it at the time, but this conversation with Migos provided the blueprint for my feature film script Rolling Stone.

Most rappers are CHARACTERS in the truest sense of the word. It’s why watching Pharrell bug out to Jay-Z over Allure in Fade to Black is so compelling. Or why watching Lil Wayne spill his drink while talking about bidding on one of Frank Sinatra’s cars is hilarious. If you told me Young Thug was going to star in an A24 movie based on his life I would pay top dollar for a front row seat on opening day.

What does the inner life of someone like Quavo or Future look like? On the surface, they’re dynamic, enigmatic, quick witted — and ripe for satire. In the same way that the not-talked-about enough CB4 satirized authenticity in 90s hip hop, I wanted to do that for this new crop of rappers that emerged in the past couple years. And that brought forth the character of Butcher.

Butcher’s doppelgänger in the film is Doug — a music journalist. Being a music journalist can give you a unique amount of access to an artist and their lifestyle. At the same time, you wield a certain amount of power over how the public views the artist. What would Almost Famous look like if it took place today and we took, “You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars’’ to its logical extreme?

In Rolling Stone, Doug has ambitions of being an influential writer despite his latest freelancer role at a clickbait heavy publication. Butcher is an egocentric rapper coasting on newfound fame. They look exactly alike. After Doug interviews Butcher, he haphazardly agrees to play his double in a music video. When one gig as Butcher turns into too many, Doug struggles to find his own voice while reckoning his relationship with the public, substances, and a budding romance with his new editor Ana.

I had completed a draft of this script that was an all-over-the-place broad comedy, but I knew that it was missing something. At the top of 2019, I participated in the Middlebury Script Lab, and shared the script with my mentor Sheril Antonio. Two things came out of that. One, I knew that I needed to center Doug’s character around a specific cause that he wanted to speak out against — this would help justify his reasoning for using Butcher’s platform. Two, I had to figure out what made Doug “angry.”

I decided to look inward for those answers. Summer 2016 was a pivotal moment in the formulation of my own black identity due in large part to the widely circulated videos of Alton Sterling and Philando Castillo’s deaths at the hands of police. While I was raised to understand the difference between myself and my white peers at an early age, those videos forced me to reckon with that on another level. How could I translate the palpable feelings of anger and despair that those videos made me feel? What exact place did that have in the story I’m telling? Who am I to say anything about this?

Armed with a whole new set of challenging questions to answer, I knew I needed to do a page one rewrite. I also knew that I needed to speak to the right people in order to tell this story in a way that was accountable and considered. Like clockwork, the application for the SFFILM Rainin Grant came my way through some research. The Rainin Grant supports, “films that address social justice issues-the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges-in a positive and meaningful way through plot, character, theme or setting.” I applied on a whim — and I got it!

The SFFILM Rainin Grant allowed me the time and space to explore the questions around agency, tone, and character development that had put me in a state of writer’s block for about a year. It was fulfilling and encouraging to be a part of a cohort of filmmakers each at different points in their careers and respective projects. Naturally, we were in conversation with each other in a way that developed all of our projects towards their next stages. My cohort, along with the ultra-supportive staff at SFFILM, comprised a large fraction of the team I consulted in drafting my script.

In the new iteration of the script, there’s this comically absurd event that happens involving a police shooting. It’s not at the forefront of the story, but it’s this offscreen event that catalyzes Doug as a character. The story is not about the trauma of that moment, but rather how everyone in this world responds to that moment.

In the wake of these traumatic events, black people still have to get up and perform in our own ways. We have to go to work the next day and pretend to be fine, or not. Beyond that, everyone feels the need to say something — whether it’s right or wrong. And everyone is expected to say something. Even Bratz dolls released a statement on George Floyd’s death last summer. It’s like that Dave Chappelle bit — where is Ja?

A guiding question for me in figuring out these characters is, “What are Doug and Butcher performing in their day-to-day, and what are they performing in response to this event?”

At the moment, I may have more questions than answers. But by the conclusion of my time as an SFFILM Rainin Grantee, I did have some key takeaways. One: Writing a script is a messy, iterative process, and that should be embraced. Two: While filmmaking is an immensely collaborative process, this also extends to my personal writing process. This story is borne out of so many conversations I’ve had with friends, colleagues, and family — directly or indirectly. The people I surround myself with are who inform my work the most.

As a 2021 SFFILM FilmHouse Resident, I’m excited to push the script past the finish line — and hopefully sit across from Migos one day again, this time penning their biopic.

About Chris Cole

As a child, Chris learned to make films by bossing around his siblings to act in parody rap videos in his Rancho Cucamonga, California home. He recently completed his M.A. in Arts Politics at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has collaborated with MTV and BET. His work has been supported by the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation, and appeared on Issa Rae Presents, The Fader, and Pigeons & Planes. He is currently an SFFILM FilmHouse Resident in development on his first feature film Rolling Stone, which was selected for the SFFILM Rainin Grant in Spring 2020. Chris lives in Oakland, CA with his twin brother Noah and a black cat that occasionally lives in the backyard. His work can be viewed at YungChris.com

Dispatch from SFFILM Education: Partnering with Pixar to Assist Pandemic Parenting

The SFFILM Education team has wrapped a strange-but-still-quite-busy spring and summer of programming for Bay Area students and families…

Dispatch from SFFILM Education: Partnering with Pixar to Assist Pandemic Parenting

The SFFILM Education team has wrapped a strange-but-still-quite-busy spring and summer of programming for Bay Area students and families, and we asked them to give us a quick recap of what’s been on their minds. They took the opportunity to share some appreciation for one of our most valued local collaborators in developing world-class educational content for kids. Learn more about what SFFILM Education is up to at sffilm.org/education.

Then on October 4, we gave families the opportunity to get out of the house and experience something only the parents might have done before during their own childhoods. While we didn’t make it back into the theater, we did the next best thing by screening Inside Out during our SFFILM at the Drive-In series at Fort Mason Flix. It was a particularly fitting film with its San Francisco setting, and it gave our team much joy to see families cozied up in blankets in the backs of their cars, munching on popcorn and delighting in the emotional storytelling displayed on the big screen.

Learn more about SFFILM Education at sffilm.org/education.