Transcending Expectations - Otherwise Film Festival

Festival Screening and Discussion Program TRANScending Expectations "Non-binary, BIPOC directors collage intimate visions of the tender joys and misunderstandings that shape their journeys towards celebrating freedom." 1:00 PM my heart and i finally met: between my chest (2024) 41 min Jasmine Jackson one | another (2024) 10 min Rogelio Salinas & Allison Oddman 2:00 PM Q&A with fimmakers & discussion facilitated by Cambria Herrera, UCSD Latin American Studies and Mylan Gray, UCSD Theatre and Dance Fruity* Post-Show reception sponsored by UCSD Black Studies Project, LGBT Resource Center, Black Resource Center and Black Diaspora and African American Studies Program SME Theater MAP *fruity is used here in the context of a celebratory, reclaimed word by the LGBTQIA+ community Artist Bios: Jasmine Jackson (or J), is a storyteller based in Portland, Oregon. Their endless goal is to produce intersectional work. From stories of Blackness and Queerness to gender or work that's simply playful; as they believe that Black work can be just that. Rogelio Salinas is a Non-Binary, Mexican filmmaker from St. Paul, Minnesota whose work centers the multiplicity of love and intergenerational joy. Their penchant for love stories, be it romantic, communal, and/or spiritual, allows their films to center the complex experiences of the communities they serve with healing, intimacy, and grace at the forefront. Their Stanford University thesis film, “Rosario”, received the Best of Fest award at the 40th Annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival. Since moving to Los Angeles, their work as a writer/director has been celebrated by Outfest Fusion, HollyShorts, and the Pan African Film & Arts Festival. They won the “Emerging Content Creator” award from the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) and are a featured artist at the Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts. Allison Oddman is a South Florida-raised, Los Angeles-based filmmaker who is passionate about bringing a diverse range of Black experiences to life on screens of all sizes. Hailing from a proud Jamaican household, Allison is dedicated to celebrating the cultural hybridities that govern their everyday life via film and television. Their work - an amalgam of Black cultures, gender identity and immigrant experience - has garnered them recognition from the likes of the Austin Film Festival and Stanford in Entertainment’s All Write Now competition. In 2021, Allison received a B.A. in African and African American Studies with Honors in the Arts from Stanford University. While at Stanford, Allison was a student fellow at the Insitute for Diversity in the Arts, served as artistic director of Stanford’s BLACKstage Theater Company, and interned at Sundance Institute, the Television Academy, and Firelight Media. Allison then worked as a Coordinator for Lifetime Original Movies before gaining admission to the prestigious University of Southern California’s MFA in Film and Television Production where they were awarded the selective George Lucas Family Foundation Endowed Student Support Fund for Production. Some of Allison’s biggest film inspirations include Barry Jenkins, Spike Jonze, Julie Dash, Dee Rees, and Alfonso Cuarón. Facilitator Bios: Mylan Gray (they/he) is an Eagle Scout turned playwright from Kansas City, KS, who uses their gift of the tongue to imagine a way out, a way through, a way (back) to love. Their writing dares us to seek more of ourselves and this world. They have received the Lorraine Hansberry Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for their play, Buried in Blood. Their work has been developed by the Tank Theater, the Workshop Theater, the Kansas City Public Theater, the Whim Theater Company, the Mid-America Theater Conference, and the Writing Downtown Residency in Las Vegas. They are a graduate of Stanford University, where they received the Kennel Jackson Jr. Award, the Braden Storytelling Grant, and a Chappell Lougee Scholarship. They are co-producer of the LIT Council of the Tank Theater, and have written a fiction podcast for LWC Studios. Their work draws on his deep reverence for Brazil and a penchant for spiritual journeying. When they are not writing, reading, or watching films, they are in the forest soaking up the songs of birds and listening to the world's oldest keeper of stories: the trees. Cambria Herrera is a Xicanx theatre director, educator, and higher education administrator based in San Diego, California and Portland, OR. All of their work rises from their core inspiration: queer and female artists of color from the past and present. They have a passion for using theatre & community to empower young people in building empathy for themselves and the world around them. They are currently a co-director of the Allelo Ensemble and Community/Outreach Coordinator for Latin American Studies/Sociology at UCSD. Previously at UCSD they completed an MFA in directing and created The Stars Through the Smog Showcase for a collective of diverse undergraduate students to incubate original works on themes of identity and reclamation. They co-founded and facilitated The AGE Theatre Collective and mentorship program in Portland, Oregon to empower the resiliency of female and non-binary theatre artists of color. More Info below.