It’s official! @jalena.kl short documentary @standingabovetheclouds is a recipient of @picpacific Digital Short Fund 🌋 Thank you PIC for believing in stories told by women, highlighting the leadership of native Hawaiian women. Eo! Art by the amazing @ashlukadraws
Earlier this month, co-founder @reaapuri premiered the @theescapistswebseries Pilot episode that she co-directed alongside creator @rujutherebelsheep at the #ArtistTelevisionAccess to a full house. The series follows three brown girls who chase their dreams, and disappoint their families in the process. It’s a story about becoming & belonging in the age of borders and visas. It’s a story about daring to dream and giving yourself permission to get out of your own way. This year-long project has been a labor of love, and with your support they’ll be able to produce a fully funded first season. Watch the episode on their YouTube page and show them some love! Link In Bio
Today is the last day of #caamfest37 and we wanted to express our gratitude to the largest Asian American Film Festival in the US. It was a perfect place to premier @jalena.kl short film PERIOD GIRL that follows @nadyaokamoto a badass period activist. It was so powerful getting to see a Breaktide Production on the big screen and we’re looking forward to a summer and fall full of more Breaktide screenings 🎬
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the powerful mothers raising powerful children. We are all so grateful to our moms for raising us to be who we are today. And a special thank you to the mothers who let us into their lives for hours, days, weeks and sometimes years to document their stories. Pictured here: mothers and daughters from @standingabovetheclouds a short documentary about the mother, daughter, grandmother relationships fueling the Ku Kia’i Mauna movement on the Big Island of Hawaii and around the world.
#Throwback to our live #KPFA interview with Women’s Magazine. If @breaktide were to do a radio show or podcast, what would you want to hear about?
Happy birthday, J ❤️ Thank you for being 1/3 of what brings this Breaktide dream team to life. Your bright energy, commitment to justice, and love for all things purple are just a few of the many things we admire about you. Thank you for everything you do to grow Breaktide and each of us individually with encouragement and a listening ear. In love, solidarity, and breaking tides — A&R
This #WCW we’re shouting out co-founder @reaapuri for co-directing and DP’ing @theescapistswebseries 📣 It’s a show about three best friends who chase their dreams and disappoint their families in the process. The creative team sees this series as a way for immigrant women to stop waiting for permission. “It’s time we boldly give ourselves permission to embrace our dreams, whatever those may be,” says writer-creator Saprina @rujutherebelsheep ⚡️ Their premiere sold out in less than 12 hours, which is HUGE! So on May 1st, they’re dropping the pilot on YouTube, and thousands are expected to watch. You tuning in for these brown girls? Head over to their link in bio & subscribe to their youtube page! ✊🏾❤️
#Behindthescenes co-founder @alexjbledsoe is out in Milwaukee, WI producing, directing and shooting the upcoming documentary, Heart Race @theheartrace
This #Femalefilmmakerfriday goes out to our brilliant co-founder @Jalena.kl Jalena just premiered a work in progress cut of her latest film, STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS 🌋 a story of native Hawaiian mothers and daughters standing for their sacred mountain, Mauna A Wakea. . Featuring @puacase @hawanemusic @kapuleifloress @leina_alawho @mehanaokala @ft.ulaula . Produced by @ambiespino • Consulting producer @seanmweiner • Additional photography @reaapuri • Assistant Editor @guccidavy
#TBT We produced 4 shoots in 3 cities in 5 days. On our only night off, we had so much fun with the @Nike and @go.bamproductions teams! Thank you for making this entire production so seamless and memorable.
I fell into producing through producing my own projects. My mom has produced my entire life (in all ways) and trained me to take things into my own hands and make what I wanted to see happen. Being raised in a family of activists, surrounded by WOC mentors, I knew that if I really wanted something done, I’d better do it or coordinate my community to get it done. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This was my first time as solely a producer on a doc-style project, and not a director-producer or DP-producer. It was such a great learning experience and I’m so grateful for my Breaktide team and @ambiespino who is my producer for @standingabovetheclouds and has taught me by example what it means to be a great producer. -@jalena.kl, Producer on the @nike shoots
Happy #FemaleFilmmakerFriday My love for the camera comes from my love for seeing the complexities and depth of humans. It’s wild that as a DP you can be quite removed from developing a verbal connection with the participants, but when you see them through the camera, you’re seeing these really intimate parts of them, you’re holding your gaze on them constantly, you’re feeling into their energy through your eyes. This is why concepts like the “male gaze” are so real, and undoing that through a decolonial (femme) lens is so crucial. I always think about the power and responsibility that comes with holding the camera. Beyond just its physical heaviness, it holds a lot of weight the moment you hit record. - @reaapuri, Director of Photography & Editor on the @nike project
As the director and executive producer on our @nike Black History Month project, I felt an immense responsibility to @hailethomas @keithxtaylor @ea_golightly @maiyakarin — and to viewers who would see themselves represented. I got to know each of them over the phone, across time zones, and sketch out the creative elements of bringing their stories to life. I wanted to highlight the timeless, universal elements of their movements while honoring their individual contexts. That means making Jamaican porridge with Haile, following Sharrod through Southwest Dekalb High School, running drills with Maiya at Cheney Stadium and shooting Keith on Nostrand Ave—while we talked about blackness, immigration, solidarity and multihyphenate creativity. We spent full, 12-hour days shooting with each of them—then had to edit each story under 60 seconds. All I can say is, they each deserve a feature-length doc and all of our continued support! As a director, when you’re dealing with this organic brilliance, you take a seat and take notes. —@alexjbledsoe
The Breaktide dream team. When we got the call for the @nike #UntilWeAllWin Black History Month project, we all cut short our holidays and flew in from Hawaii, Spain, and London to bring this project to life. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The campaign required our biggest crew (~40 people), and most intense multi-city activation (sleeping 2-5 hours each night), for our largest client to date. We’re still grateful to have been entrusted with this powerful project as a 1-year-old production company. The power of manifestation is real, y’all. Little-known fact about @alexjbledsoe @reaapuri & @jalenakeanelee : we all have very different personalities, but work really well together because we trust and respect one other. The nature of filmmaking is inherently collaborative, so finding a tight network of trusted collaborators with different skill sets is key. And it also helps if you genuinely love them, because best believe you’ll be working long hours under the sun together, or in our case here, in the freezing cold 🖤
Today, Haile is a certified Integrative nutrition health coach, youth health activist, international motivational speaker, and teen vegan chef. @hailethomas @amandalasponsored @nike @thehappyorg #untilweallwin #bhm #futurevarsity photo by @flongala