MY ASIAN

A LYRICAL SHORT BY EMMY-AWARD WINNING POET SUZEN BARAKA

From the perspective of Emmy-Award Winning Poet and Performer, Suzen Baraka, this short shares her story of growing up Black and Korean in America, and struggling with shame, helplessness and rage before finding pride, power and courage.

MY ASIAN…

is a poetic rallying cry, highlighting the horrific miscarriages of justice that Asian-Americans and Asians in America are, and have historically been subjected to: from day-to-day micro-aggressions to actual acts of violence and terror against members of our community.

JAMI RAMBERAN, DIRECTOR

Jami Ramberan is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and educator. She is an Assistant Professor in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Department of Media, Journalism, and Film, where she also serves as the undergraduate Film and Television Program Coordinator.
Ramberan holds an MFA in Film Production from Howard University and an MA in Media Studies from The New School. Ramberan has worked professionally as a filmmaker for over a decade; writing, directing and producing short films and documentaries, music videos and commercials.

Ramberan’s award-winning short film Silent Brave, a drama that highlights the psychological effects of military sexual trauma has screened at film festivals domestically and internationally and can be seen on Amazon Prime. Ramberan is currently in post-production for her next film Everlasting a sci-fi fantasy that explores how people cope with death via social media.

Ramberan works on projects that inject a message of social change into the center of popular consciousness.

AYANA BARAKA, CINEMATOGRAPHER

Ayana Baraka is the Cinematographer for “Behind the Curtain: Eclipsed,” starring Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, which documented the ‘herstoric’ Broadway production of “Eclipsed”. She is also a cinematographer for the Oscar hopeful, “The Hunting Ground,” the Emmy nominated film, “United Skates,” and “Giving Voice,” which premiered at Sundance 2020.

Baraka was named a ‘person on the rise’ in Hollywood by producer Mel Jones. She’s a winner of the 2016 award for Best Cinematography at the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival and the 2019 Culture Catalyst award recipient at the Digital Diversity Network’s Innovation & Inclusion Awards.

Baraka is the content creator for a virtual reality experience about Black Wall Street and the Race Massacre of 1921 called “Greenwood Avenue.” Baraka’s foray into immersive storytelling came while attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for her MFA in Cinematic Art, Film, and Television.

She joined a team of innovators at USC's Mixed Reality Studio, a Siggraph winning team for creating photo-real animation in virtual reality. Baraka went on to become a 2018 YouTube VR Creator Fellow, 2018 Oculus Connect Fellow, and a 2019 Black Public Media 360+ Incubator Fellow.