Give as a gift
“Everyday I’m reminded
that the reason I even have a voice
is because my story has never been just mine.
It has always belonged to the village
A family heirloom from my ancestors
who fought for their lives so that I can fight for ours.
This is how I know that more than anything
our stories have the power to change everything.
Why else would this country delight in our silence
and be content with leaving our history out of the narrative?”
-excerpt from the poem AAPIs Rising by Terisa Siagatonu
The works in this exhibition engage with the complexity of community and history while pushing boundaries that invite us to reimagine other realities. There is anticipation in these works, a gesture rooted in the joy that a liberatory future that’s expansive, decolonial, and gender-free is within reach. There are many of us dreaming and creating a world where social justice, queer identities, and other fundamental rights and social rights and opportunities exist more than not. Yet, despite a world so severe and unsparing, we can continue to look to our stories, songs, paintings, and poems to create maps and imagined spaces where no one asks permission to exist. Perhaps in these works, we can perfect the creation of counter systems that offer healing balms for those of us that need to leave behind a wearying past or present. Can we be reminded that it is possible to center well-being and that we can value and normalize healing scenarios in our daily lives? Beyond the ethnic cheerleading that tower over these observances, this exhibit asks its viewer to look through the lens of these Filipinx artists articulating a different world that might be around the corner.
In addition to the short films included in the collection, we invite you to watch the PBS American Masters film Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/maia-cruz-palileo-becoming-the-moon/15825/.
Guest Curator: Irene Soriano
Crea and Armani are a trans couple intent on changing the binary, one gender-free baby at a time. Navigating through first-time parenting challenges and finding help along the way still begs the question: are they ready?
-----------------
CARMEN LOBUE (they/them) is a Queer Non-Binary Afro-Pilipinx American Filmmaker with a passion for social activism that is expressed through their work as a creator. Carmen’s early recognition includes Paper Magazine's "Paper Predictions: 100 people taking over 2019" and the Disruptor Foundation (Craig Hatkoff) and The Legacy Lab’s 2018 New Legacy Maker Honoree. LoBue directed Season One of the dramedy web series Cheer Up Charlie (Hollyshorts and Urbanworld Film Festival ‘19) Their work on Cheer Up Charlie also earned them a nomination for Best Director at TOWEBFEST in 2019. As a writer, Carmen was chosen as a semi-finalist for the 2018 Sundance New Voices lab for their queer comedy drama series Koi. LoBue was also a Black Public Media fund finalist in 2020. Other credits include Splinters, featured in the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Their play, Will You...Hold My Hair Back? Is currently featured in Pride Plays 2020 at The Rattlestick Theatre (Off Broadway). Carmen wrote and directed sci-fi short film O, Ryan. O, Ryan is a queer dystopian psychological thriller addressing the opioid epidemic and Black mental health in America. LoBue directed Pink & Blue written by award-winning actor and filmmaker Kaydx (One Dollar), and Executive Produced by Silas Howard (Transparent, Pose, This Is Us, A Kid Like Jake). Pink & Blue centers a Black and Pilipinx Transgender non conforming couple wrestling with how they will raise their child in a binary world after a surprise pregnancy. Award winning film “Pink & Blue” festival premieres include ABFF, BFI Flare, Newfest, Inside Out, Blackstar, Outfest, Bronzelens, Asian American International Film Festival, Wicked Queer, and many more. Carmen recently directed on Hulu’s Initiative 29 Your Attention Please. Their episode, “Your Attention Please: Tao Leigh Goffe” is now streaming on Hulu. LoBue is currently directing on Miss Peppermint’s “Girl Like Me 2” miniseries on OUTTV. LoBue is a member of The Alliance of Women Directors.
Website: https://www.carmenlobue.com
- Runtime13 minutes
- DirectorCarmen LoBue
- ScreenwriterKaydx
- ProducerKaydx, Silas Howard, Leslye Headland, Rebecca Henderson
- CinematographerApril Maxey
- EditorNina Sacharow
“Everyday I’m reminded
that the reason I even have a voice
is because my story has never been just mine.
It has always belonged to the village
A family heirloom from my ancestors
who fought for their lives so that I can fight for ours.
This is how I know that more than anything
our stories have the power to change everything.
Why else would this country delight in our silence
and be content with leaving our history out of the narrative?”
-excerpt from the poem AAPIs Rising by Terisa Siagatonu
The works in this exhibition engage with the complexity of community and history while pushing boundaries that invite us to reimagine other realities. There is anticipation in these works, a gesture rooted in the joy that a liberatory future that’s expansive, decolonial, and gender-free is within reach. There are many of us dreaming and creating a world where social justice, queer identities, and other fundamental rights and social rights and opportunities exist more than not. Yet, despite a world so severe and unsparing, we can continue to look to our stories, songs, paintings, and poems to create maps and imagined spaces where no one asks permission to exist. Perhaps in these works, we can perfect the creation of counter systems that offer healing balms for those of us that need to leave behind a wearying past or present. Can we be reminded that it is possible to center well-being and that we can value and normalize healing scenarios in our daily lives? Beyond the ethnic cheerleading that tower over these observances, this exhibit asks its viewer to look through the lens of these Filipinx artists articulating a different world that might be around the corner.
In addition to the short films included in the collection, we invite you to watch the PBS American Masters film Maia Cruz Palileo: Becoming the Moon: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/maia-cruz-palileo-becoming-the-moon/15825/.
Guest Curator: Irene Soriano
Crea and Armani are a trans couple intent on changing the binary, one gender-free baby at a time. Navigating through first-time parenting challenges and finding help along the way still begs the question: are they ready?
-----------------
CARMEN LOBUE (they/them) is a Queer Non-Binary Afro-Pilipinx American Filmmaker with a passion for social activism that is expressed through their work as a creator. Carmen’s early recognition includes Paper Magazine's "Paper Predictions: 100 people taking over 2019" and the Disruptor Foundation (Craig Hatkoff) and The Legacy Lab’s 2018 New Legacy Maker Honoree. LoBue directed Season One of the dramedy web series Cheer Up Charlie (Hollyshorts and Urbanworld Film Festival ‘19) Their work on Cheer Up Charlie also earned them a nomination for Best Director at TOWEBFEST in 2019. As a writer, Carmen was chosen as a semi-finalist for the 2018 Sundance New Voices lab for their queer comedy drama series Koi. LoBue was also a Black Public Media fund finalist in 2020. Other credits include Splinters, featured in the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Their play, Will You...Hold My Hair Back? Is currently featured in Pride Plays 2020 at The Rattlestick Theatre (Off Broadway). Carmen wrote and directed sci-fi short film O, Ryan. O, Ryan is a queer dystopian psychological thriller addressing the opioid epidemic and Black mental health in America. LoBue directed Pink & Blue written by award-winning actor and filmmaker Kaydx (One Dollar), and Executive Produced by Silas Howard (Transparent, Pose, This Is Us, A Kid Like Jake). Pink & Blue centers a Black and Pilipinx Transgender non conforming couple wrestling with how they will raise their child in a binary world after a surprise pregnancy. Award winning film “Pink & Blue” festival premieres include ABFF, BFI Flare, Newfest, Inside Out, Blackstar, Outfest, Bronzelens, Asian American International Film Festival, Wicked Queer, and many more. Carmen recently directed on Hulu’s Initiative 29 Your Attention Please. Their episode, “Your Attention Please: Tao Leigh Goffe” is now streaming on Hulu. LoBue is currently directing on Miss Peppermint’s “Girl Like Me 2” miniseries on OUTTV. LoBue is a member of The Alliance of Women Directors.
Website: https://www.carmenlobue.com
- Runtime13 minutes
- DirectorCarmen LoBue
- ScreenwriterKaydx
- ProducerKaydx, Silas Howard, Leslye Headland, Rebecca Henderson
- CinematographerApril Maxey
- EditorNina Sacharow