The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) just launched its first crowdfunding campaign—”Amplify Stories to Light.” Be a champion for Asian American media and stories by donating $35 or more to CAAM now through December 31st. Learn more about how your support will make a difference by visiting our crowd funding campaign or clicking the donate button below. Your donation to CAAM will ensure that we can continue to support storytellers around the world with the tools and resources to tell timely, relevant and compelling stories about the Asian American experience. In return, you’ll receive our gratitude—and some amazing perks.
A message from filmmaker Chihiro Wimbush:
My name is Chihiro Wimbush and I am a Hapa filmmaker, the son of a Japanese mother and a father born and brought up in Kenya. I grew up in a small town in Rhode Island where even the concept of an Asian American identity was foreign. It wasn’t until I went to college and then later moved to California that I began to understand and claim this as my own.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I owe my film career to the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). Though I’ve always loved cinema it wasn’t until my 30s that I answered the calling I felt to pursue my dream of filmmaking. I left my radio career in Portland, Oregon, and packed my bags and my hopes for a new chapter in the Bay Area. While I had long been an attendee at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival [now CAAMFest], marveling at seeing stories of our communities on the big screen, my first film-related job was working for the Festival as the Outreach Coordinator. It connected me with a world of filmmakers who inspired me and convinced me I was on the right path.
Over the years, CAAM has provided amazing growth opportunities, from the early narrative features we produced, to the documentaries that my production partner, Jim Choi and I continue to work on today. Our current project is a documentary profile of peach farmer and celebrated food writer, Mas Masumoto, through four seasons and four generations of his Japanese-American family.
Without CAAM, novice filmmakers like me wouldn’t have the training ground, the resources, and the access to audience that CAAM provides. Without CAAM, who would tell and share these stories in all their diversity, richness, and depth? As someone who has benefited from CAAM’s support in so many ways, I encourage you to give back to this dedicated organization that offers filmmakers the opportunity to document our history as it unfolds and brings us all together to watch and engage with our rich past and present, so we can keep building towards a better future.
Donate to CAAM’s crowdfunding campaign at www.CAAMedia.org/Amplify by December 31st. If your company has an employee matching gift program, please increase the impact of your gift by requesting amatching gift. For more information, please contact Jennifer Chu, Membership Manager, at jchu@caamedia.org or (415) 863-0814 extension 102.
Your generous donation will insure CAAM continues to be the beacon that brings our Stories to Light.
With Gratitude,
Chihiro Wimbush
