A Lot Like You: A Film by Eliaichi KimaroPosted in Africa, Asian Diaspora, Autobiography, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Videos on 2013-01-26 03:50Z by Steven |
A Lot Like You: A Film by Eliaichi Kimaro
USA/Tanzania
2012
55 minutes/82 minutes
Eliachi Kimaro, Director
- (2012) WINNER, Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary: 35th Annual Asian American International Film Festival (New York)
- (2012) WINNER, Best Documentary: Female Eye Film Festival (Toronto)
- (2012) WINNER, Jury Prize for Best Documentary: 30th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
- (2011) WINNER, Public Award for the Best Film Directed By a Woman of Color: African Diaspora International Film Festival (New York)
- (2011) WINNER, Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature: Montreal International Black Film Festival
Eliaichi Kimaro is a mixed-race, first-generation American with a Tanzanian father and Korean mother. When her retired father moves back to Tanzania, Eliaichi begins a project that evocatively examines the intricate fabric of multiracial identity, and grapples with the complex ties that children have to the cultures of their parents.
Kimaro decides to document her father’s path back to his family and Chagga culture. In the process, she struggles with her own relationship to Tanzania, and learns more about the heritage that she took for granted as a child. Yet as she talks to more family members, especially her aunts, she uncovers a cycle of violence that resonates with her work and life in the United States. When Kimaro speaks with her parents about the oppression her aunts face, she faces a jarring disconnect between immigrant generations on questions of patriarchy and violence.
“One reason this film works,” notes Tikkun Magazine, “is that Kimaro situates her own personal family history within a social, historical, and political context of African decolonization, transnational relations, race, class, and gender politics.” With poignant personal reflection and an engaging visual style, A Lot Like You draws the viewer into a journey that is filled with rich, multifaceted stories and history.