Jeanette Lam Highlights the Creative Communities Behind 'Amplified Voices'

JEANETTE LAM 林筠珮 (she/her) is a Los Angeles based filmmaker, writer, educator, and community organizer passionate about storytelling as a tool to grow deeper with ourselves and each other. Her work “Amplified Voices” is being featured in the PBS Short Film Festival this summer and her work “518 Asian Alliance: Jinah Kim” will be broadcast on WMHT Public Media on Friday, July 22 at 10:30 p.m. then will be available to stream online.

Danielle Sanzone: What drew you to storytelling through film?

Jeanette: In 1979, my dad escaped his war-torn home in Vietnam and fled by sea to America, along with 800,000+ refugees seeking safety after the fall of Saigon. Arriving in a foreign country with no English proficiency, he navigated his adolescence working multiple restaurant jobs just to get by. Existing in a space of survival, there was no room to explore his passions.

It wasn't until he became a father and began documenting the journeys of my brother and I that he found a love in storytelling - a love that's always existed, but was never given space to grow. Each time I hold a camera in my hand, I'm reminded that my dad instilled in me a love for storytelling that he himself sacrificed. I create films because it's a sacred privilege to remember where we came from, to preserve our ancestral stories, to grow deeper with ourselves and each other.

Danielle: What inspired you to make “Amplified Voices"?

Jeanette: "Amplified Voices" was born out of a longstanding relationship and collaboration between mural artist Jade Warrick and Youth FX, a media arts organization based in the South End of Albany. Jade's vision for the community collaborative mural project was deeply aligned with Youth FX's mission-to empower young people of color with resources, skills, and mentorship to use art as activism.

Historically, stories of BIPOC communities have often been co-opted or misrepresented by white filmmakers who do not have proximity to the communities they are extracting from. My goal in filming this project was to facilitate safe spaces for the youth muralists to feel like they could share their stories in ways that felt true and honest to them. This project was a reclamation of power for young people to express themselves loudly and boldly, and to know that there's a crew of adults who got their back!

Danielle: What themes/topics are you focusing on in this film?

Jeanette: The community mural project, spearheaded by muralist Jade Warick and art educator Eugene O'Neil, was born out of Jade's passion and anger-passion for wanting to help create more art spaces for young people of color in Albany, and anger at white artists for gentrifying spaces that should be upheld for Black artists, in the wake of the 2020 Movement for Black Lives uprisings echoed around the world.

In this film, young Black artists bring to life their visions of Black freedom in a 200 ft mural. On one side of the mural, bold letters read "REMEMBER YOUR ROOTS," above names of Black civil rights leaders and young lives lost too soon due to state-sanctioned violence and police brutality. Other parts of the mural are adorned with red roses rising from concrete, the Black power fist, and other symbols of joy and freedom. This film restores power to young people mobilizing their visions for themselves and their communities.

Danielle: Can you tell us a bit about Youth FX in Albany, NY and its mission?

Jeanette: Youth FX is a media arts organization based in the South End of Albany, designed to teach young people (ages 10-24) from historically under-served communities technical and creative filmmaking skills. For two years, I served as the Creative Producer and Lead Educator, directing documentary shorts uplifting community activists and designing/teaching short and long-term film programs connecting ideas of power and oppression in media. Being a part of the Youth FX family continues to inform my ethos as a filmmaker, art educator, and community activist.

Academia and the mainstream film industry teaches us to produce, produce, produce -oftentimes, without any awareness or care for the potential harms of our practices. Youth FX taught me and continues to teach me to pause, to question, to reflect, to create new modes of filmmaking outside of the dominant narrative -one that centers liberatory storytelling processes and communal healing. It's truly an intentional community-curated safe space for self-expression and connection like no other!

Danielle: How did you get involved with YouthFX?

Jeanette: In 2019, I was selected as a fellow for NeXt Doc Fellowship, a program of Youth FX, that brings together young nonfiction storytellers (ages 21-25) working to decolonize documentary by re-framing and re-defining BIPOC stories and realities. The week-long NeXt Doc retreat was deeply healing for me. It was the first time in my life that I had been in an all BIPOC, super queer space where everyone was so unapologetically themselves.

There was a sense of freedom that came with that feeling of permission, that I had never experienced before growing up as a closeted queer Asian woman in predominantly white spaces in Virginia. It allowed me to get deeper with myself as a person, and thus, allowed me to reach new depths as a filmmaker. Long story short -I knew I had to continue chasing that magic! I stayed in touch with Youth FX/NeXt Doc Co-Directors Bhawin and Darian and it just so happened that our aligned missions and the universe's timing allowed for us to continue working together.

Danielle: In your new piece that will be featured on WMHT’s TVFilm this season, “518 Asian Alliance: Jinah Kim,” what made you want to tell Jinah Kim’s story in Troy, NY?

Jeanette: Jinah and I connected after the Atlanta Spa shootings in March 2021. Heartbroken and enraged by a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes, Jinah organized a #StopAsianHate vigil and rally in front of the New York State Capitol, and invited me and a group of local Asian women to share our personal stories. Shortly after, we banded together to form the 518 Asian Alliance, the first women-led, inter-generational advocacy group for Asians and Asian Americans in the capital region of New York. In a region with a less than 5% Asian population, we found safe spaces in each other to grieve, to organize, and to create and protect our joy.

I wanted to tell Jinah's story because she's a true pillar of the community that defies what society tells us Asian women should be: quiet, docile, submissive, followers. This narrative not only flattens us into a monolith that erases our nuanced lived experiences, but is also used as a dangerous political tactic to wedge tension between Asian Americans and other communities of color. As we saw with COVID-19, Asians are seen as perpetual foreigners in America, tokenized as model minorities when beneficial to the propagation of white supremacy, and disposed and murdered when demonized as a virus, a threat. Telling Jinah's story is a pushback. A way of saying -we've been here, for decades, fighting for ourselves and our communities. We're going to preserve our stories, and we don't need your permission.

Danielle: What are you working on now/next?

Jeanette: I recently accepted a position as the new NeXt Doc Coordinator! It's a full circle moment for me as I can pinpoint NeXt Doc as one of the most impactful moments in my personal and professional development that truly changed my life trajectory. I'm so excited to envision and build with some of my dearest mentors, Bhawin and Darian, and to create and nurture safe community-building spaces for a new cohort of young filmmakers of color!

I'm also living and freelancing in Los Angeles now! My most recent project includes DPing for a pilot documentary episodic archiving queer folks relationship to space. It was a beautiful experience working with an all BIPOC and mostly queer crew. My upcoming projects include a portrait of a Taiwanese rock-climber and a documentary short film about a badass Japanese trans criminal defense lawyer! I'm deeply, deeply grateful for opportunities to continue uplifting often overlooked or misrepresented stories. If you know anyone seeking a cinematographer in the Los Angeles area, my website can be found here!