News
Our vision for a Bay Area media hub
Dear friends, supporters, and colleagues, We recently moved into a new space at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center in the heart of SoMa. We did this to follow a vision: create a Bay Area media hub where makers can gather to produce new work, form connections, preserve community memories, and build their skills through hands-on practice. Across our many programs, we are offering in-person workshops to young people, emerging makers, and established professionals; convening documentary fellows from throughout the Bay Area and across the country; establishing a local media archive and preservation lab that will be open to the [...]
An Interview With BAVC Media’s Co-Director of the MediaMaker Fellowship: Jin Yoo-Kim
Tell us a little bit about yourself! I think the first thing most people know about me is that I was born in Bolivia. My identity has been a constantly shifting journey. My first language was Korean since both of my parents are Korean. My second language was Spanish, and I only learned English when I came to the U.S. when I was six years old. My primary language now is the language of documentation. Early on in my identity journey I realized I would most likely be an outsider in any community I “belong” to and I moved around [...]
Announcing the 2023 MediaMaker Fellows
The BAVC Media MediaMaker Fellowship is one of the longest standing programs in the US for investing in diverse emerging documentary filmmakers. We're celebrating 7 New Fellows for 2023! BAVC Media is honored to introduce its new cohort of BAVC MediaMaker Fellows for 2023. Each participant will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funding, mentorship, industry access, feedback sessions, and workshops during an immersive 9-month experience. 2023 MediaMakers This year’s fellows are Paige Bethmann (Remaining Native), Aurora Brachman (Dear You), ilana coleman (The Inventory), Tommy Franklin (You Don’t Know My Name), Cyrus Moussavi (Somebody’s Gone), Hannah Myers (Daddy) and tashi tamate weiss [...]
Meet the 2023 MediaMaker Fellows
BAVC Media is honored to introduce a new cohort of seven new BAVC MediaMaker Fellows for 2023! The MediaMaker fellowship is one of the longest standing programs in the US for investing in diverse emerging documentary filmmakers. This year’s fellows are Paige Bethmann (Remaining Native), Aurora Brachman (Dear You), ilana coleman (The Inventory), Tommy Franklin (You Don’t Know My Name), Cyrus Moussavi (Somebody’s Gone), Hannah Myers (Daddy) and tashi tamate weiss (Kizuna). Learn more about the fellows and each of their projects below. Paige Bethmann Paige Bethmann is a Haudenosaunee director and producer based in Reno, Nevada. Over the last 10 years, [...]
An Interview With BAVC Media’s Director of Marketing & Communications: Daniel Díaz
Get to know BAVC Media’s Director of Marketing & Communications, Daniel Díaz! Daniel Díaz, BAVC Media's Director of Marketing & Communications started his role with us in November of last year. Daniel is responsible for the organization’s brand, marketing, communications, and design strategies. We're so excited to have Daniel on the BAVC Media team so Isa Nakazawa, our Director of Community Engagement, asked him a few questions to help our community get to know him better. Tell us a little bit about what got you into the field of Marketing and Communications and why you find the work compelling. I [...]
PROVISIONS: Ethics of Documentary Filmmaking with Rodrigo Reyes
PROVISIONS is a new series from BAVC Media, featuring interviews, advice, and insights into the creative process from our mediamaking community. Director Rodrigo Reyes makes films deeply grounded in his identity as an immigrant artist, pushing the boundaries of non-fiction storytelling. His most recent film, Sansón and Me, is a documentary a decade in the making which began when Reyes worked as a court interpreter in rural California for the then 19-year-old undocumented Mexican migrant Sansón Noé Andrade, who was sentenced to two life sentences without parole. Unable to film inside the prison, Sansón’s story is told through reenactments by [...]
Morgan Morel: Farewell BAVC
For the past 5 and a half years I’ve had my dream job at BAVC Media. From my very first week up until my last I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many amazing people, organizations, and collections. I’ve been moved to the brink of tears countless times while digitizing images and sounds containing memories of art, activism, history, and culture. Since the 90’s BAVC’s Preservation Department has been instrumental in advancing the state of audiovisual preservation, and advocating for the preservation of at-risk tape media. BAVC has also been very good to me. The growth I’ve experienced [...]
BAVC Media to lead national field-building initiatives in 2023
Over the next couple of years, BAVC Media will be leading new and/or expanded national projects to advance the field of independent media making and preservation, and arts organization leadership overall. We're committed to these projects because we believe that by sharing information and resources, we can help create a stronger and more equitable field. Our success proposition relies upon collaboration and leveraging our collective resources. Specifically, BAVC Media was selected to lead the following projects over the next couple of years: A Nation-Wide Survey of Audiovisual Preservation (National Endowment for the Humanities) A project to conduct a national study [...]
I got my start at BAVC: Yeelen Cohen
Stories from our community For 45 years we have been opening doors for emerging media makers and professionals in the Bay Area, through training, artist development, apprenticeships, funding and more. As we look forward to 2023 and celebrate the work we've done, we asked members of our community to share how BAVC Media has impacted their careers. Check out 2022 MediaMaker Fellow, Yeelen Cohen's BAVC story below! Your contributions help us deliver programs, pay instructors, and offer subsidized classes to support our local media-making community. While we continue to rebuild revenue loss from the pandemic, [...]
I got my start at BAVC: Elizabeth Herrera
Stories from our community For 45 years we have been opening doors for emerging media makers and professionals in the Bay Area, through training, artist development, apprenticeships, funding and more. As we look forward to 2023 and celebrate the work we've done, we asked members of our community to share how BAVC Media has impacted their careers. Check out our program assistant, Elizabeth Herrera's BAVC story below! Your contributions help us deliver programs, pay instructors, and offer subsidized classes to support our local media-making community. While we continue to rebuild revenue loss from the pandemic, [...]
