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DocuClub LA

DocuClub LA: Standing Above the Clouds

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 PT

5670 Wilshire Blvd, 9th Floor, Los Angeles CA 90036
  • Headshot of a middle-aged Chinese American female with shoulder-length, straight black hair in a black velvet blazer and white blouse, in front of a leaves-strewn white lattice.
    Lindy Leong, Moderator
  • Headshot photograph of Jalena Keane-Lee, whose hands are clasped beneath her chin, and is photographed in front of a dusky pink backdrop.
    Jalena Keane-Lee, Director
  • Headshot of Amber Espinosa-Jones, who is wearing a 2023 Sundance sweatshirt while standing in front of a yellow-orange background.
    Amber Espinosa-Jones, Producer
  • Headshot photograph of Erin Lau, a Native Hawaiian filmmaker with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a black shirt in front of a dark backdrop.
    Erin Lau, Producer
  • woman with light brown skin and long brown hair smiling at the camera. the background is blurry.
    Diana Diroy
Five women stand with their backs to the camera embracing each other in a line with the gray sky in front of them. They all have long brown hair and are wearing traditional Native Hawaiian kihei dyed with olena (turmeric) that are tied around their shoulders.

About the Screening

Join International Documentary Association and Film Independent on Monday, July 10, for the DocuClub work-in-progress screening of the film Standing Above the Clouds. We will be joined by filmmakers Jalena Keane Lee, Amber Espinosa-Jones, Erin Lau, and Diana Diroy for an audience feedback session moderated by Lindy Leong.

About the Work-In-Progress Film

Standing Above the Clouds follows the largest political movement in modern Hawaiian history, and the indigenous women leaders who have successfully sustained it since 2010. At the center of the global movement are Pua Case and her two daughters Hāwane Rios and Kapulei Flores. They are joined by Mehana Kihoi and Leina’ala Sleightholm who have changed their families’ lives by joining the movement. All three families have put their bodies on the line, faced arrest standing off with police, and testified as key petitioners suing the State of Hawaiʻi to prevent the building of the world's largest telescope on their sacred mountain. Through the lens of mothers and daughters, our film explores intergenerational healing and the social and emotional labor of retaining ancient ceremonies in a rapidly modernizing world. With the fate of the telescope still to be decided, the film shows that victory is in the perseverance of a movement and the intergenerational healing found in this sisterhood.

About DocuClub

DocuClub is a work-in-progress screening series offering the public and members of the documentary film community a first look of new projects. Filmmakers and creators have the opportunity to showcase their rough cut and consult feedback from their peers and audience. To apply to participate in DocuClub with your own work-in-progress project, click here.

The screening will be held at the Film Independent Screening Room (5670 Wilshire Blvd, 9th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036).

Doors open at 6:30 pm. Screening, followed by a moderated feedback discussion with the filmmaker - 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm. Drinks and snacks will be available for a modest suggested donation.

Space is very limited so please update your RSVP if you can't make it so we can have a real count of the attendees. Admission not guaranteed, all RSVP's are first-come, first served.

Parking information: after 5.30 PM, all guests can park in the structure at the rear of the building. Enter from Hauser Blvd. Guests can validate their parking ticket before they leave at the Film Independent reception desk.

Event Participants

    Headshot of a middle-aged Chinese American female with shoulder-length, straight black hair in a black velvet blazer and white blouse, in front of a leaves-strewn white lattice.

    Lindy Leong

    Lindy Leong (she/her) is a film and media educator, film programmer, and audiovisual archivist. She was the Senior Film Programmer/Programming Manager at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, the first non-profit organization in the nation dedicated to the honest and accurate portrayal of the Asian Pacific American peoples, communities, and heritage through the media arts. She co-chairs the annual conference for the Association of Moving Image Archivists, a nonprofit international association dedicated to the preservation and use of moving image media. She is a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

    Headshot photograph of Jalena Keane-Lee, whose hands are clasped beneath her chin, and is photographed in front of a dusky pink backdrop.

    Jalena Keane-Lee

    Jalena Keane-Lee (Director, Cinematographer, Producer) is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational healing through narrative change. She is a recipient of the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, Creative Culture woman filmmaker fellowship, Wyncote Fellowship and NeXt Doc Fellowship. She has won Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocPitch 2022. Her short films have played at over 50 film festivals, winning best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all women of color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content. She is currently working on her first feature documentary which participated in the 2022 Sundance Edit and Story Lab.

    Headshot of Amber Espinosa-Jones, who is wearing a 2023 Sundance sweatshirt while standing in front of a yellow-orange background.

    Amber Espinosa-Jones

    Amber Espinosa-Jones is a creative producer and racial equity facilitator from Oakland, CA. She is a 2021-2022 Documentary New Leader and currently producing the feature film STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS following Native-Hawaiian mother daughter activists executive produced by Multitude Films. Amber helped found the Outreach & Inclusion Department at Sundance Institute where she currently serves as Senior Manager of Artist + Audience Impact, overseeing strategy and granting programs for marginalized artists and audiences. With a diverse arts background in theatre and film, Amber is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Dramatic Arts and Media Arts + Practice programs with an interest in art for social change and collaborative community building.

    Headshot photograph of Erin Lau, a Native Hawaiian filmmaker with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a black shirt in front of a dark backdrop.

    Erin Lau

    Native Hawaiian filmmaker Erin Lau has dedicated her life to creating empathy-forward stories for her community. She has received opportunities to grow as a filmmaker through the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Studios, MTV, Points North Institute, Nia Tero, Film Independent, and received her MFA from Chapman University. Outside of her scripted work, Erin worked for three years as a Senior Producer-Director for Jubilee Media, where her videos accumulated over 130 million views. Through this role she was also given the opportunity to develop community-focused content for brands including Google, Netflix, SK-II, and Always. She now works as a freelance director and producer, creating projects inspired by her community and home.

    woman with light brown skin and long brown hair smiling at the camera. the background is blurry.

    Diana Diroy

    Diana Diroy is a documentary filmmaker, editor, and cinematographer. She edited a feature length documentary called Fire Through Dry Grass, which uncovers the devastation experienced by nursing home residents in NYC during the pandemic. Diroy was selected for the Karen Schmeer Diversity in the Edit Room Program in 2018. Her work reflects her interests in social and environmental justice, activism, immigration, gender and identity. She edited the documentary Standing Above the Clouds, which won Best Documentary Short at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Her cinematography work for the documentary short, Libre, screened at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and Hot Docs. Diroy is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and continuously strives to collaborate and make magic with other creatives locally and remotely.