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Kirthi Nath

Summary of Qualifications:

I am an award winning filmmaker & creative media catalyst with over 14 years of experience using media, technology and storytelling to connect diverse audiences with positive social change and the arts. My expertise translates across a broad spectrum and I am well versed in multiple aspects of project management, new media outreach campaigns, curation, filmmaking and multimedia production. Professional strengths include an attention to detail as well as the larger picture, effective communication, sharp organizational skills, and the ability to shift between roles of leadership, team player and independent worker gracefully. I have a strong background in project management and extensive experience developing and implementing strategic visions, best practices and evaluation tools. I have direct experience managing, supporting and empowering staff, and am flexible, resourceful and respectful when working with others. I am committed to using my diverse skill set and talents to make the world a better place and seek employment with a company that shares this goal. With me you will find top quality work, sincerity, and vision that sometimes moves at the speed of light and laughter.

Professional Experience and History

Producer, Director, Editor, New Media Strategist  (1997-Present)

• Produce short videos for clients from inception to final delivery.
• Specialties include short form inspirational social issue doc/organizational messaging and stories of ordinary extraordinary people and communities making a difference
• Strength in story arcs, working across a variety of styles, short form stories that inspire action, community building and long lasting impact
• Experience working with community and portrait storytelling and centering people as empowered subjects and positioning audience as active participants
• A balanced eye for aesthetics, spotlight on storytelling and technical expertise to deal with sd and hd footage and multiple formats and cameras
• Create videos and lead outreach campaigns that connect with audiences and have generative possibilities in the new media landscape
• Select Examples
  • Buddhist Geeks: Conference Trailer and Kickstarter Video
  • Intersection for the Arts: Stories from Intersection: Intersection Is, One of The Most Beautiful Way to Remember, To Feel Connected
  • San Francisco Arts Commission ARTery Project: The Sights and Sounds of Central Market: Piper’s Jewelers, ACT Costume Shop
  • 2nd Annual Wisdom 2.0 Conference Panelists Interviews
  • San Francisco Film Society Filmmaker in a Classroom : One Shot Portrait, Making Your Values Matter (PSA), Smoking Nails (PSA)
  • Aharaj Yoga (Producer, Director, Camera, Editor)
  • San Francisco Jewish Family and Children Services Hartman Jewish Studies Series Lectures (Taped Lectures, Authored DVDS for collection)
  • Not In Our Town/The Working Group (Producer/Director/New Media Strategy): Gunn High School Sings Away Hate Group, Who Cares? I Do! Here's Why, Adams Unity Coalition Responds to Hate
  • Girlsource/WAVE (Producer/Director/Editor): Portrait of Betty Reid Soskin, Sister Marion Irvine, Arabella Martinez
  • Bay Area Video Coalition Producer/Mentor/Distributor for over 100 youth videos
    • Select list of award winning videos, additional examples available upon request: The Apollos, The Midnight Hour, Save Me, No More
    • R&D/Field Producer/Interviewer for Producers Institute 2009 videos

Media Instructor and Curriculum Specialist (1997-Present)

• Develop curriculum and teach various media courses ranging from video production, post production, history, distribution and curation to adults and youth in formal university settings and media arts organization education settings.
• Genres specialties: New Media, Documentary, Experimental, International, Shorts, New Media, Narrative, Women, People of Color, Queer, Youth Media, Curation, Exhibition, Community Engagement ­­
• Select Courses and Institutions:
  • Cinema Programming and Exhibition // San Francisco State University (2010, 2011)
  • San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Student Delegate Mentor (2011)
  • 84,000 Doorways towards Nourishment // Hill Top High School via San Francisco Film Society Education Program (Fall 2011)
  • Creative PSA // Francisco Middle School via San Francisco Film Society Education Program (Spring 2011)
  • Embracing the Dream: Lessons from the Not In Our Town Movement (2011)
  • International Media Production // Adobe Foundation (2009)
  • Distribution and Outreach // Adobe Foundation (2009)
  • Dialogues in the Dark // Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC): 2008
  • Media Production, History and Distribution  // Bay Area Coalition (BAVC): (2004-2009)
  • Experimental Eye on Third I Workshop Leader // Third I Film Workshop ( 2006)
  • Experimental Documentary // Film Arts Foundation (2004)
  • Youth Media Digital Storytelling // Girls Inc. of Alameda (2001-2002)
  • University of California, San Diego: Teaching Assistant/ Lead Instructor (1997-2001
    • Introduction to Media Theory and Production
    • Communications Media and Methods
    • Introduction to Film History
    • A Hard Look at the Movies
    • Documentary Film
    • Film in Social Context
    • Film and Fantasy
    • Irish Cinema
    • Introduction to Modern Art

Multimedia Producer and Social Media Coordinator for The Working Group/ Not In Out Town (October 2009- Oct 2010)

• Multimedia Producer
• Produced multimedia content: blogs, short videos, audio, photo slideshows etc
• Executed general site maintenance, comment moderation, misc. multimedia support as needed
• Created analytics and reports measuring multimedia effectiveness
• Designed media management system: Producers checklist, archiving system, nomenclature
• Additional Key Duties: field producing, scripting, post production supervision, media ingestion, general editing, DVD authoring
• Social Media Coordinator
• Developed social media and outreach campaigns
• Deepened Online community engagement via website, facebook, twitter, external blogs and other new media channels
• Increased organizational membership and community awareness via social media channels

Significant Contributions:

• Produced, directed and led the new media outreach campaign for "Who Cares? I Do! Here's Why", an interactive online video campaign which invites people to share personal stories about how and why they stand up to hate. Over 5000 viewers as well as dozens of personal stories.  http://bit.ly/WhoCaresIDo
• Produced and led the new media outreach campaign for Gunn High Schools Sings Away Hate, a video that documents Gunn High students’ creative response when the Westboro Baptist Church/Fred Phelps hate group targeted their school. The video spread virally over 3 days and currently has over 222,000 viewers and 550 comments. The video is recognized as an exemplary and effective peaceful response to WBC protests and continues to play a key role in introducing new members to the Not In Our Town movement. http://bit.ly/GunnHighSingsAwayHate
• Helped create significant social media web presence, increasing Facebook Fans from 450 to 6,000 fans in less than a year and led creative Facebook campaigns to strengthen the NIOT online community via quality Facebook conversations. Under my leadership, fans responded to conversation threads, began to actively instigate conversations and share NIOT.ORG content to their friends and community via Facebook channels.

Producer, Manager, Youth Media Instructor, Distribution Coordinator, Internship Coordinator and Technician for The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) (August 2002-June 2009)

• Next Gen Digital Pathways Manager
• Successfully oversaw the success of the SF based video and audio programs
• Developed and implemented program missions and course curriculum
• Coordinated program schedules, budget, grants compliance, hiring and managing staff,
• Maintained partnerships with community organizations and corporations, communications with funders and cross departmental BAVC staff
• Next Gen Distribution Coordinator
• Increased and strengthened the presence of BAVC Youth videos online, in film festivals and conferences
• Handled communications with external partners and festivals
• Created and authored DVDS, wrote all film synopsis, devised tagging and keywords systems
• Produced video and audio final exhibition events
• Designed media management system: Producers checklist, archiving system, nomenclature, tagging
• Lead Digital Pathways Video Instructor
• Developed an innovative youth video curriculum that encourages students to express ideas drawing upon media history, examples, storytelling exercises, creative experimentation and professional review panels.
• Instructed and mentored students through all aspects and video production
• Produced award winning personal narrative and community storytelling video projects

Significant Contributions:

• Lead developer/writer for the BAVC Youth Video Curriculum and Evaluation Rubrics that have been a cornerstone for BAVC youth video programs & also adopted by hundreds of teachers.
• Oversaw the successful name change and re-branding of one the core youth programs, as well as instituting successful outreach models, program scheduling templates and best practices across multiple programs.
• Produced and distributed several award winning youth films. One such film "The Apollos" reached thousands of people & told a vital story about Oakland, CA and its history. http://bit.ly/TheApollos
• Field producer and Interviewer for BAVC’s 2009 Producers Institute Video Documentation: http://bit.ly/BAVC2009ProducersInstitute

Curator and Screener (2002- present)

• Curate innovative film /video programs and write program notes
• Solo curation experience includes exhibitions at San Francisco State University, Intersection for the Arts,Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Little Roxie Theatre, Southern Exposure and Artists’ Television Access
• Served on group section committees and jury for organizations like San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, International Documentary Challenge at Hot Docs, Lunafest, MadCat International Women’s Film Festival. Digital Artifact and Ladyfest 2002

Personal Films: Producer, Director, Editor, Cinematographer, Sound Design
Select screening venues and festivals include: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Chicago Filmmakers (solo shows), SF Magazine Best of the Bay 2009, Artists' Television Access, Berkeley Women of Color Film Festival, LadyFest Bay Area (2002, 2004), Ladyfest Texas Pacific Film Archive, Roxie Theatre, SFIAAFF, SFISAFF, SomArts, UCLA, UCSD, USSC, Robert Flaherty International Film Seminar Fellows Screening.

• Stories from the Path, HD (In progress), Moments of Being: Magical Message #2:Turkey a Love Story, HDV/ 16mm film (In progress), Moments of Being: Magical Message # 1: A Dreamy Reminiscence of Childhood, HDV/ 16 mm film (In progress), Metta, DV/HD, 2011, 9 min, Flying, 16 mm/ Digital Stills, 2009, 8 min 40 sec, Page Turner, DV, 2007, 2 min, Embrace It, DV, 2007, 6 min, For the Baby (animation), 16 mm, 2007, Come On, Big Empty, DV, 2006, 11 min 30 sec, collaboration with Amanda Davidson, Letting Go, 35 mm Stills/DV, 2005, 7 min, by the by, 16 mm/Super-8/DV, 2004,14 min 26 sec, the to do list confessions, 16 mm, 2001, 15 min 15 sec, Incarnation,16 mm/DV, 1999, 3 min 20 sec, 2:38,16 mm/DV, 1999,  3 min, yours,16 mm, 1998, 7 min 20 sec, Play Record, video, 1997,13 min, collaboration with Selby Schwartz, Untitled (when some people close their mouths),video, 1996, 13 minutes

• Software: Final Cut Pro, Compressor, DVD Studio Pro, Color, Premiere, Pro Tools, Garage Band, Sound Track Pro, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Drupal, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, XDCamTransfer, Mpeg Streamclip
• Production/Post Production: DV, HDV, HD, Flip Cam, DSLR, Firestore and P2 card workflow, video and 16 mm film production and post production, digital audio recording, sound design and mix, digital photography, lighting, cinematography, editing, DVD authoring, graphic design
• New Media: Facebook, Twitter, Causes, Stumbleupon, Hootsuite, Google Docs, YouTube, Vimeo, Blip, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Youtube Analytics
• Other: Fluency in media exhibition formats, file codecs, conversation and compatibility

• Media Arts Award Selection Committee and Nominator: San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grant Review Panel (2010), Djerassi Resident Artists Program Media Arts and New Genres Selection Committee (2009), San Francisco Arts Commission, Community Arts and Education Review Panel (2009), San Francisco Arts Commission Draft Reviewer (2009), San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commission Media Arts Review Panel (2008), Phelan Awards in Film: Video and New Media Nominator (2008), Goldman Sachs Foundation Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education Round One Judge (2008), Diesel Films 24 hours film contest San Francisco, Judge (2008), Grounded: Southern Exposure 7th Annual Juried Film and Video Screening Judge (2007), BAVC Producer’s Institute Review Committee (2008, 2007), BAVC Media Makers (2009, 2007), BAVC HD Women’s Residency Award Review Committee (2006)

• Panels and Presentations: Ensuring Your Work is SEEN! Film Festivals and Outreach presented at the Adobe Foundation Adobe Youth Voices International Summit (2009), Youth Media Educator Panel presented at the Adobe Foundation Adobe Youth Voices International Summit (2009), Youth Make Media, Incite Change panel presented at the San Francisco International Film Festival (2009), Digital Storytelling in the Classroom forum presented at the Seattle International Film Festival (2007), The Experimental Eye on 3rd I (2006), Youth Media Saloon (2005), She’s Experimenting film screening and discussion about experimental film by queer women of color @ Jon Simms Center (2004), Home Grown Filmmaking presented at the 17th Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference (2002), Gender and Visual Representation in the film the to do list confessions presented at 11th Annual UCLA Thinking Gender Conference (2001)

• Board Member and other Professional Affiliations: Learning Matters Youth Media Learning Community (2008- 2009), Digital Artifact Magazine (2007-2008), LUNAFEST (2006-2008), Youth Media Reporter (2008), Alliance of Emerging Creative Artists (AECA) (January 2002- 2003), Ladyfest Bay Area 2002

• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO, 2001

Masters of Fine Arts in Visual Arts, emphasis in filmmaking

• UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, 1997

Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Interdisciplinary Field Studies, “The Construction of Experience in the 20th Century”, studies in Film History, Art History and Literature.
Minor in Creative Writing

References and Detailed Filmography Available Upon Request