A Lot Like You

For additional information about the film, or to purchase the DVD please visit the producer’s website here: http://ALotLikeYouMovie.com

Co-presented with the Center for Asian American Media

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 learns more deeply 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 sexual violence that resonates with her work and life in the United States. When Kimaro speaks with her parents about the oppression that her aunts face, she faces a jarring disconnect between immigrant generations on questions of patriarchy and violence.

About the Filmmaker
Activist-turned-filmmaker Eliaichi Kimaro is founder/director of 9elephants productions, a company that uses video to bring stories of struggle, resistance and survival to a broader audience. Eliaichi brings a lifetime of personal and professional experience exploring issues of culture, identity, race, class, and gender to her Award-winning directorial debut, A Lot Like You. Most recently, her film has won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2012 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and the 2011 Montreal International Black Film Festival.

Drawing upon her nine-year film journey, she is currently on the campus/conference lecture circuit engaging communities across the country in discussion about some of the issues in her film, including gender violence, mixed race/multicultural issues, cultural identity and the power of personal storytelling.