Filmmakers and Producers

Angel Velasco Shaw

Angel Velasco Shaw was born in Los Angeles and grew up in New York. She is an independent film/video maker, educator and cultural activist. She received her BFA in Post-Studio Arts from CalArts and a masters degree in Media Studies from The New School For Social Research.

She is a media artist, writer, cultural activist, curator and educator. Videos screened nationally and internationally include “Blowback,” “Umbilical Cord,” (collection: Cinematheque Suisse Schweizer Filmarchiv. Casa Asia, Barcelona, Spain); “Asian Boys,” (collection: Cinematheque Suisse Schweizer Filmarchiv); “Nailed,” (collection: The Museum of Modern Art New York. Casa Asia, Barcelona, Spain); and “Balikbayan/Return to Home.” Velasco Shaw was the originator and project director for the Vestiges of War 1899-1999: The Philippine-American War and Its Aftermath (Feb.99--components included an art exhibition, two weekend conference at New York University and performances at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre). She is co-editor of the anthology, “Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream; 1899-1999” (New York University Press, 2002). She co-curated Empire and Memory: Repercussions and Evocations of the 1899 Philippine-American War, a film/video exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. She was a core faculty member in the Asian/Pacific/ American Studies Program at New York University where she taught media, cultural, and community studies courses from 1995-2006. She has also taught at Hunter College, Columbia University, The New School For Social Research, and Pratt Institute.



Velasco Shaw was the acting executive director of the non-profit Asian American media arts organization, Asian CineVision from 2000-2001. She has participated in numerous conferences and cultural events in the Philippines, conducted media workshops in Manila and Laos, and in Filipino American communities nationwide.



She is currently working on a multiyear project, a series of cultural changes in Southeast Asia called: “Trade Routes: Converging Cultures: Southeast Asia and Asia America.

AVAILABLE FROM TWN

Asian Boys
Angel Velasco Shaw
1994, 19 min., Color, US
This documentary was produced in collaboration with performance artist Nicky Paraiso for his critically acclaimed multi-media performance at P.S. 122. Eleven different interviews with "Asian Boys" are intercut with images of "fish out of water" in Chinatown and footage from the Miss Universe contest...

The Momentary Enemy
Angel Velasco Shaw
Producer: Maria Christina Villaseñor
2008, 25 min., Color/BW, US/The Philippines
The Momentary Enemy takes a critical comparative look into the way mass media has represented the Philippine-American War, Vietnam and Iraq Wars since the turn of the century to present day. The video includes compelling interviews with Professors Moustafa Bayoumi, Reynaldo Ileto, Marilyn Young, How...

Nailed
Angel Velasco Shaw
1992, 50 min., Color
A Filipina's exploration of the Catholic Church and 400 years of colonialism in the Pacific region is woven in a montage of images, sounds, stories and performances. Inspired by Lucy Reyes, a woman who has been re-enacting the Crucifixion for 16 years by being nailed to across. The video looks at th...

Umbilical Cord
Angel Velasco Shaw
1998, 28 min., Color, Phillippines
A kaleidoscope of the filmmaker's impressions of current events from the Centennial commemoration to recent elections and their relationship to the past one hundred years of Philippine struggle. In a series of montages, the filmmaker asks people from the markets to malls questions about what a hero ...


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