APA Heritage Month program spotlights poet laureate, Sharaya Souza on Indigenous visibility and Sameh Dizon's film Hinga

At a San Francisco Public Library program for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the city's newly appointed poet laureate, Tongo Eisen Martin, joined City Librarian Michael Lambert to discuss plans to expand poetry programs across library branches and to use library spaces as stages for community work.

The event also featured a conversation between Sharaya Souza, executive director of the American Indian Cultural District, and Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs. Souza spoke about building indigenous visibility through art and cultural resources protection, highlighted local projects (including an 'illuminative' photography project) and warned about data and census undercount effects on Native communities. She recommended purchasing native-made items directly from Native artists and described the significance of sacred objects and ceremonies.

CAM festival director Masashi Nwano introduced Sameh Dizon, whose film Hinga weaved dance, ritual and community remembrance. Dizon discussed the choice to turn a planned live Yerba Buena performance into a film during COVID-19, the film's Filipino and Filipinx-centered cast and crew, and the project's relationship to community grief and remembrance. The program screened a clip and urged viewers to see the film at CAMFEST.

Speakers repeatedly framed art as activism and urged continued cross-community solidarity to sustain cultural gains beyond media cycles.

What's next: The library and partners plan programming to integrate poetry, film and community workshops; festival screening dates and Q&A sessions will be listed on CAMFEST's website.