ABOUT TRAAX PRODUCTION

Since 1992, the purpose of Traax Production has been to promote intercultural understanding through the creation, presentation, preservation and support of media works by and about Asian Pacific Americans.  Stann created Traax with the understanding that media and the arts are important vehicles to organize and empower communities, build connections between generations, challenge perspectives, and create an environment for critical thinking, necessary to build a more just and humane society.

ABOUT STANN NAKAZONO

Stann Nakazono is a sansei (third-generation Japanese-American) filmmaker who has been making films since high school  (his Super-8 short, Life of a Samurai, got an A+ in an Asian American Studies class).

He shot, produced, directed and edited the 1984 documentary short, E-Z Rock: Asian American Breakdancer, the story of a breakdancing 14-year-old who is at odds with his traditional Asian father.  It won critical acclaim at Asian American film festivals in New York and in Los Angeles.

In 1997, he produced his first feature film, Hang Your Dog in the Wind, which had its world premiere at the '97 Slumdance Experience (which he co-founded) at Park City, Utah, the alternative to the alternative of the Sundance Film Festival.  Hang Your Dog in the Wind was featured in other film festivals in New York, Chicago, Orlando and Europe. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 1997 Florida Film Festival.

After co-directing his independently-funded feature film, Much Adobo About Nothing , he produced the acclaimed live action/animated short An I Within, which won the Best Cinematography Award at the 1999 Florida Film Festival, Special Achievement Award at the USA Film Festival and Best American Short at the L.A. Short Film Festival.

Along with his film credits, Stann produced a series of plays for The Actors' Gang Ensemble Theater in Los Angeles, the renowned theater group headed by actor Tim Robbins. His play, buddhaheadz.com, won the 2004 Ruby Yoshino-Schaar Playwriting Award.