Summer at BMC

Sun-soaked postcards from Bryn Mawr College

A Postcard From: Miranda Canilang ’17

miranda_canilang1Name: Miranda Canilang

Year: 2017

Major: Physics (prospective)

What’s happening? We’d love to hear how your internship is going! This summer, I am interning at Asian Cinevision for the 37th Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) in New York City. I am their Social Media/Website Manager and am in charge of the film festival’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, etc. In addition, I invite student organizations to the film festival, advertise the festival on event listing outlets, and design promotional posters for the film screenings. I also write the weekly e-newsletter and post on the Asian Cinevision website.

Unfortunately, my internship is unpaid so I waitress and telemarket on the side (to be saved for another postcard/I regret not applying for LILAC funding). Apparently, interns get reimbursed for subway fare expenses, but I had heard that we were extra tight on budget this year so I’m not sure if that is happening… Regardless, the memories I am making compensate.

Everyone I work with is very friendly, and I enjoy meeting more of the NYC Asian American community. Pretty much everyone there studies/studied something related to film, so I’m the misfit physics major. I am the youngest intern, but I must admit I like being the “frosh.” Must be my inner Mawrter feelings about being replaced by the new Dark Blue Class of 2018.

Asian CineVision (ACV) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media arts organization devoted to the development, exhibition, promotion, and preservation of Asian and Asian American film. We are based out of Dumbo, Brooklyn, which I can now say has great food trucks (i.e. Korilla) and a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline. Our office is in the Made in NY Media Center by IFP, which is converted warehouse space home to many other small film companies. AAIFF is the first and longest running festival in the country devoted to films by and about Asians & Asian Americans. I think our film festival is special because it’s on the East Coast, and producing an Asian American film festival on the East Coast is a heck of a lot harder than in California where the Asian American community and the film business thrives.

AAIFF14 will run from July 24-August 2, 2014. Visit http://aaiff.org/2014 for more info.

miranda_canilang2How I heard about my internship: A friend (and fellow Mawrter) interned here last year.

Why I applied for my internship: A big part of my first year of college was exploring my Asian American identity. Asians are still underrepresented in American mainstream media, so it is important for Asians to showcase our different and unexplored colors at opportunities like AAIFF. I currently serve as Publicity Chair for the Bryn Mawr Asian Students’ Association, so I’ve had experience with social media and Asian American social justice to apply for this internship. I knew I wanted to get more involved in the community, so I accepted this offer when other plans fell through. I also felt that my summer after freshmen year should be spent having a little fun. At first I wasn’t much of a film person, but now I am!

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