- Reiko Tahara

Reiko Tahara

I’m an immigrant living in Brooklyn, NY. I teach at colleges, translate films and texts, and program films. I am also a mother.

My beliefs

Decentering and decolonizing through teaching, translating, and programming

Life Studies with diverse people

Some of the people who have influenced me in my teaching, translation, and curatorial work are Paulo Freire, June Jordan, Franz Fanon, Shumei Okawa, Mozi, and Laozi. In my teaching, I strive to embody the ‘life studies’ advocated by June Jordan, as I apply the de-banking, dialogical educational methods proposed by Paulo Freire. Every semester, every week, my student-teachers and I (a teacher-student) learn from each other through watching films together, learning each other’s histories, and having dialogues. Translation is another trade of mine (I went to a school for it), which I actually enjoy a lot. I translate films and texts for big OTTs and big companies. I also translate films that I bring to my country to share with my folks back home through my film festival work. Someday, I’d like to translate literature. Teaching includes curation, but I also curate and organize screenings for my film festival overseas, at the university where I teach, and at my beloved community garden. I am a lifelong learner and looking forward to meeting new people to learn from them.

What I do

Here are some of the things I have done and do in my life

Teaching

I teach documentary history and theory, Third Cinema (revolutionary, resistance cinema from Latin America of the 1970s, which then expanded to everywhere), Asian and Asian American histories through films, world cinema, and Asian culture and history. I have also taught courses in the past on fundraising for independent media, Japanese cinema, and new currents in documentary filmmaking. I have taught regularly at Hunter College MFA in Integrated Media Arts, NYU School of Professional Studies, and Downtown Community Television for the past 15 years. In some of those courses, as part of my efforts toward the Life Studies, I invite student-teachers to co-curate films and texts for classes, and have them present their people’s histories.
I have had student-teachers from Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Guyana, Armenia, China, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, HK, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Morocco, Japan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, etc etc… and it's been so so amazing for everyone including me to learn from them about their peoples!

Filmmaking

I have made a few shorts and a feature-length film between 1995 and 2008. Samples: remnants (1995, 12min, B&W, 16mm). The Gatekeeper of Enmyoin (2008, co-directed with Max Uesugi, 124min, color, SD).

Programming

I program films for a DIY film festival in Japan with a special emphasis on films from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and by diaspora directors in the West—the films that are rarely distributed commercially in Japan. I also co-program a film series at Hunter College. Some day soon, I hope to be able to tell you more about them. For now, I need to protect myself from the political threat in the US. I have also programmed race-conscious film nights at my community garden since 2022, and occasionally organize screening/guest events for my department at Hunter.

Translating

I have worked as a translator, subtitle translator, and interpreter as my second business for decades. I learned subtitle translation at the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy, and have translated films for major global OTTs and for my own festival for the past 15 years. All together, I have perhaps translated about 60-70 features and a few hundred shorts and promotional videos. I have worked as an interpreter in the fields of business, arts, and welfare in NYC. I have translated help articles for Etsy.com for the past 10 years, and have translated apps, articles, and business documents for many companies (meetup.com, adobe, and many law firms). I passed the First Class Literary Translation exam in Japan in 2024. Someday, I'd like to challenge myself in literary translation.

Community Gardening

I am a proud member of Betty's Community Garden at Hull St in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn. It is the best garden in Bklyn! We have renamed the garden in 2023 to commemorate the life of the late Florence "Betty" Simon (1941-2021), a Caribbean immigrant nurse, single mother, and one of the founders of the garden in the 1990s. She was a part of the Windrush generation, traveling from St. Vincent Island to England in the 70s to be trained as a nurse there. Lucky for us, she eventually crossed the ocean again to settle in Ocean Hill-Brownville in the 80s. I recorded Betty's oral history on Zoom during the lockdown as she battled against her cancer, and made a short film just introducing the beginning portion of her immigrant journey. We screened this at her memorial service and at a community screening. Meet Betty here. There are many Black women like Betty and Latinas who have been the architects and guardians of the healthy sanctuaries throughout Central Bklyn, which are historically Black and Brown, and we want to remember their legacies even if the neighborhood would change rapidly. 227 Hull St, Brooklyn, NY 11233—Visit us!

Contact

rtahara[at]hunter.cuny.edu