They Call Me Suki

Suki Terada Ports is an unstoppable Japanese American NYC elder who has been a tireless activist for the AAPI Community for decades. She has fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s, school integration, prison reform, female healthcare equality, HIV/AIDS prevention and support, and recently she actively opposed the Muslim Ban. 

Her tenacity and passion make her a true AAPI Matriarch who has inspired generations of activists and leaders. Over the decades, Suki has woven a network of Asian American mentorship and empowerment.

Suki Terada Ports is not prone to whimsy. Born in the Harlem neighborhood where she still lives, we join her as she takes the bus downtown to a lunch where a conversation of action, identity, and belonging emerges between three generations of AAPI activists and storytellers. Nothing comes easy in this city of New York. Suki is proof of this. And yet, the air is full of possibility, drive, and, yes, what can be changed.

Writer-director M.G. Evangelista was born in Manila and raised in the Bay Area. Their NYU thesis short film, FRAN THIS SUMMER, is an LGBTQ summer love story that premiered at Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at Outfest before playing in thirty film festivals worldwide. Other short works, INA NYO, LA GLORIA, BLOOD HANA, and VR piece WATER MELTS, have also played internationally, including at Toronto's Inside Out, Rotterdam, Miami, and Palm Springs. Their debut feature film, BURNING WELL, currently in development, has just been invited to attend the renowned Torino Feature Film Lab 2022. It is a recipient of the Tribeca All Access grant, a WIF x Sundance Finance Intensive Fellowship, and an Array x Google production grant.

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