Roots (1982 - 1989)
For the first three years, NAATA sponsored the Bay Area leg of the traveling Asian American International Film Festival produced by ACV, adding a Bay Area component to the traveling program package. In 1985, NAATA took its only break from the festival run to date, channeling all its efforts into organizing the National Asian American Media Arts Conference at UCLA. The Festival returned in 1986 as an independent entity, beginning its own journey. Through the rest of the '80s, NAATA managed to present a series of significant, if sporadic, programs characterized by socially committed documentaries and some seminal works by the pioneers of Asian American media. Due to a paucity of domestic works, the Festival often supplemented its program with international features from Asia, particularly from China. Venues included Pacific Film Archive, Kokusai Theater, and World Theatre, among others. Yee and program director Janice Sakamoto set the tone for the Festival by launching extensive community outreach efforts, infusing the event with a grassroots spirit that remains to this day.
