Renee Tajima-Peña is an award-winning film director and producer, notable for "Who Killed Vincent Chin?

Who Killed Vincent Chin?

Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a 1987 documentary film directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña about the death of Vincent Chin. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....

" (PBS), for which she received an Academy Award nomination, and "MY AMERICA...or Honk if You Love Buddha."

Education

Tajima-Peña was born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and raised in Altadena, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where she graduated from John Muir High School in the class of 1976. She received a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies and Sociology Cum Laude, from Harvard-Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA, in 1980.
She is currently the Graduate Director of the Masters Program in Social Documentation and an associate professor of community studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Honors

Her honors include an Academy Award nomination for Best Feature Documentary, a Peabody Award

Peabody Award

The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...

, a Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, the Alpert Award for Film/Video, the James Wong Howe

James Wong Howe

James Wong Howe, A.S.C. was a Chinese American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films...

 “Jimmie” Award, the Justice in Action Award, and two International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association

International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...

 Achievement Awards (one shared), the Media Achievement Award from MANAA, the Steve Tatsukawa Memorial Award and the APEX Excellence in the Arts Award. She has twice earned Fellowships in Documentary Film from both the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

 and the New York Foundation on the Arts. Her works have been broadcast around the world and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

, San Francisco International Film Festival, London Film Festival

London Film Festival

The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...

, New Directors/New Films, Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

, the Whitney Biennial and many other venues.) In 2009 she won a Fellow Award from United States Artists

United States Artists

United States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...

.

Credits include:

• "Calavera Highway" (PBS)
• "The New Americans: Mexico Story" (PBS)
• "My Journey Home" (PBS)
• "Skate Manzanar" (Bellevue Art Museum)
• "Labor Women" (PBS)
• "The Last Beat Movie" (Sundance Channel)
• "My America...or Honk if You Love Buddha"
• "The Best Hotel on Skid Row" (Home Box Office)
• "Jennifer’s in Jail" (Lifetime Television)
• "Declarations: All Men Are Created Equal?" (PBS)
• "What Americans Really Think of the Japanese" (Fujisankei)
• "Yellow Tale Blues"
• "Who Killed Vincent Chin?
  Who Killed Vincent Chin?
  Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a 1987 documentary film directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña about the death of Vincent Chin. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
  
  "

Persistent Themes

With her newest film, "Calavera Highway," and her earlier work, Tajima-Pena affirms her ongoing interest with the road as a structuring device for her documentaries.