THE COLORADO DRAGON BOAT FILM FESTIVAL
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  • About / Contact
  • 2023 Raffle
  • 2023 Program
    • 2023 Community Conversations >
      • 3/11 - Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community
      • 3/12 - Celebrating the Stories of our Multiracial AAPI Community
    • 2023 Short Films Showcase >
      • Amache Rose
      • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya Findings
      • Dirty Rotten Tofu and the Gohan Girls
      • One Fine Day
      • Paddles on the Water
      • Soon
      • Thread
    • 2023 Emerging Artists Showcase >
      • 1992
      • Daruma
      • Esperanza
      • it's in the cards, fatherhood
      • My Grandpa Says He's an Alien
      • The Pomegranate Tree
      • The Waterspout
      • Yesterday I Was the Moon
  • Sponsors / Donors
  • Previous Programs
    • 2022 Program >
      • 2022 Community Conversations >
        • 3/5 - CAPU
        • 3/6 - AGI
      • 2022 Short Films Showcase >
        • #AsianAmResilience Microdocs
        • good enough
        • In Wake of the Crashing Dawn
        • Projections
        • Charlie
        • Desert Lotus
        • Ara, Untamed
        • My Name is not Amy
      • 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Sino Ako
        • All Mine
        • Winter Glass Glare
        • Core
        • Maa
        • Heart Sutra
    • 2021 Program >
      • 2021 Short Film Showcase >
        • #AsianAMCovidStories
        • Duo Pandemia
        • Mastery I & II
        • Ib Tsug 13 Hnub
        • Ntuj Tsim Txom
        • Mechamorphosis
        • The 3 Day Nun
        • The Loyal Betrayal
        • Voices
      • 2021 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Check Box: Other
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter >
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S2
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S1
        • Safe
        • In the Spotlight
    • 2020 Program >
      • Digital Program Book
      • 2020 Creative Conversations >
        • 2/21 - Best Tasting Wild Foods of Colorado​
        • 2/22 - Health & Mental Health
        • 2/22 - Mushroom Foraging 101
      • 2020 Asian American Documentaries >
        • Palliative
        • Love Boat: Taiwan
      • 2020 Colorado Showcase >
        • The Rock Within
        • Ma
        • For Tashi
        • people (of water)
        • Not Pictured
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
      • Ang Larawan (The Portrait)
      • Asian American Artist Showcase
    • 2019 Program >
      • 2019 Film Shorts >
        • Runner
        • Tears of the Sky
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
        • My Escape
      • 2019 CU Denver Showcase >
        • Three Worlds One Stage
        • Virtual Mandala
      • 2019 Festival Talkbacks >
        • Creative Leadership Talkback
        • CU Filmmaker Q&A
        • Film Industry Talkback
    • 2018 Program
    • 2017 Program >
      • Taipei Story
      • The Last Princess
      • Mid-Length Films Block
      • Ten Years
      • What's in the Darkness
      • Millennium Actress
      • The Future Perfect
      • Youth of the Beast
      • Being Good
      • Heart Attack
      • Bloody Dairy
      • Bruce Takes Dragon Town
      • Cowboy and Indian
      • Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story
      • Ho Chi Minh Kim Chi
      • Mango Sticky Rice
      • Night-Fly
      • Sumo Road - The Musical
      • Threads - The Art and Life of Surayia Rahman
      • Twenty Years
    • 2016 Program >
      • Wolf Children
      • Uzumasa Limelight
      • Changing Season
      • Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
      • Awesome Asian Bad Guys
      • Off the Menu: Asian America
      • Winning Girl
  • New Page

Purchase your All Access Passes HERE!

Individual Tickets HERE!

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2023 Community Conversations- FREE to the public! 

Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+

Asian American Pacific Islander
​
Community
​


​Saturday, March 11th

11:00 AM

Denver Sie Center House 1
2510 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206


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About the Panel

Join us for a discussion with our panelists as we elevate the voices of our diverse AAPI communities. Colorado Dragon Boat will host “Celebrating the Stories of Our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community,” a community conversation highlighting the intersectional identities, multifaceted experiences, and valuable contributions of members of Colorado’s queer AAPI community.
Register Here

Meet our Moderator & Panelists


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​Meet our Moderator

Marin Lepore is a screenwriter, director, and activist who grew up in Colorado, and lived in Beijing from age ten to sixteen. Now back in Denver, she currently works as a writer and producer at the film production company, Listen Productions.​
Falling within these groups herself, Marin is passionate about creating inclusive films that celebrate women, POC, and LGBTQ people. Her work often explores the intersections of these identities through the lens of comedy, romance, both, or neither — most notably, her coming-of-age web-series I Put the Bi in Bitter.

Her films have screened at festivals across the country including SeriesFest, ClexaCon, and Denver Pride. She previously served as a board member for Women in Film and Media Colorado, and she was part of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force at the University of Colorado Denver, where she graduated with a BFA in Film & Television.​​
Besides film, Marin cares about her fellow adoptee community, and currently volunteers with Adopteen. She also enjoys juggling, board games, playing violin, and collecting turtle figurines.

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​Meet our Panelist 

Stacey Shigaya is a third generation Japanese American, born and raised in Denver, CO. She is Executive Director for Sakura Foundation, the parent organization to Sakura Square LLC for which she is Executive Advisor. The Foundation’s mission is to celebrate and share Japanese and Japanese American heritage and culture in order to create a more compassionate, resilient, and equitable society. 
​

She holds a BA in Human Development and Learning and an MS in Counseling and Personnel Services, volunteers for Okaeri (a community space based in LA for LGBTQ+ Japanese/Japanese Americans and allies), and serves on the Denver Women’s Commission. 

As the daughter of WWII concentration camp internees and the mother of two adult children (one pansexual, one straight), Stacey strongly believes in standing up for those who experience discrimination and feels that sharing our unique stories will bring us closer together and build a more compassionate community.


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​
​Meet our Panelist 

Jordan Blisk (he/him) is an Associate Director at the American Constitution Society. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Colorado Name Change Project.

Jordan received his undergraduate degree from Ball State University and was the first out transgender student to earn a Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado Law School, later becoming the first out transgender president to lead the Colorado LGBT Bar Association in 2022.

Prior to joining ACS, Jordan was an associate attorney specializing in family law and estate planning, and before his legal career, he served in the US Air Force. In 2021, the National LGBT Bar Association named him as one of the "40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40". In 2022, he received the Stonewall Award from the American Bar Association for his work advancing LGBTQ+ individuals and causes in the legal profession.

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​Meet our Panelist 
​​
Nishant Upadhyay (they/them) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. They teach in the areas of Asian American Studies, and Queer and Trans of Color Studies. 
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​Meet our Panelist 

Yeong Cheng (they/them) is a DEI-focused executive and empowerment coach and founder of Denver Asian Collective, a community nonprofit focused on building and augmenting Asian capacity by creating resources for Asians and intersectionally-attentive unapologetically Asian-dominant and Asian-exclusive spaces. They have advised national Asian advocacy organizations including StopAAPIHate and Stand With Asian Americans, and will be releasing Asiancy, a storytelling program focused on reclaiming Asian agency in Asian stories, in Summer of 2023.​

Prior to this, Yeong worked as a tech leader, executive, and consultant, focused on market research, data, strategic partnerships, and organizational development. Most notably, they have advised startups and Fortune 100 companies on data architecture and strategy, and built (regrettable) foundational solutions enabling data capture and monetization for the likes of Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Contact Us

  • Home
  • About / Contact
  • 2023 Raffle
  • 2023 Program
    • 2023 Community Conversations >
      • 3/11 - Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community
      • 3/12 - Celebrating the Stories of our Multiracial AAPI Community
    • 2023 Short Films Showcase >
      • Amache Rose
      • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya Findings
      • Dirty Rotten Tofu and the Gohan Girls
      • One Fine Day
      • Paddles on the Water
      • Soon
      • Thread
    • 2023 Emerging Artists Showcase >
      • 1992
      • Daruma
      • Esperanza
      • it's in the cards, fatherhood
      • My Grandpa Says He's an Alien
      • The Pomegranate Tree
      • The Waterspout
      • Yesterday I Was the Moon
  • Sponsors / Donors
  • Previous Programs
    • 2022 Program >
      • 2022 Community Conversations >
        • 3/5 - CAPU
        • 3/6 - AGI
      • 2022 Short Films Showcase >
        • #AsianAmResilience Microdocs
        • good enough
        • In Wake of the Crashing Dawn
        • Projections
        • Charlie
        • Desert Lotus
        • Ara, Untamed
        • My Name is not Amy
      • 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Sino Ako
        • All Mine
        • Winter Glass Glare
        • Core
        • Maa
        • Heart Sutra
    • 2021 Program >
      • 2021 Short Film Showcase >
        • #AsianAMCovidStories
        • Duo Pandemia
        • Mastery I & II
        • Ib Tsug 13 Hnub
        • Ntuj Tsim Txom
        • Mechamorphosis
        • The 3 Day Nun
        • The Loyal Betrayal
        • Voices
      • 2021 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Check Box: Other
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter >
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S2
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S1
        • Safe
        • In the Spotlight
    • 2020 Program >
      • Digital Program Book
      • 2020 Creative Conversations >
        • 2/21 - Best Tasting Wild Foods of Colorado​
        • 2/22 - Health & Mental Health
        • 2/22 - Mushroom Foraging 101
      • 2020 Asian American Documentaries >
        • Palliative
        • Love Boat: Taiwan
      • 2020 Colorado Showcase >
        • The Rock Within
        • Ma
        • For Tashi
        • people (of water)
        • Not Pictured
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
      • Ang Larawan (The Portrait)
      • Asian American Artist Showcase
    • 2019 Program >
      • 2019 Film Shorts >
        • Runner
        • Tears of the Sky
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
        • My Escape
      • 2019 CU Denver Showcase >
        • Three Worlds One Stage
        • Virtual Mandala
      • 2019 Festival Talkbacks >
        • Creative Leadership Talkback
        • CU Filmmaker Q&A
        • Film Industry Talkback
    • 2018 Program
    • 2017 Program >
      • Taipei Story
      • The Last Princess
      • Mid-Length Films Block
      • Ten Years
      • What's in the Darkness
      • Millennium Actress
      • The Future Perfect
      • Youth of the Beast
      • Being Good
      • Heart Attack
      • Bloody Dairy
      • Bruce Takes Dragon Town
      • Cowboy and Indian
      • Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story
      • Ho Chi Minh Kim Chi
      • Mango Sticky Rice
      • Night-Fly
      • Sumo Road - The Musical
      • Threads - The Art and Life of Surayia Rahman
      • Twenty Years
    • 2016 Program >
      • Wolf Children
      • Uzumasa Limelight
      • Changing Season
      • Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
      • Awesome Asian Bad Guys
      • Off the Menu: Asian America
      • Winning Girl
  • New Page