Tamara Perkins

Tamara Perkins

Adjunct Faculty

e perkinst@smccd.edu

Tamara Perkins (Director | Producer | Writer | Educator) is an award-winning filmmaker and changemaker focused on documentaries that inspire transformative change through dialogue, healing and advocacy. She founded Apple of Discord Productions in 2006, connecting media, activism and healing through programs such as the Wisdom Project and San Quentin Media Project, which trained at-risk youth and incarcerated men in filmmaking as a tool for transformation. 

Perkins’ film Life After Life (2018) began in her yoga class inside San Quentin State Prison when the men asked her to tell their story, and continues to be a catalyst for learning and advocacy nationally. Justice impacted herself, this film provides an often overlooked proximity in storytelling. Rebound (2021) and Clarissa’s Battle (2022), were each similarly inspired by a personal connection to the subject matter. Her recent feature speculative fiction script melds present day social, moral, and ethical questions with a Queer Family-driven SciFi Thriller which was awarded the 2022 Stowe Story Fellowship. 

As a national speaker, Perkins’ repertoire spans filmmaking to prison reform and human rights. She is a recipient of Evident Change’s Media for a Just Society Award. Perkins received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is an adjunct faculty at Skyline College, College of San Mateo, and St. Mary’s College of California. Perkins' work has become a catalyst for change, learning and advocacy for some of our nation's most misunderstood and overlooked issues.

Sean Uyehara, Film Instructor

Sean Uyehara

Adjunct Faculty

e uyehars@smccd.edu

A Ph.D. in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California, he focused his studies on the concept of virtuality across media forms. For over a decade, he was a film programmer at SFFILM where he developed and presented film programs in the San Francisco International Film Festival. Sean was a founding programmer of the SF International Animation Festival, Cinema by the Bay, Taiwan Film Days and others. Specializing in developing original programming streams, Sean established KinoTek a presentation platform focused on commissioning and presenting hybrid digital media such as interactive and multimedia, VR and AR performances, installations and work. He also commissioned original musical scores for silent films to be presented live to Bay Area audiences from Deerhoof, Thao Nguyen, Xiu Xiu, Merrill Garbus, Stephin Merritt, Black Francis, Jonathan Richman and many others. Sean is currently Director of Programs at Headlands Center for the Arts, a multidisciplinary arts center based in Marin. Headlands' programs include a premier artist residency program, hosting international, national, and Bay Area artists to develop work and interact with the public.