Episode 10:  Narrative Intervention with Jalena Keane-Lee

In this episode of You Can’t Eat Art , Clara Kamunde is in conversation with Jalena Keane-Lee an award-winning documentary film maker. Her short films have screened at over 40 film festivals, won best short documentary at the 2020 LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, the 2024 San Diego Asian Film Festival, the Sundance Jury Award in 2023, streamed on the Criterion Collection, Nowness Asia and broadcast nationally on POV. 

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About Jalena Keane-Lee:  
Jalena’s filmmaking explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. Jalena, named one of DOC NYC’s 2024 40 Under 40 Documentary Filmmakers to Watch and one of Adobe x Sundance’s 2023 Women to Watch, is currently touring her first feature length documentary, Standing Above the Clouds which follows Native Hawaiian mother daughter activists. The film premiered at HotDocs in 2024 where it won the Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Doc. It has played at over 15 film festivals and won Special Mention for Best International Director at DocEdge 2024, Best International Cinematography at Film Ambiente, Best Feature Documentary at the 2024 San Diego Asian Film Festival and Best Made in Hawaiʻi Feature Film at the 2024 Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. Jalena won Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocLands 2022. She co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all women of color production company. She has produced commercial series for clients like Nike, Facebook, and LinkedIn and worked with non-profit organizations like The Center for Cultural Power, The Teaching Well, and Bright Pink to create engaging video campaigns. For more about Jalena Keane-Lees visit our webpage here and Jalena’s website.  Follow @jalena.kl

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About Clara Kamunde:
Clara Kamunde is an Oakland-based, Kenyan-born cultural worker practicing at the intersection of arts education and social justice. Her career began with the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles where, as a grantee for the Artist-In-The-Community program, she collaborated with community organizations to produce and present site-integrated programming in  traditionally under-served communities throughout Greater Los Angeles.  She is a Marcus Curatorial Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center.
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About the Lucas Artists Residency Program:
Established in 1939, Montalvo Arts Center is home to the third oldest residency program in the United States. In 2004, Montalvo re-committed to its support of artists by opening a new, state-of-the-art facility, relaunching as the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program. The residency is dedicated to providing artists with a flexible and expansive space in which to create, encouraging the creative process, risk taking, collaboration, and cross-disciplinary investigation of contemporary issues. The LAP is a hybrid model that supports uninterrupted time to develop new work, while offering opportunities to share ideas and projects through public programming and partnerships. For more info about the residency, visit our website.  Follow the LAP @lucasartres 

Credits:
“Syndrome” from the album Tide’s Arising Instrumentals (Mashibeats, 2024) used with permission of LAP 2023 CA Fellow Mark de Clive-Lowe; © Mark de Clive-Lowe/Mashibeats

Podcast cover art created by Olivia Esparza© Montalvo Arts Center, 2025