“Oakdale Avenue” San Francisco, CA (Photo: Jason Meki)
I’m an uninvited guest born and raised on Ohlone land by working poor Samoan immigrants who worked hard until they took their last breath. Stories have been the source of survival for my parents in this country. My father was a janitor with a 2nd grade education and my mother worked 19 hour days sacrificing her physical body until she could no longer walk. My belief in the legacy work I’m tasked to do as their child is a high privilege. They are my first and most prominent teachers in life and story. My mission is to always center and tell stories like theirs as victors, people whose stories are indicative of extreme resilience and regal Indigenous knowledge.
"The revolution isn't just running out with a gun, it's the arts as well. And if a film I make causes Maori people to feel stronger about themselves, I'm achieving something worthwhile for the revolution." -Merata Mita
Jean Melesaine is a Director, Photographer, and Storyteller who was mentored as a formerly incarcerated teen from community members at Silicon Valley De-Bug-a story-telling, community organizing, and advocacy organization. De-Bug hired her upon release, changing the trajectory of her life by putting a camera in her hand and the strong teaching of community protecting each other. Jean has a degree from the school of the hard knocks and recently graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts in the Television/Film & Production program. She is currently writing an episodic series based on the individual lives of working poor Polynesians in the Bay Area. She is a proud aunty and daughter of immigrant Samoans. Her mother, Sopo Masina Matai'a migrated from her village of Moamoa, Samoa to San Francisco and her father Moaseni Tito Leasiolagi migrated to Oakland from his village Salani Faleali’li in the Atua District of Samoa.