CAST

RHACEL SALAZAR PARREÑAS

Rhacel Salazar Parreñas is the Doris Stevens Professor in Women’s Studies and Professor of Sociology and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University. A scholar of gender, migration, labor, and economic sociology, she is the author of five books, including Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States, winner of the 2023 Distinguished Scholarly Book Award from the American Sociological Association, and The Trafficker Next Door (2025). She received the 2019 Jessie Bernard Award, the discipline’s highest honor for a gender scholar. She received her Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

JUNO PARREÑAS

Juno Salazar Parreñas is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. An ethnographer working at the intersections of human-animal relations, decolonization, and environmental justice, she is the author of Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in Orangutan Rehabilitation (Duke, 2018), winner of the 2019 Michelle Rosaldo Prize from the Association for Feminist Anthropology. In 2013, she won the highest prize for an article in the General Anthropology Division of the flagship organization in her field. She received her Ph.D. from Anthropology at Harvard.

CELINE PARREÑAS SHIMIZU

See Director, below.

CREW

CELINE PARREÑAS SHIMIZU
Writer, Director, Producer

Celine Parreñas Shimizu is Dean and Distinguished Professor of Theater, Film, and Television at UCLA. She is the author of four books on race, sexuality, and media representation, including The Movies of Racial Childhoods (Duke, 2024), winner of the Association for Asian American Studies’ top prize in Media, Performance, and Visual Studies in 2026. Her prior films — The Celine Archive (2020), 80 Years Later (2022), and So To Speak (2025) — have screened at more than 70 festivals combined and won over 30 awards. She holds a Ph.D. from Stanford and an M.F.A. from UCLA Theater, Film and Television.

DAN SHIMIZU
Executive Producer

Dan Shimizu is an electrical engineer and Chief Architect of the graphics chips inside some of the world’s leading video game hardware systems, and currently designs independent video games. He produced Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s The Celine Archive (2020) and 80 Years Later (2022), and is, with Celine and Bayan Shimizu, a principal of the Lakas Shimizu Philanthropy Fund.

KEVIN NOLTING
Executive Producer

Kevin Nolting spent 22 years as an editor at Pixar Animation Studios, cutting Up, Inside Out, and Soul, and contributing to Finding Nemo and WALL·E. A UC Santa Cruz alumnus, he now teaches the next generation of filmmakers and in 2024 founded Slug 48, a 48-hour filmmaking event at UCSC.

JANET CHEN MA
Producer

Janet Chen (Ma) (she/her) is a film and multimedia director, producer, and educator. Her creative work has won awards nationally and been featured internationally, and her collaborations have earned Emmy and Webby nominations. She produced Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s So To Speak (2025), and was on the producing team for 80 Years Later (2022). Janet holds a M.F.A. in Social Documentation, Film & Digital Media from UCSC, and has taught at UCLA, UCI and community programs. She was the founding manager and steering committee member of A-Doc (Asian American Documentary Network), and is a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

EBEN PORTNOY
Editor

Eben Portnoy is a filmmaker and musician based in Los Angeles and Wellfleet, MA. He holds an M.F.A. in Directing from UCLA (2014). As a documentary editor he has worked with filmmakers including Renee Tajima-Peña and Celine Parreñas Shimizu, cutting 80 Years Later. His short films have found support from the Sloan Science Foundation, the Mary Pickford Foundation, and Google Creative Collective.

PAULINE M.
Co-Producer and Design & Marketing

Pauline is a graphic and website designer who has created marketing materials and web presence for Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s films.

CINEMATOGRAPHY / SOUND

RYAN MARRA AND RITCHIE PAUL FELLIZAR
Philippines

Ryan Marra has been a cinematographer since 2011, and began his journey in wedding filmmaking and same-day edit productions across the Philippines. Today, he works in the Presidential Communication Offices as a Presidential Close-In Videographer at Malacañang Palace and an ASEAN Videographer, capturing significant moments in government, diplomacy, and history through his lens.

Ritchie Paul Fellizar is a Filipino visual storyteller and the creative force behind EyeShotFilms. His journey in videography and filmmaking is driven by a passion for capturing meaningful moments and transforming them into compelling visual stories. With a focus on weddings, birthdays, and special events, he brings creativity and dedication to every production, preserving precious memories through the art of cinematography.

RAFAEL ROY AND KELIN VERRETTE
East Coast

Rafael Roy and Kelin Verrette are an Oscar-nominated documentary team specializing in cinema vérité and observational filmmaking. They create heartfelt films from concept to color grade. Since 2018, they've been traveling the country filming compelling stories for Nat Geo, MTV Docs, HBO Max, Discovery+ and PBS Frontline.

MING LAI AND TUAN TRAN
Los Angeles

Ming Lai is a filmmaker and photographer. His narrative and documentary films explore the human condition, from social issues to arts and culture. He's created TV commercials and videos for many international clients, including Coldwell Banker, Epson, Fujitsu, Marukome, and Yakult. His fine art and documentary photography express his artistic vision. With all of his projects, he strives to create enduring works of art that benefit humanity.

Tuan Tran is a director of photography and photographer. He has more than 25 years of experience in photography and 15 years of experience in videography. He’s worked on a wide range of industries, from high tech to fashion to beverages. His clients include Butter London, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Dell, Juicy, Munchkin, Pelican, and Wells Fargo, Hyatt and City of Hope.

ROSA SUNGJOO PARK
Sound Design, Mix, and Re-Recording

Rosa Sungjoo Park is a sound artist whose research centers on psychoacoustics, computer music, digital and mixed media, and sonification. Her practice and performance are deeply rooted in her cultural identity, memory, and religion, producing work that engages Korean traditional ritual, acoustic memory, and the nature of life and death. She designed, mixed, and re-recorded sound for 80 Years Later and So To Speak.

THEO GONZALVES
Composer

Theo Gonzalves is a composer and musician who co-founded the artist-run label Jeepney Dash Records and toured internationally as musical director for the theater troupe tongue in A mood. His scoring work has been featured at the Asian American Jazz Festival and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and his anthology of kulintang music, Kulintang Kultura, was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. He composed the score for 80 Years Later, and returns for PIRANHA SISTERS with both new compositions and cues reworked from that earlier collaboration. He has collaborated with Celine Parreñas Shimizu for more than thirty years as her film composer. 

MERILOU SALAZAR
Original Song

Merilou Salazar is a musician and music product designer. She volunteers with Girls Rock, supporting the next generation of young women musicians. She composed an original closing song for PIRANHA SISTERS.

JAZMINE NOGUERA
Marketing & Social Media Coordinator

Jazmine Noguera (she/hers) is a recent UCSC cum laude honors graduate with a B.A. in Film and Digital Media. She is passionate about illustrating moments through vibrant doodles, animations, and designs; creating media inspired by pop culture, anime, video games, and her childhood toys. As an undergraduate, she interned for Celine Parreñas Shimizu, former UCSC Dean of Arts, as her Distribution and Marketing Research Assistant, conducting film festival research and social media management for So To Speak (2025). Jazmine held a variety of roles on the project, including the portrayal of STUDENT FIVE and behind-the-scenes photographer.