Rebels With A Cause Contributors

Kelly+Yamamoto Productions
Nancy Kelly, Writer, Producer, Director and Kenji Yamamoto, Producer, Editor

Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto made Smitten, a documentary thatenters the world of Napa Valley’s Rene di Rosa, an unusual art collector whose goal is neither about interior decorating nor increasing social status, but about the pure joy of discovery. Smitten was made in partnership with KRCB public television with support from ITVS and the Fleishhacker Foundation. Smitten won several film festival awards and has aired repeatedly as a PBS Primetime Special. In 2009, Smittenwill launch on iTunes.

Nancy and Kenji made the hour-long documentary, Downside UP, which aired on the PBS Independent Lens series. Downside UPis a first-person story about America’s largest museum of contemporary art (MASS MoCA), which opened in the abandoned Massachusetts factory where Kelly’s grandparents and parents once worked. Downside UP explores whether something as ephemeral as contemporary art can breathe life into a dying city.

Nancy and Kenji also made the critically acclaimed American Playhouse Theatrical film Thousand Pieces of Gold, which showed at many international film festivals and was theatrically released in the US and Europe. It aired on the PBS American Playhouse series, was broadcast worldwide, and is on Netflix. Nancy also produced and directed the documentaries Cowgirls: Portraits of American Ranch Women; A Cowhand's Song: Crisis on the Range; and Sweeping Ocean Views.

Kenji has edited a number of documentaries, including: New Muslim Cool, produced and directed by Jennifer Taylor; Immigration Calculations, a KQED production produced by Jennifer Taylor and Sheraz Sadiq; the DVD extras for the HBO series Deadwood, produced and directed byDavid Schwarz; and Thirst,anhour-long documentary that aired on the PBS P.O.V. series, produced and directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman.

The Team

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