About Kelly+Yamamoto Productions
For more than twenty-five years, independent filmmakers Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto have been making critically-acclaimed films that have screened in theaters, film festivals, museums, and communities worldwide and aired on PBS, Showtime, Sundance, and Britain’s Channel Four, (among others). Their filmmaking philosophy is to take alternative looks at stories, themes and characters and to tell specific stories from which audiences can generalize universal truths.
Their work includes a documentary trilogy about the transformative power of art: Downside UP, Smitten, and Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives. They explored the roles of women and minorities in the American West in Thousand Pieces of Gold and Cowgirls: Portraits of American Ranch Women. Their documentary Rebels with a Cause illuminates the power of ordinary people to change their world.
Nancy and Kenji attended the Sundance June Lab with their narrative feature Thousand Pieces of Gold Kenji attended the Sundance Documentary Lab as the editor of New Muslim Cool with producer/director Jennifer Maytorena Taylor.
Nancy’s and Kenji’s films have been funded by the Ford Foundation, PBS American Playhouse, MacArthur Foundation, ITVS, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Endowment for the Arts, Gerbode Foundation, Driehaus Foundation, Columbia Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Woods Fund of Chicago, LEF, Pacific Pioneer Fund, and many others.
Who We Are
NANCY KELLY
Writer/ Director/ Producer
Nancy Kelly is an independent filmmaker, working in documentary and narrative film. With Kenji Yamamoto, she made Rebels with a Cause, Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress, Frances McDormand, Rebels with a Cause is about ordinary citizens who banded together to protect and preserve open spaces near urban areas for parks and farms from rampant development. Rebels aired on public television through American Public Television. Prior to Rebels, she created a documentary trilogy about the transformative power of art. Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives which aired on the PBS America ReFramed series. Smitten which aired as a PBS Primetime Special, where 100% of PBS stations aired it. Downside UP which aired on the PBS Independent Lens series and internationally on the series True Stories: Life in the USA. She directed and produced a trilogy of films that take an alternative view of the American West, including the narrative film Thousand Pieces of Gold, starring Rosalind Chao and Chris Cooper.
Nancy is a self-taught filmmaker. She was a fellow at the Sundance Institute Directors Lab; at the Banff Centre for the Arts; and at the Bay Area Video Coalition MediaMaker program. She is a member of New Day Films.
Nancy is available to consult on many aspects of filmmaking.
KENJI YAMAMOTO
Producer, Director, Editor
Kenji Yamamoto has been editing and producing documentary and narrative films for over 30 years, winning numerous awards. As part of Kelly+Yamamoto Productions, he edited and produced the 1991 narrative feature Thousand Pieces of Gold, which participated in the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Lab and went on to premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Additionally, Goldscreened at the Deauville Festival of American Film, and the international film festivals in London, Moscow, Vancouver, and Seattle. Gold then aired on the PBS American Playhouse series, on Channel Four in the U.K., and around the world.
Kenji produced and edited the acclaimed documentaries Downside UP, Smitten, Trust: Second Acts in Young Lives, and Rebels with a Cause. When it premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Rebels won an audience favorite award. Downside UP aired nationally on the PBS Independent Lens series; Smitten aired nationally as a PBS Primetime Special; Trust aired nationally on the PBS World America ReFramed series; and Rebels aired nationally on PBS through American Public Television.
Independently of Kelly+Yamamoto Productions, Kenji edited the documentary New Muslim Cool, which participated in the Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab. Cool follows Hamza Perez, a Puerto Rican immigrant, hip hop artist, single father, and former drug dealer down on his luck. He rebuilds his shattered life by becoming a Muslim and takes his newfound message to youth in his rough neighborhood. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. Cool premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, won the Freedom Award at the Al Jazeera International Film Festival, and aired nationally on the PBS P.O.V. series.
Kenji also edited the documentary States of Grace which received audience favorite awards at the Mill Valley, Napa Valley, and Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals. Grace tells the story of a revered physician who struggles with her injuries after surviving a near-fatal head-on collision on the Golden Gate Bridge. In her radically altered life, she embarks on a journey of loss, resilience, and renewal.
Kenji studied painting and experimental filmmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. He also studied at the Jean Shelton School for Actors and Judith Weston Studio for Actors and Directors.