My vision for Nailed It changed over the course of production. What I didn’t expect was the effect exploring the history of the Vietnamese nail salon would have on me. As a mixed race, second generation Vietnamese-American woman, there was always a disconnect from my culture, which I inadvertently found a place within by documenting the definitive history of the Vietnamese nail salon. Through my 10+ years in the industry I have experience in all aspects of documentary film production. Activism is a part of my practice, and my next feature documentary chronicles hate crimes in Oregon, where two years before America was plunged into Civil War, Oregon was founded to enshrine the institution of white supremacy. Despite this, Oregon is thought of as a liberal blue state. Using the 2016 murder of Larnell Bruce Jr. by a white supremacist as a narrative touchstone, 150 years of legalized racial violence is revealed. The State of Oregon short was released by Field of Vision and Firelight Media: facebook.com/FieldofVisionUnit/videos/934227830048581, and gives a taste of the feature film, currently in production.
Email: adelepham@gmail.com.
Email: adelepham@gmail.com.
Editor Jessica Windt loves the entire news and documentary process from finding the story to putting it together in the edit room. For the past four years she’s been producing and editing reports for the PBS NewsHour about public education in America. Her passion for video storytelling was discovered while interning with longtime documentary filmmaker Roger Weisberg. Since then she’s been dedicated to work that informs public policy and the understanding of the human experience. “Resilience” an award winning feature documentary about the impact of international adoption; “Rebirth: New Orleans” chronicles the rebuilding of New Orleans’ public school system after Hurricane Katrina; and “The Prep School Negro”, a feature documentary directed by Andre Robert Lee where she first met “Nailed It” director Adele Pham in the edit room, explores race and class within the privileged Prep School environment, aired nationally on PBS in 2013.
Co-Producer, Kelvin Saint Pham, is the creator and producer of VietNAIL.TV, the first Vietnamese nail TV show dedicated to elevating the Vietnamese-American nail community. He has been in the nail industry for 20 years and is a well-known nail professional, salon owner, educator, and consultant. He is also owner and operator of St. K Nail Salon in Los Angeles, CA, which he founded in 1992. Kelvin has traveled the world teaching and sharing his passion for the nail industry to other nail professionals.
Consulting Editor Lewis Erskine is an Emmy Award winning editor with many years of experience and outstanding documentary films to his credits, including American Experience: Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till, Ken Burns’ Jazz, and most recently Ken Burns’ Jackie Robinson. He is currently teaching editing at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and actively advising filmmaker Adele Pham on her feature length edit of Nailed It.