Dean Yamada

Dean Yamada, after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities/Theater from the University of Southern California, soon found himself in the countryside of Japan, teaching English in a town of seven thousand people. An avid traveler, he left Japan for Hong Kong, where he began a slow journey by train to China, Mongolia, Russia and Western Europe. After returning to the states, he moved to Lake Tahoe, where he taught children how to ski at Alpine Meadows and snowboarded daily. It was during this odyssey that Dean realized filmmaking was his true passion. He subsequently returned to LA and enrolled in the MFA production program at USC.

Dean has worked as a production coordinator/assistant Avid editor for a company that produced shows for the History Channel and A&E. He produced not black or white, a documentary about established Asian American women in the media who refuse to portray geishas and dragon ladies. He also produced and edited the award-winning short, tough girl. His thesis project, The Nisei Farmer, won several awards including the Caucus for Television Producers, Writers and Directors Foundation grant as well as the grand prize for best short film at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Dean also freelances as an editor and recently finished work on "Divorced American," a feature-length documentary by Dr. Michael Gonzales. He loves teaching film at Biola University because it is a community that thrives on sharpening each other creatively and spiritually.

http://www.mcom.biola.edu/aboutus/facultystaff/deanyamada.html