Celebrating Queer Joy — with Brandon Yan

In this episode of Below the Radar, Brandon Yan, the executive director of Out on Screen, joins producers Fiorella Pinillos and Paige Smith to discuss his work in film education dialogue and fostering inclusive spaces for youth. Brandon speaks to supporting queer and trans youth in schools by bringing queer joy into classrooms, working collaboratively to push forward policy change, and reimagining the future of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Brandon also shares his path of embracing his identity as a queer, mixed-race person, and his experience running for city council in Vancouver. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/96-brandon-yan.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/96-brandon-yan.html Resources — Out on Screen: https://outonscreen.com/ — Vancouver Queer Film Festival: https://queerfilmfestival.ca/ — CBC article - I'm working to unlearn the racism I internalized as a biracial kid: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/unlearning-internalized-racism-1.5677387 — Study: “A Media-Based School Intervention to Reduce Sexual Orientation Prejudice…”: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/11/2447 Bio: Brandon (he/him) has collaborated with the Ministry of Education, BC Teachers' Federation, UBC Faculty of Education, and the ARC Foundation to address the needs of LGBT2Q+ youth through policies and practices that foster inclusive and more supportive school environments. Growing up as a mixed-race queer kid in Langley, he never saw role models who looked like him on TV or in film, and if he did they were never queer. If they were queer, they were never Asian. Brandon understands that representation of diverse and complex intersecting identities is important, and it is this conviction and his experience as an activist, advocate, and educator that led him to run for Vancouver city council in 2018. Though he didn't win, it brought forward important conversations on representation, race, sexuality, and politics. He is currently the Executive Director of Out On Screen, which produces the Vancouver Queer Film Festival and the Out In Schools program. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Pinillos, Fiorella, and Smith, Paige. “Celebrating Queer Joy — with Brandon Yan.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, December 14, 2020. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/96-brandon-yan.html.