“Hot Side Story” is a short musical video inspired by West Side Story’s tale of two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, which parallels the ethnic and cultural diversity within American society and its struggle for acceptance. However, before any sort of tragedy can happen as it did in West Side Story, in “Hot Side Story,” the two sides of Sriracha/Tapatio (spicy) and Heinz Ketchup/French’s Mustard (non-spicy) find a way of reconciliation by joining their powers to create harmony and variety with a spicy BBQ sauce. I wanted to show the strength in collaboration of seemingly different entities, as no one person is a success on their own but need the help of others in a community to realize change for the better. Music: "Bernstein Climax," "Dancing Gangsters," "West Side Story Orchestral Jazz" by Matthew Reid, Courtesy of AudioSparx.com Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statue that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. BIOGRAPHY: YOSHIE SAKAI Lives and works in Los Angeles, California www.yoshiesakai.com Born in Torrance, California. 1994: BA in Communication Studies/Ancient Greek & Latin from UCLA. 2004: BFA in Drawing and Painting from California State University, Long Beach. 2009: MFA in Painting and Video Installation from Claremont Graduate University. Yoshie is a multidisciplinary artist (video, sculpture, installation, and performance) whose work creates an uneasy environment that embodies her love-hate relationship with pop culture, as she uses humor to tackle anxiety about defining herself positively within the idealistic world created by the mass media. More recently, her work challenges the myth of the “model minority” to reveal the complexities that lie underneath the guise of superficial “perfection” of being both Asian-American and a woman in society. Yoshie attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014 and most recently is a Smack Mellon 2015 Hot Pick. She is also the recipient of the 2012 California Community Foundation for Visual Artists Emerging Artist Fellowship. Her work has been shown throughout the United States in film festivals and art exhibitions from Los Angeles to Miami, as well as internationally in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Victoria, BC, Canada. SCREENINGS AND FILM FESTIVALS: 2015 The Situation Room Opening Video Screening, The Situation Room, Los Angeles, California 2014 Antimatter [media art] Film Festival No. 17, Open Space Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada 2014 Videotag, thinhstudio, Hawthorne, California 2014 BYOBeamer, March 7, 2014, Common LBAC, Long Beach, California 2013 Open Video Night, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, California 2013 Backyard Video Festival, 1924 Landis Street, Burbank, California 2011 Antimatter Film Festival No. 14, Open Space Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada 2011 2nd Fridays Summer Film Series: July 8, 2011, Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, California 2010 ARKUFF (Arkansas Underground Film Festival), Malco Theatre Complex, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas 2009 Antimatter Film Festival No. 12, Open Space Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada 2009 Assume Nothing: New Social Practice, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada 2008 A B(o)MB Artoconecto Exhibition 2008, The Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, Florida 2008 Hollywould…Freewaves 11th Festival of Experimental Media Arts, On Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California 2008 Antimatter Film Festival No. 11, Open Space Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada 2008 Bearded Child Film Festival, Myles Reif Performing Arts Center, Grand Rapids and Minneapolis, Minnesota 2007 Antimatter Underground Film Festival No. 10, Open Space Arts Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada