Professor Shimizu's 'The Celine Archive' Screens at CAAMFest

ASIAN JOURNAL (SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO) -- In “The Celine Archive,” Shimizu, a professor at the San Francisco State University School of Cinema, recasts the so-called ghost story of Celine Navarro into a tragedy of a feminist heroine. Navarro was a 28-year-old Filipino American mother buried alive in Contra Costa County in 1932, as told through archival documents and news clippings, audio recordings and new interviews with surviving family members — including Navarro’s 93-year-old daughter — as well as scholars and community members. They reveal that Navarro was an outspoken feminist; she once testified in court against four men accused of beating a woman. “The Celine Archive” also illustrates how making the film has helped Shimizu cope with the 2013 death of her own 8-year-old son.