Yoel Iskindir shares about his upbringing in Marin County and what inspired him to pursue a film career.
My family escaped war and famine in East Africa in the 1980s, raising my sister and me to believe that, as first-generation Americans, we had a responsibility to reshape our future. But the world already had a story for people like us. Growing up, you didn’t see Black people on TV running for office. You saw mugshots. You saw athletes or entertainers, rarely scholars, leaders or storytellers. That absence motivated me to become a filmmaker: to amplify underrepresented voices and reclaim the narrative that shape how we see ourselves.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I spent much of my childhood in Marin, one of the wealthiest counties in California. As a “free lunch kid,” I learned early on what it meant to stand at the crossroads of privilege and exclusion. Beyond the pristine scenery, the disparities were clear. I saw how potential was too often defined by zip code. I often felt a sense of “otherness,” being the only Black student in AP classes or leadership positions. But I learned that my power was in my perspective, not my privilege and that embracing the diversity of my community was a way to speak truth to power.
That experience fueled my path: I became a first-gen college graduate, an educator and a filmmaker. I’ve since produced several award-winning projects and mentored young storytellers from underrepresented backgrounds.
My latest short film is a bilingual coming-of-age story inspired by my community. It follows a low-income Black teen navigating the pressures of an elite school. He feels more tokenized than recognized, searching for a way to speak his truth. The film is a semi-autobiographical reflection of my experiences navigating the space between hardship and privilege. Like its characters, I’ve learned to reshape adversity into insight, guiding how I contribute to my community.