During Holton's Reunion Weekend, Filmmaker Eli Kimaro '89 shared her award-winning film A Lot Like You with Holton's community. A Lot Like You is a film that came out of Kimaro's curiosity to learn more about her father's unknown Tanzanian culture, which was different from her mother's familiar Korean culture. The film takes the viewer on an exploratory journey of Kimaro's ancestry, which surprisingly leads to a disturbing discovery in her father's culture involving forced marriages, kidnappings, and female genital mutilation of women in Chagga society. This shocking reveal of her culture brings to light past family secrets and begins a healing process for not only her, but for her entire family.
Kimaro shared her own period of awakening and the process it took for her to create this film. Her process of "unpacking her culture" help her to see the full history of her family and navigate all of the contradictions she continuously faced in her life. Kimaro then encouraged Holton students to share their own personal stories because personal stories shift the course of important conversations.
For Kimaro, her love of writing and telling stories began during her early days at Holton in Sally Alexander's English class. Kimaro graciously told Mrs. Alexander, who attended the film screening, "I am, who I am, because of you Sally Alexander," and credited Mrs. Alexander for helping her realize her own complex personal story. At the end of her discussion, Kimaro linked her personal life with Holton's motto, "Seriously, you guys—I will find a way or make one. I know you already know this because you are smarter than I am right now, but you cannot imagine how much of my life and this film journey has been governed by that motto. No one was waiting for me to tell this story, but I just had to find a way to make it happen [...] that motto will help your persevere."
Thank you Eli for sharing your perspective with our community and you can find out more information on where to see the film A Lot Like You here.
Left: Eli Kimaro '89 with former English teacher, Sally Alexander '51. Right: Eli with Vassilisa Johri '89 (far right) and Mimi Chouikha '16 (center).