Mind Reels 2023

The Secret Song is a touching and endearing film offering an immersive view into the final chapter in Doug Goodkin’s 45-year career teaching music to children in San Francisco. In what could have been a celebratory victory lap, the veteran teacher finds his efforts to instill a sense of belonging interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. When their classrooms are shuttered, Goodkin and his students must surmount new adversities and find a way to keep the music playing and the learning going.

An immersive documentary illuminating the triumphant power of music as a tight-knit school community must find new ways to connect, learn and perform during one unforgettable and historic school year in San Francisco.

Samantha Campbell, Director

Samantha is a filmmaker and an environmental advocate. She is the president of The Campbell Foundation, an organization committed to the protection of our natural resources, and a trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Her work is devoted to pursuing and advancing projects that lift up stories of human achievement, the environment, community, and the arts. Samantha lives in San Francisco, California with her two children. She will enthusiastically join any singalong. THE SECRET SONG is her feature film directorial debut.

Doug Goodkin, Educator

Teaching children and adults in some 45 countries for some 45 years, Doug Goodkin is an internationally recognized teacher of Orff Schulwerk. In addition to his long tenure teaching children at The San Francisco School, Doug is the director of the San Francisco International Orff Course, the founder of the Jazz/ Orff Course, Doug Goodkin & the Pentatonics Jazz Band, Pentatonic Press, the SF School Intern Program and a frequent guest teacher at The Orff Institute in Salzburg and in the Orff-Afrique Course in Ghana. He writes a daily blog Confessions of a Traveling Music Teacher and is the author of ten books (most recently Teach Like It’s Music). Doug received the Pro Merito Award from the Orff Foundation in Munich in 2000 and the AOSA Distinguished Service Award in 2018.

Children of the Mist traces the story of Di, a 13-year-old girl coming of age in an indigenous Hmong community in the mountains of Northwest Vietnam. As part of the first generation in her village with access to formal education, Di navigates the cultural and social challenges faced by young girls in her community while balancing inherited tradition with change. Shortlisted, 95th Academy Awards®.

Olga Murray, Founder, Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF)

Nepal Youth Foundation is a non-profit organization that has provided over 60,000 children and families in Nepal with access to high-quality education, health, shelter and freedom for more than thirty years. From 2000-2014, the foundation’s Empowering Freed Kamlaris/Indentured Daughters program worked to combat the entrenched practice of kamlari through which girls as young as five were sold by their families into indentured servitude. By 2013, when Nepal’s legislature abolished the practice by name, NYF had rescued 12,932 young women and girls from Kamlari bondage. Olga and the Foundation continue work in many areas with the newest focus on working with Nepal’s Dalit community (formerly known as the “untouchable” caste) providing law school scholarships to the talented students, both young women and young men.

Shoun Thao, Executive Director, Hmong Youth and Parents United

Shoun holds a dual Bachelor of Arts in History and Chinese from the University of California, Davis. He has studied abroad in China and Taiwan and has coordinated international missions between UC Davis and Sacramento to Laos, Vietnam, India, and China. Shoun’s has had extensive work in local city government as a Council Representative for Sacramento City Council. His experiences include policy research, constituent affairs, coordination and monitoring the implementation of city events/projects/developments and facilitating communication between council, city staff and the community. Shoun enjoys managing real estate on the side and traveling to learn about different cultures and communities.

Douagee Cheng, Director of Programs, Hmong Youth and Parents United

Douagee is a certified Scrum Master who has strong organizational and communication skills with 10 years of experience in the nonprofit industry, working with age groups ranging from elementary youths to seniors. She is most notably known as a mentor and leader, as Miss Hmong Central Valley 2019, who utilizes both public speaking and presentation skills in leading teams from the Bay Area to Sacramento.

As Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi lead the nation, they travel a path blazed by several women before them, notably Bella Abzug. In 1970, when the United States was ruled by men, Bella challenged the status quo, running a successful campaign from the streets of Manhattan that elevated her all the way to the halls of Congress. With her trademark hat and Bronx swagger, Bella entered Congress swinging, battling for credit cards for women, equality for the LGBTQ community and trailblazing a path for leadership that reflected the broad diversity of the country. But, the most recognizable woman in politics also became the target of a Washington establishment resistant to change.

Kate Colin, Mayor, San Rafael

Kate Colin is the first female to hold the office of Mayor in San Rafael since the city was incorporated in 1847. She joined the San Rafael City Council in January 2013 and was a Planning Commissioner the 8 years before that. She has lived in the Sun Valley neighborhood since 1996 with her husband Jeff where they raised their two children.

In addition to Kate’s role as Mayor of San Rafael, she is the Chair of the San Rafael Sanitation Agency. She also represents San Rafael on several regional boards. She is a strong advocate for gun safety and is the only elected city official consistently participating in the Marin County District Attorney’s Gun Safety Collaborative. Mayor Kate also engages with Mayors across the United States and is a member of the Climate Mayors, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Mayors for Guaranteed Income.