Based on the recent success of the music video, I created a documentary version which would fuse both music video and documentary elements into one form as I had originally intended in the initial stages of the creation of this project. I am very proud and honored to have completed the documentary version of “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” and to have its premiere as an official selection of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and presented at the Asian Arts Initiative where the project first began. To celebrate all the moms who were a very special part of this film as well as the neighboring PhiladelphiaChinatown Community and to premiere the work at the Initiative for PAAFF was always a dream of mine.
It has been a wonderful journey sharing this beautiful piece at various film festivals across the country and I am so proud to bring it home to Philly.
I know that both Taiyo and I hope that you can continue to share both the music video and documentary to all your family and loved ones.
Please celebrate the upcoming holidays with all those that you love and pass this warm message along.
I think there are just some projects that you do in life where all the stars are aligned and the vision for what is created is not only shared by you but by a whole community. This was one of those projects that I will be proud of for the rest of my life.
Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) was a reminder to me of the power of the creative process and that the art of filmmaking at its core and at its very best thrives in a community based process.
This was a key core value to our process. Whenever I talked to Taiyo he would always say, “This is not about me. It’s about the community.”
Working with community can be challenging but I have been doing it for a very long time and I know that part of making a successful process is by having a simple structure that is engaging and where you listen more than you speak and where you can foster and encourage individual voices.
One of the things that we did is we gave an HD camera to individual community members from the Asian Arts Initiative so that they could film their own moms and grandmas from their own point of view as a son or daughter. My direction was simple. Just be. Be with your mom. Be with your grandmother. Film the moment as it is happening. Nothing is too small or mundane. Just be present and real and let the camera and your creativity peel away the layers within.
In the process, these filmmakers with very little training revealed their own moms and grandmas as they truly are showing their love, their strength, their weariness, their laughter, and vulnerability. Nothing was sugar coated. This was the real deal.
The “mom” footage became part of the backbone that has made Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) a special kind of music video. A music video with heart.
Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) has had more than 17,000 viewers with postings on many community blogs and has been very well received at the Los Angles Asian Pacific Film Festival and DisOrient Film Festival in Eugene, Oregon. We have been floored and moved by the response as it continues to garner attention.
It had always been my hope to create a variation of the music video as a short film version and to get it in time for Mothers Day.
Back in the day, when you would go to your mom and pop record shop and purchase a new single sometimes you would have a b-side with a different cut of the song. I always found little surprises and often times found new meaning from the song with the new variation of that single. In some small way I hope that you can find the Mothers Day version of Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) as a variation on that theme. It’s an experiment to fuse documentary and music video together as short film. I had always wanted to figure a way to make it work and I think after months of trying and then giving up I finally found something that I’m really proud of. I think this is a start in the right direction in what I hope will be an exciting ongoing exploration of this form.
The initial release of the music video fell on the Thanksgiving holiday and I only thought it was appropriate to book end that with the final short film release of the Mothers Day version of Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother). (We are a little late of course. But its coming to you Filipino Time!)
I want to give my whole hearted love and thanks to Taiyo Na for taking a chance on me and letting this song touch the lives of so many people from our neighborhoods to the world wide web. I want to give a special shout out to our producer David Lin who has been a long time friend and collaborator from the Peeling the Banana years in NYC and has helped greatly to make this project a reality. I want to also honor and thank Gayle Isa and the Asian Arts Initiative community who have really been the core inspiration and the visual voice for this beautiful song.
Happy belated Mothers Day! May we always honor our mothers each and everyday!
TUESDAY, MAY 4 | TOYOTA PRESENTS: CINEMA MUSICA! | 9:15 PM | DWNTN
TOYOTA PRESENTS: CINEMA MUSICA! TRT: 76 min.
CINEMA MÚSICA returns with a fresh new lineup of music videos! Despite the ability to view music videos in HD or HQ quality on YouTube, isn’t it just so much better (and more fun) to watch them on a big screen where we can truly appreciate the quality of work?
DOWNTOWN INDEPENDENT (DWNTN)
251 South Main St (Between 2nd and 3rd Streets), Little Tokyo, Downtown L.A.
PARKING: 24 hour lot parking behind the theater. (Enter on Spring or Harlem Lane).
We are very proud to bring the Phillylove back to my home town of the City of the Angels with the debut of Taiyo Na‘s Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) at Cinema Musica!
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is one of my favorite film festivals because of its rich diversity in programming and connection to the community as well as the industry. Visual Communications spearheads this event and every year does an amazing job and this festival is only a small part of the extraordinary work they do.
Many thanks to Grace Su for highlighting our little music video:
GRACE SU, aka “Peachies” wears many hats. She is known as a blogger (www.peachies.net), producer, actress, video editor, and avid APA arts supporter. She has been involved with VC since 2005 (beginning with Armed With a Camera) and has curated the music video program for four years in a row.
Unfortunately, I’m stuck in Philly and can not attend but my mom will be in the audience during the screening.
In honor of Mother’s Day, I say, “Thanks Mom! I love you.”
We are honored to have the music video of Taiyo Na’sLovely to Me (Immigrant Mother) opening and closing the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival. The festival is quite unique not only to Eugene, Oregon but around the country. DisOrient is a social justice film festival focusing on films that transform and redefine the meaning of Asians in America by bringing to the screen films that create change in our communities. We are very proud to be sharing the festival with many filmmakers that I admire and know including Masahiro Sugano with his film Second Moon.
Whether your Asian or not these films are universally inspiring and I know Taiyo and the Asian Arts Initiative community are thrilled and humbled to be part of the opening and closing of this festival. We hope those local to the Eugene, Oregon area can catch our film on the big screen. To catch the final showing of “Lovely to Me (Immigrant Mother)” go to the DisOrient Film Schedule.
