Coven Film Festival / Seattle Asian American Film Festival 2019 – Please Translate
Please Translate explores how language divides but eventually bridges the relationship between a mother, Wang Yu and her daughter, Mei Lan. In a film about sacrifice, hardships and ultimately a mother's love, Mei Lan comes to realize how special their bond truly is.
Interview with Writer/Director Kelsy Lua
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I knew that I wanted to make a film about a mother-daughter relationship. Growing up, I always had a special connection with my mother who had, and still continues, to sacrifice a lot for me. She has overcome extreme hardships in her life, and I am deeply grateful for it. Oftentimes, I feel that children don't realize how much their parents have provided for them, and in turn, take many things for granted. This is what inspired me to tell a story that can help our audience understand the challenges that parents face when raising a child and the importance of appreciation – especially for single parents.
Drawing inspiration from my own personal experience, I came to the U.S during my undergrad because I knew that America could provide me with many opportunities to advance in both my career and life. There were some very difficult moments that I experienced being in a new environment and an entirely different culture. I knew that it probably wasn’t going to be easy for immigrants to establish their lives in a foreign country, which was why I felt the need to tell the story about immigrants who do the best they can to obtain a better life for their families’ future. I wanted to portray the experiences they go through in America.
In this film, I wanted to connect these two themes together and came up with a story about an immigrant Chinese mother and her American-born daughter. Their language barrier acts as a source of friction that keeps them apart, but also ends up being a catalyst to bring them closer together.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film explores the complicated relationship between a parent and child. Sometimes, there are cultural and generational differences between parents and their children. The film explores the idea that even though language may divide them, a common problem found within immigrant families. Language can also bridge the relationships when a basic understanding can be reached. It explores the conflict between learning to adjust to a new culture and language while raising a child in America. Please Translate is a film about sacrifice, hardships, and ultimately a mother's love.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
It touches upon themes of language, cultural, and generational differences, all of which have universal applicability. In today’s age of globalization, it’s easier than ever for people to move from one country, to the next in search of a better life. Immigration is a very common process, which means that many people require a level of support and understanding in order to ease into the new society that they’ve moved to.
It also touches upon the themes of sacrifices, appreciation, as well as the universal theme of the difficulties of parenting. For many immigrant parents, it can be difficult to raise their children when they’re unable to use the same language. It can sometimes be very hard to find a good paying job when linguistic barriers are in the way. In turn, the inability to find better work, limits an immigrant parent’s ability to earn more to provide for their families.
I hoped to capture these themes and explore them through the telling of a personal mother-daughter relationship.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We wanted to keep to a maximum runtime of 5 minutes, so we had to cut many scenes of our script out. The script and film were originally much longer than what was shown in the final cut. It’s always a difficult process to determine what needs to be cut and what filmed moments we should keep in the final product.
It can be very hard sometimes to let go of those moments. The editing process is a very necessary one, as it helps remove any redundant scenes or keeps the film from dragging. In the end, we are happy with the final cut of our short film.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
This film was shared at a private screening at the Adult Learning Center in Santa Paula (CA) library. The audience consisted primarily of a group of former educators. There were also some audience members who were themselves the children of immigrant parents. They all loved the film and responded very positively. “Impactful” was a term that was often used to describe the project. One of the audience members had told us that she really resonated with the film. She explained that her father has worked hard at becoming bilingual, but her mother was held back by linguistic differences, preferring to use Spanish. This particular audience member said that it was very frustrating for her to have to translate for her mom, when she herself is English-dominant, preferring to speak in English.
I also received some great feedback from an Asian-Canadian viewer. She said, “I felt an instant connection when I watched this short film. Not only was it wonderfully directed, but the story was so compelling, even its short form. As the first-born Canadian daughter of Chinese immigrants, I saw so much of myself in the daughter’s character. I didn’t grow up with an appreciation for my mother tongue or for the Chinese culture. I remember being rather distant with my parents because I often felt like they didn’t understand my point of view. I now realize that they were trying to understand me just as much as I was trying to understand them. This film offers its audience a good reminder that language can work both ways, and it takes understanding and patience on both sides to support one another.”
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback was a wonderful surprise to me. It became very clear that this story not only resonates with Chinese immigrants, but also seems to be a universal problem experienced by other immigrant groups. I think this film can help a lot of parents keep up with their children, earn their respect, and learn to navigate the new world they that live in.
Oftentimes, immigrant parents have a hard time raising their children in America because of the cultural barriers. Many children of immigrants who are raised in America don’t feel the need to keep up with the culture that their parents were used to, which often leads to further divide when it comes to identity.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
This film has touched and moved many audiences and has encouraged me to tell more stories about the complexity of human experiences and conflicts that speak to worldwide audiences. I hope this film can reach as many people as possible so that more people can share their own experiences, and maybe even find better ways to assist those who may feel a little lost or out of sorts when it comes to their struggles with language.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Producers, film festival directors, and journalists will really be helpful to amplify the film’s message by spreading the word about this project. I’d be grateful for journalists to come on board, as I believe it is important to educate people who don’t understand what it’s like for immigrants to build their lives in America, and also allow both the immigrant parents and first generation children to resonate with this type of situation.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
This film puts us in both the daughter and mother’s perspective. From the mom’s subtle looks of discouragement, or the daughter’s frustration with her mom who doesn’t want to be fully American, portrays something more complex just beneath surface understanding.
I hope this film can challenge people about how they think about their relationships that they have with their parents who have sacrificed a lot in order to provide a better future for them, whether it is with immigrant parents or not. I also hope this can help people understand the many struggles that immigrants face in a foreign country. I hope other people will be able to put themselves in the shoes of an adult learner, immigrant or not.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How will you find the balance between the generational and cultural gap between parent and child?
Why do you think some immigrants don’t try to learn the language spoken in the country they build their life in? Although there is no one correct answer, I hope the film will help to initiate respectful and well-thought out conversations.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently editing a documentary about our school campus gynecologist who sexually assaulted hundreds of patients while working at our health center. The news story just came out last year, despite the fact that he’d been working full time on campus for over 20 years. I am looking forward to sharing this story and empowering people to speak up against these types of abuse that often fly under the radar due to inaction, misinformation, and overall fear. I hope this film can make a change.
Interview: February 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Please Translate
Please Translate explores how language divides but eventually bridges the relationship between a mother, Wang Yu and her daughter, Mei Lan. In a film about sacrifice, hardships and ultimately a mother's love, Mei Lan comes to realize how special their bond truly is.
Length: 6:00
Director: Kelsy Lua
Producer: Anabel Iñigo
Writer: Kelsy Lua
About the writer, director and producer:
KELSY LUA, a Filipino-Chinese filmmaker, is currently pursuing a Master's degree from the University of Southern California in Film and Television Production. Kelsy's short documentary, Gawilan, won the 2nd-runner up award at the Istorya ng Pag-asa film festival in Manila, Philippines. Kelsy takes every opportunity to collaborate creatively while she strives to make films that tackle the complexity of human experiences, cultural divides, and conflicts that speak to both Asian and Western audiences.
Key cast: Yin Yin Liow (Wang Yu), Sue Zen Chew (Mei Lan)
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors
Facebook: Kelsy Lua
Twitter: @kelsylua
Instagram: @kelslua
Website: kelsylua.com
Other: IMDB
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Coven Film Festival/ San Francisco- February 9, 2019, Seattle Asian American Film Festival/Seattle- February 23, 2019, Holly Shorts Monthly Screening/California- Mar 29, 2019