Pippi
A mother and daughter grapple with their racial self-hatred through their love of Pippi Longstocking.
Interview with Director/Producer Mia Walker and Writer/Producer/Actor Karoline
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
KAROLINE: When I wrote the script, I asked myself: what is the scariest thing I could see on screen that I haven't seen yet? I wanted to delve into the racial self-hatred that I, and many other Asians, have been experiencing for a long time. There were other factors, including sociopolitical reckonings in Sweden at the time, but this question was a driving force.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
MIA: I believe that the job of the artist is to expose, and with exposing, can come feelings of pain, defensiveness, anger and unsettledness. Overall, I hope the audience walks away with a feeling of discomfort and reckoning, and I hope they choose to stay there rather than escape it. For folks who may identify more personally with the film, I hope they feel less isolated and alone in their experience.
KAROLINE: Give it 30 seconds. The film has an incredible opening shot - something viewers rave about. Then, you’re hooked.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Our film holds the tension of both the personal and the universal. We explore the macro issues of identity and childhood with a micro lens.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The script initially was set in a classroom, and when the pandemic hit before we were going into production we had to pivot and re-imagine it on a playground. It ended up being a nice artistic touch!
What type of feedback have you received so far?
KAROLINE: As we’ve worked on Pippi, we’ve realized that our film can do more than “raise awareness.” There’s too much theoretical understanding of something as intimate and visceral as racism. I am more interested in implication, denial and unease. During a test showing, a viewer exclaimed that she got goosebumps, and I thought, “Yes! That’s it!”
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
MIA: In some ways yes, in other ways no. I always had a sense, from first reading the script, that it may stir different things up for different people.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We appreciate any opportunity for the film to be more visible and seen by more people. We would love to connect with producers and financiers as we are developing a feature.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
All of the above! We want people to be talking about this film.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We do not have a prescribed sense of impact or reception. We just set out to make it and bring it into the world. We hope it continues to resonate, as it has been so far.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
MIA: How far will we go to erase parts of ourselves?
KAROLINE: Does this film feel like a horror or a comedy?
Note: Horror is a genre we are both interested in as filmmakers, but we did not want to prescribe a genre to the film.
Would you like to add anything else?
You can see BTS photos, our press kit, and read more about the film at pippithemovie.com!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We are developing a feature, as well as several TV projects. For more info, check out miapwalker.com and onlykaroline.com.
Interview: April 2023
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
Pippi
A mother and daughter grapple with their racial self-hatred through their love of Pippi Longstocking.
Length: 6:40
Director: Mia Walker
Producer: Jefferson White
Writer: Karoline
About the writer, director and producer:
MIA WALKER is a director working across live performance, film, television, audio, and interactive media. She is a Drama League TV Directing Fellow, directed the award-winning short film Pippi, and is a Performance Director for a leading video game company. She was part of the original creative teams for the Broadway productions of Jagged Little Pill, Waitress, Pippin, Finding Neverland, and Porgy and Bess, and traveled throughout the U.S. directing the tours. She was among the first cohort of directors to collaborate with Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video series and is currently directing a podcast series with Meet Cute Rom Coms. www.miapwalker.com
KAROLINE is a queer Chinese-American actor, writer, and filmmaker who goes by a mononym. They will next be seen as Eleanor Chun in a new Hulu show (with Mandy Patinkin) and in A24's A Different Man (with Sebastian Stan). TV: Inside Amy Schumer (S5, Paramount+), Dead Ringers (Amazon), WeCrashed (Apple TV+), Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector (NBC), Evil (CBS). In theater, they are best known for The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard at Lincoln Center Theater, and the world premiere of [Veil Widow Conspiracy], for which The New York Times singled them out as “terrific.” onlykaroline.com
Key cast: Angella Cao (Jessa), Karoline (Mother), Owen Connors (Bumblebee), Micah Thorpe (Werewolf), Sienna Rivers (Supernatural), Arianny Kim (Hercules)
Looking for: sales agents, journalists, producers, distributors and buyers
Instagram: @pippithemovie
Website: pippithemovie.com
Other: onlykaroline.com, miapwalker.com
Funders: Self-funded