Robo Saints
A young cosplayer dresses up as a female anime character to confess his long-harbored crush to his best friend.
Interview with Writer/Director Peter Wonsuk Jin
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Robo Saints was produced for Project Involve, Film Independent's diversity program.
I'd had an inkling of an idea for a while. I'd seen a photograph of a cosplayer dressed as a futuristic character riding a subway among regularly dressed commuters. I wasn't compelled by her eccentricity. I was rather attracted by the mundaneness captured in the photo. The struggle to be an individual was intense and vivid but also absolutely mundane and ordinary.
For Project Involve, we had to make a film about a social issue, and I thought cosplaying would be a good device to show the identity struggles of an LGBTQ individual. And I wanted to downplay the perceived eccentricity of the cosplay culture and the 'difference' of our protagonist. I wanted to tell a story where being different is still a struggle but completely normal and uncontroversial.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Costumes. Good-looking Asian people. Love triangle.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I always want the emotions that I portray to be minutely specific and personal. Even if it's not a personal story like Robo Saints. Like many filmmakers, I believe that whatever universality is achieved through that specificity. I start with a small emotion and hope that the themes will organically permeate through it.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
In the initial treatment, the story was about a closeted transgender cosplayer who helps a young boy being bullied at school. At first I wanted to avoid focusing too much on the gender identity issue because I wanted to express the above-mentioned mundaness. Her gender identity would just be part of the natural background. I liked the story but it just didn't work.
Then I realized I could set the characters in a more manga-like world replete with themes like teenage crushes and love triangles. By dialing up the quirkiness and colorfulness of the world, the characters would in turn seem less eccentric and more ordinary in their world.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Most seemed pleasantly charmed by the world of cosplay, which is rarely portrayed in a non-ironic way even in geek-centric movies and shows. Personally I'm happy when people notice the little subtleties. It's a sweet, lighthearted film, but I did try to infuse the relationships with interesting racial and otaku power dynamics.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
This wasn't necessarily feedback regarding the film, but it was a feeling that was reinforced as I was making of Robo Saints. Anytime you put a camera on something you're necessarily exploiting the subject, and with Robo Saints, I was exploiting the cosplaying culture and the coming-out tale of a transgender female as a straight, non-cosplaying male. Although I believe I've made a unique, empathetic, and conscientious exploitation and although I was eager and glad to tell the story, the process was an education on how immensely important it is that more LGBTQ stories are told by LGBTQ filmmakers with LGBTQ actors -- how necessary it is for the LGBTQ and general audience.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
More people to stumble along and discover the film.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Any person who wants to share it with the next. The film's primary function is as a somewhat happily-ending fantasy romance -- to soothe hopes and heartaches with a bit of sweet reverie. Sure I would love for people to recognize the social subtext and spread the underlying message, but more than anything I would love for them to just take comfort in the story and want to share the comfort with one more person.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How do you become who you are when by doing so you lose someone dear to you or inadvertently hurt someone around you?
Would you like to add anything else?
Anyone who is interested in seeing the film can feel free to contact me for a private link.
peterwjin@gmail.com
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I recently came back from working on Korean director Bong Joon Ho's new film Okja and am developing my first feature film. My producer Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki) recently participated in the NHK Sundance Screenwriters Workshop and the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab with her feature project Cantering.
Interview: November 2016
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. 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
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Robo Saints
A young cosplayer dresses up as a female anime character to confess his long-harbored crush to his best friend.
Length:
12 min
Director:
Peter Wonsuk Jin
Producer:
Mitsuyo Miyazaki
Jorge Garcia Castro
Writer:
Peter Wonsuk Jin
About the writer, director and producer:
Writer/director Peter Wonsuk Jin received his MFA from USC and is a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow.
Producer Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki) is also a writer/director whose latest short Where We Begin premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Key cast:
Carlin James
Robert Ryu
Erika Quintana
Producers to feature film.
Funders:
Produced for Film Independent Project Involve. Sponsored by Kiehl's with in-kind donations from Panavision, SonicPool, Cinelease, and Efilm. Plus ca$h money donations from friends & family.
Made in association with:
Release date:
2015