Awareness Film Festival - Searching Skies
When a Syrian refugee family is invited to a Christian family's house for Christmas dinner, they are caught between opposing viewpoints for and against them -- until an unexpected event suddenly occurs.
Interview with Writer/Director Vivian Hua
Watch Searching Skies here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Searching Skies was based off a real-life story that was told to me years ago. It bounced around in my head for months before it finally felt like the right time to tell it, and it came pouring out of me.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film stirs up a lot of dialogue between those with opposing schools of thought, which I think is quite crucial in this day and age.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
What I wanted to talk about with the film was the relativity of experience. Searching Skies tells the story of refugees coming to the United States; as a child of immigrants myself, I think often of how my life's opportunities would have been quite different if my parents had never immigrated from Taiwan, and their parents had never immigrated to Taiwan from China. There is a lot of xenophobia in this day and age, when in fact most came from some other place at some other time. It all feels rather subjective.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The arc of the story was fairly clear from the beginning, though certain scenes were added at different times, and one beautiful scene was removed on the cutting room floor because it wasn't serving the larger story.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Feedback has generally been very interesting, because the reactions to the main character, Derek, are very variable based on one's life experiences. Many find him intolerable, some sympathesize with him, and others see the good in him. It's quite wide-ranging, but one thing everyone does agree upon is that he's a fantastic young actor.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I don't think that it has. Obviously, as with all works, there are things which can be improved upon, but I expected views to be polarizing, and they are! :)
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would love to start a dialogue, and I'm open to having this film be shown at community screenings or have it be used as a tool for inspiring dialogue about refugees, xenophobia, immigrants, and Islamophobia.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?)
The film is currently playing nationally in a number of film festivals, but I would love to expand its reach beyond that and show it at events and organizations that place importance on social justice issues.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
What's important to me is that the film starts a dialogue, and that it screens as much as possible in areas that aren't already accepting of immigrants and refugees.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What role does toxic masculinity and suppressed male emotions play in manufacturing fear and alienating "the other"?
Would you like to add anything else?
Let's try our hardest to have more of a civil exchange with people whose opinions we do not agree with.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am currently working on a documentary about a 77-year-old kickboxing champion who runs the country's oldest boxing gym, but is the local hero of a poverty-stricken coal-mining town in Appalachian Ohio. This may seem almost strange considering I just made a film about Muslim refugees and, for example, many people from that community are quite fearful of Muslims -- but that's exactly the type of bridge-building that I believe needs to happen.
Interview: October 2017
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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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Searching Skies
When a Syrian refugee family is invited to a Christian family's house for Christmas dinner, they are caught between opposing viewpoints for and against them -- until an unexpected event suddenly occurs.
Length: 8:29
Director: Vivian Hua
Producer: Valentyna Dudzyana
Writer: Vivian Hua
Cinematography: Yuriy Chichkov
About the writer, director and producer:
WRITER & DIRECTOR VIVIAN HUA
Vivian Hua is a West Coast writer, filmmaker, and organizer who believes in the power of art to positively transform self and society.
PRODUCER VALENTYNA DUDZYANA
Valentyna is a freelance producer based in Los Angeles who grew up in Lviv, Ukraine and began a production studio in Warsaw, Poland.
Key cast: All can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6957582/
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Social media handles:
Facebook: facebook.com/searchingskiesfilm/ + facebook.com/hellomynameisvee
Twitter: @SeventhArtStand
Instagram: @hellomynameisvee
Funders: Indiegogo Supporters
Made in association with: Puffin Foundation