Pasifika Film Festival 2020 – Chicken
All Barbara wants to do is watch the Simpsons, but her recently migrated mum has just been overcharged at the local shops, and it’s up to Barbara to sort it out. As usual.
Interview with Writer/Director Alana Hicks
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The short film Chicken was made with the intention of illustrating the bond between a migrant mother and daughter, while depicting the varying levels of racist microaggressions felt by both.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I hope people will resonate with the characters, the offbeat humour and the underlying themes. Chicken may seem like a simple story about a mixed-race teenage girl who helps her mother who’s been ripped off at the local shops, but it is also a rarely seen look into a mother-daughter relationship complicated by migration, conflicting values and traditions, society and class. It’s Rory and Lorelai from the Gilmore Girls if they were Papua New Guinean migrants in 1990s suburban Sydney.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Growing up as a cross-cultural kid, I’ve often struggled with the merging of my black and white selves, and with sometimes radically opposing belief systems and structures. Existing somewhere between two worlds. Chicken’s protagonist Barbara is that responsible kid, the one who guides and assists her mother, bridging the gap between home and society. Her desire is to be part of a new world, a new future, but her ties to her mother, and her mother’s way of being are always there, binding her to culture, to another version of reality and truth. It’s slippery, it’s complicated. Like all of us, Barbara is just trying to figure it all out. How to straddle cultures, how to connect, how to be at home with yourself, and your place in the world. While the story is specific to a Pacific Islander mother and daughter, it is universal in its exploration of belonging.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The film evolved greatly with the influence of creative producer Sleena Wilson, as well as my writing mentor Leah Purcell. I come from a collaborative performance background, so it is in my bones to listen and defer to the expertise of the different members of my team, obviously, when I need to stick to my guns I do. I also love working with actors to see how their interpretation of character and dialogue can influence the rhythm of the script.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I have received very encouraging feedback from people who are first or second-generation migrants, people who are familiar with the feeling of being pulled between two worlds.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The amount of resonance from people with a similar background to my own has surprised me. My whole purpose with filmmaking, and storytelling in general, is to forge connections and to feel less alone on this cold and indifferent rock.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
It's hard to make friends in your 30's, so I hope I get invited to more dinner parties. And weddings, I love weddings, the food, the dancing. Though in all honesty, I'd like people to get a glimpse of a story from my "asples" ("hometown" - literal translation: ass place) Papua New Guinea. My dream is to make more stories from that land of smoke and sorcery.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I wish film festival directors could see this film as an opportunity to expose some underrepresented emerging talent to the wider world. It looks beautiful, the actors are on point, and the humour is 100% PNG style, offbeat, slow-paced, and I am proud of it. My whole life I've been told to be less strange, less loud, less disruptive. Well, I'm done with that, please pay attention now, I'm tired of being polite.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope people see enough skill in the execution of this film, that they might give me a chance to make another, longer one.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Where, how and to what do we belong?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Sleena Wilson, the producer, is kicking goals in LA. I (Alana) am trying to make a TV show happen in PNG, something that will reflect the strength and resilience of Papua New Guinean women, in the face of normalised violence and economic inequality.
Interview: July 2020
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
Chicken
All Barbara wants to do is watch the Simpsons, but her recently migrated mum has just been overcharged at the local shops, and it’s up to Barbara to sort it out. As usual.
Length: 9:32
Director: Alana Hicks
Producer: Sleena Wilson
Writer: Alana Hicks
About the writer, director and producer:
ALANA HICKS is Papua New Guinean/Australian writer and director. Co-founder of The Kvetch Set Sketch Collective, Alana spearheaded three seasons of the online sketch comedy series The Kvetch Set. A collaborator in numerous performance collectives, Alana is also an award-winning slam poet. Alana is always looking to connect with other emerging creatives to bring strange and unique stories to the screen, especially when it comes to those rarely heard ones from the Pacific Islands.
SLEENA WILSON is a producer with experience in film, television, commercials and online content. Following a Create NSW producer’s attachment on ABC/Netflix series The Unlisted, Sleena became the assistant to producers Angie Fielder and Polly Stanifordof Aquarius Films. In 2018, she was also the producer’s assistant to Matt Reeder on feature film Hearts and Bones. Sleena was the recipient of the 2019 Village Roadshow Animal Logic Entertainment internship.
Key cast: Mariah Alone (Barbara), Wendy Mocke (Rita), Mia Evans Rorris (Dion), Greta Lee Jackson (Shelley))
Looking for: film festival directors
Facebook: Chicken
Hashtags used: #chickenshortfilm
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Screen Australia, Create NSW, AFTRS
Funders: Talent Camp Diversity Initiative Funding Winner
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Pasifika Film Festival/Papua New Guinea - October 2020