Rosemead

“When I first read about the Hang family’s tragic story, I was deeply moved because it spoke so closely to my own experience in so many ways.

Growing up Taiwanese American in Southern California, I spent many weekends in the neighboring Chinese enclaves of the San Gabriel Valley. I recall the sense of existing in a liminal space, between belonging and being an outsider, that is palpable in Joe. A story that focuses on the ways mental illness can overwhelm a Chinese immigrant family hasn’t been seen on screen before, and I deeply felt that it had to be told.

While ROSEMEAD is a universal story about a mother trying to protect her son, it is a story that is especially urgent for the AAPI community, a demographic that the National Alliance on Mental Illness notes is the least likely to seek treatment from mental health professionals. Now more than ever, I truly feel that there is a need to tell stories that bring audiences into the lives of those who are marginalized, or worse, vilified.”