The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will celebrate its 43rd edition this year, and is set to showcase around 150 feature-length films and 81 shorts from 72 countries and across 75 different languages.
Amidst the breadth and diversity of it all, one of the emergent themes in this year’s film selection is the intersection of immigration and family. Both Jerome Yoo’s Mongrels and Thea Loo’s Inay (Mama) touch upon this topic through different formats, contexts and characters that are deeply personal to each director.
This year’s festival takes place from Sept. 26 to Oct. 6 at various locations across Vancouver.
Mongrels: dealing with grief in a new home
Mongrels tells the story of a Korean family – a widowed father, and his teenage son and young daughter – overcoming grief after the death of their wife and mother. At the same time, they navigate their new life in a rural town in Canada plagued by wild dogs during the 1990s.
Born in South Korea and having immigrated to Canada when he was one, Yoo sees this film as a tribute to his upbringing. He has a deep desire to connect with his motherland and, as a result, channels this yearning through his debut feature, Mongrels.
“In this story, I think there are these layers that remind me of moments or memories that I went through as a child,” he says. “There are layers of my father in the character of Sonny, the widowed father, and of myself in the teenager Hajoon. The baby daughter, Hana, also reminds me of my brother.”
Throughout the film, the three characters adapt to their new town in different ways. Sonny has the most difficulty due to his own fears and insecurities about fitting in, while Hajoon, being the teenager, still has an open mind and can get along well with his new friends. In contrast, the youngest daughter, Hana, doesn’t understand the death of her mother and the hardships of immigration the family is going through. These different experiences, rather than a singular message, is what Yoo hopes to convey to the audience.
“By depicting these different perspectives of how everyone can go through this new adjustment to a new lifestyle and environment, I hope that there’s something there for someone to take away, learn from, or resonate with,” says Yoo.
Furthermore, mongrels themselves, a term referring to mixed-breed dogs, are also an important symbol of the movie. Yoo explains that there are similarities between mongrels and the three characters.
“We see these three different characters who do not quite find their place here. We see these immigrants, whose voices are lost because they do not have the language fluency to express themselves like they do back in their motherland,” he says. “I see these lost characters almost as these lost mixed-blood dogs. Both are going through hard times, wandering and finding a place to call home.”
Inay (Mama): reconciliation is possible
Inay (Mama) is Thea Loo’s debut 1-hour TV documentary about the mental health impact on the children of Filipino women who migrated to Canada through the Live-In Caregiver Program. The documentary is self-reflexive, featuring Loo, her husband Jeremiah Reyes and her friend Shirley Lagman as they explore their mental health and engage in intergenerational dialogue with their parents.
Loo’s childhood was very different from Reyes’ and Lagman’s: she was born in Canada and her parents did not migrate under the caregiver program. This degree of separation between her and other Fililipinos allows her to see the issue from a distance and is part of what inspired her to make the documentary.
“I wanted to find a way to help my friends ease the tension that they have within their families, and I think that a lot of people in the community would relate to it too.” Loo says. “I also feel that as a community, not talking about our mental health is really a detriment. So I wanted to give my community an avenue to talk about it.”
One of the challenges of Inay (Mama) is the uncomfortable feelings of filming oneself, especially when trauma is the subject matter. Nevertheless, Loo and Reyes agreed this method of delivery was necessary to convince the audience that this is their true story.
“The only way to really make sure that this film would have an impact on people, or make sure that people would care, is to just be brutally honest and raw and to be as transparent as possible,” she says.
The documentary’s impact was felt among people involved in the filming process, Loo adds. She says she feels closer to her parents after interviewing and knowing more about their story, while Reyes’ and Lagman’s relationships with their mothers have also significantly improved.
“I think that overall, even before the film has come out, I felt that it was already a success,” says Loo. “I was already feeling like my goals were being fulfilled. Because even if nobody in the world sees it, the process of making the film was already a healing experience for everybody involved, including the crew.”
The possibility of changing the relationship that audience members currently have with somebody impacted by migration is what Loo hopes the viewers will take away after watching Inay (Mama).
“Being willing to openly talk about something can change so much,” Loo says. “It is possible to forgive somebody, even if you don’t see any way to and it is possible to find reconciliation, even if you can’t even begin to speak about the issues that you’re hurt by, or you don’t even understand the issues that are impacting you.”
For more information about the Vancouver International Film Festival, please visit: www.viff.org/festival/viff-2024
