Mom, Dad... I Want To Be A Porn Star
Mary tells her Vietnamese, Catholic family on Thanksgiving about her dream in life...to be a porn star!
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Filmmaker Statement

We want to tell a story that is diverse, funny, and connected to the idiosyncrasies of the modern Vietnamese American family - without relying on war trauma as the driving force in the narrative - while still portraying the gap between generations and the healing that comes when we can bridge them. Mom, Dad... I Want To Be A Porn Star, is about bravery and acceptance, and the challenging conversations we're all too afraid to have with our families for fear of judgment. That's why we felt this film has to be a dramedy! Too serious, and we risk becoming a trauma film solely focused on showing Vietnamese pain on screen for entertainment's sake. Too comedic, and we fail to show the real divides between the Viet youth and our elders. But merged together, we want this film to have you rolling on the floor laughing and clutching your loved ones in cathartic tears of compassion. However, as a team of progressive, young writers we know that the stigma faced by those dedicated to the art of sex work is no laughing matter. A core tenet of the story is a respect for sex workers of all types, and the humor of our film derives from a sex-positive and pro-sex work perspective. We mean that literally, a huge part of our writing process involved interviewing, discussing, and learning from dozens of real sex workers in the field. Their real, lived experiences were vital to the construction of the story in a way that felt both authentic and respectful to these artists' craft. All the while, still being able to critique the inherent hypocrisies in the shaming of sex, porn, and sex work. Sex work has always been a part of society and it's going to be, so instead of shaming individuals who put themselves out there for your entertainment, we should celebrate them. Director Matthew Goriachkovsky thought up the concept of a daughter telling her family she wanted to be a porn star, Cinematographer and Co-Director Corey Cao Nguyen suggested that the girl and her family should be Vietnamese to tie in the history of sex work amongst the Vietnamese immigrants, Producer and co-writer Ariana Isbell was inspired by her Catholic upbringing and added the religious depth to the story, and Kent Ishijima, a formally trained screenwriter, tied up all the gaps and pushed the story to dramatic valleys and peaks! The collaborative co-creation of this story and the writing process embody what we hope to see the film industry become, in that it will be inclusive, compassionate, and allow everyone's voices to be heard, appreciated, and cherished for the inherent value that lies within all of us!

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Duration 17 Minutes
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