A Look Back at My First Film Festival Screening

It has now been a week since I experienced my first film festival screening as a screenwriter. It was part of the fourth volume of unKonference; an event organized by San Francisco artist Kristian Kabuay. It’s a participant driven event that avoids a lot of what comes with a conference like entrance fees and academic institutions. It’s all a way to make space for discussions, particularly within the Filipino American community.

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A Film Festival Screening and A Zoom Play

When was the last time I did a spotlight on two major announcements for my weekly Saturday blog post? That would have to be back at the beginning of August 2018 a.k.a. “simpler times.” To think that I would have some big announcements to make in the midst of a pandemic might sound kind of odd, and yet that’s exactly what is happening today. So here it goes:

Thoughts About Identifying as a Filmmaker

It happened again this week. I mean, I guess it would make sense for why I’ve been asked about this more than once by now. When your day job oversees funding, distributing, and occasionally producing films (and a film festival), I can see how it would only be natural one would ask if you have any filmmaking aspirations of your own. So when a visitor asked if I am a filmmaker, I said no, but I did say that I am a screenwriter. He argued in saying that a screenwriter is a type of a filmmaker. But is it?

Writing Accomplishments of the 2010’s

In January 2010, I was still in high school. I was chief editor of the school paper, editor of the school literary magazine, member of the slam poetry club, with a bunch of other writing constantly happening on the side. I began the decade doing writing that either or may not have amounted to something, and whenever it was the former, it was frequently to the small audience of my high school and hometown.

What Did I Miss?: November 2019

Published Works

Doug Jung’s Screenwriting Debut Will Be Available on Disney+ – For The Nerds of Color, I dive into an early work from this “Star Trek” screenwriter, ahead of its availability on Disney’s new streaming service.

‘Jojo Rabbit’ Sends a Timely Message via Satire, Fascism, and War – For The Nerds of Color, I provide my non-spoilery thoughts about the latest feature film from director Taika Waititi.

Review of From Rufio to Zuko by Dante Basco – For Goodreads, I give my input on this informative memoir from someone who’s seen and done a lot in the entertainment industry for over three decades.

The Director and Producer of Pixar’s “Float” Discuss Filipino American Representation and Bringing a Personal Story to Life – For the Center for Asian American Media, I go behind-the-scenes of this groundbreaking short film from Pixar Animation Studio by talking to two of the people that made it what it is today.

Review of Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas – For Goodreads, ahead of its 2020 release, I give a rundown on what I make of this latest entry into the United States of Japan series.

Appearances

About Tita | TFAL Podcast – Over two years after its initial release, an audio essay I did for the This Filipino American Life podcast is now available on their YouTube channel.

The One About Screenwriter Adele Lim

So this news is a little over a week old, but for the sake of its context, it’s something I wanted to dive into and dissect, while providing my personal take on it. After all, one of my long-term goals is to become a professional screenwriter myself, much like the bad-ass that is screenwriter Adele Lim.

What Did I Miss?: February 2019

Appearances

Lauren Lola | TFCU Spotlight – I am the latest subject for the TFCU Spotlight series, as they give a glimpse at my work and outlook as a writer.

Thoughts About Taking On White Male-Dominant Writing Roles

I am female. I am Filipino American. I am mixed race.

For a majority of history, these identities wouldn’t have applied to writers of very particular fields, but within recent time, that is starting to change.

5 Years of Lola By the Bay/2018 Year in Review

WordPress sent me a reminder last night that it has now been five years since the formation of this here blog/website. That’s half a decade of running this thing in the six years since I made the decision to start pursuing my writing more seriously, and look how much has happened since then.

But this post isn’t to serve as a retrospect of the last five years. Instead, this is a look back at the past eleven incredibly speedy months of the year 2018. I say this in some way or another at the end of every year, but it is absolutely crazy how fast this year went.