I’m writing to you looking for a contribution to help us finish our upcoming short film ¡Llámame Chinita! (IMDB | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM )

¡Llámame Chinita! follows Lulu, a 30-year old woman from China, who travels alone to Mexico despite the Pandemic. Although she is far from home, her daily life and pressures seem to follow. Against the colorful backdrop of Mexico, Lulu is alienated from both her home life and her life on her trip.

Chinita is inspired by films like Y tu mamá también, Lost in Translation. At its heart it's a quiet, documentary-style film that pays homage to Rohmer or Hong Sang Soo. Best of all, it’s a film that’s already been shot! We’re looking for an additional $5,000 in order to cross the finish line with our post-production and help cover the rest of our festival submissions. 

So far, we've spent already $20,000 of our own money. Our budget initially was much smaller, but as the film grew and progressed, we found that our film had a lot of potential, and we wanted to give it the best shot on making it the best film it could possibly be. That's why we really need YOUR help.

This film means a lot of all of us on the team. We wanted to show the struggle of an Asian women from a native Asian country with a new perspective and uncommon setting. I wanted to tell an original story that's true to myself, but also incorporates who I am and the beliefs I've adopted throughout the years. I've always wanted to do a film similar to the films that inspire me so much. Films that are bigger than just the family settings, films that take you on an adventure. Because for me that's what life is about.

It's been a really difficult year, as we all know. For everyone. And we should all be grateful of the time we have, and take a moment, and find peace, find quiet and be alone with your thoughts. Realize what matters for you, even if you can't put it into words. Even if it's just a feeling -- go after that feeling.

That's exactly what Lulu experiences. She is stuck in a vortex of an inescapable mouse maze, and she feels like she wants out. Her intuition is telling her there's more out there. But she isn't quite sure of it herself. She just has an inkling. Much like Ariel in little mermaid.

So far, in our many test screenings, we've been well received and been shown so much love. I'm been so proud of the team and that we made something grounded and artistic. It's not the a dramatic premise, and it doesn't have the urgency that some films do -- but in itself, is a quiet, slow burning drama. The kind of uneasiness all of us face everyday. My films aspire to be a form of therapy and it's my deep hope this film can help people not feel so alone, and find a way to connect with themselves and the world around them.

Regardless of your contribution, if you read this far--I appreciate your time and consideration and hope you’ll watch our film later on when it’s released or better yet catch us at a festival.

My name is Stacy Chu, I’m an American Film Institute graduate and the writer, director and lead of Chinita. This story of Chinita is hugely personal to me, and largely wrote itself. Fundamentally it’s a story about the pressures of Asian culture being told on the beautiful and lively backdrop of Mexico. The dynamism of Mexican culture felt befitting for the stagnation in our female protagonists daily life. It’s something I hope represents an enriching and fresh take on some of my culture’s most prominent characteristics and conflicts. It’s also something I hope showcases the beauty of Mexico as a setting in a way that is subtle and ephemeral. It’s a mash up of two of the most prominent cultures here in Los Angeles in that way.

Chinita was shot over ten days in Baja California. The team is composed of American Film Institute alumni (like myself) along with a wonderful local crew and cast from Tijuana. We worked hard, and despite the unknowns of shooting internationally during the pandemic, created something we’re all truly proud of.

It’s a film that oozes quality, and despite our shoe-string budget has the fidelity of a film many times the price. All of that is thanks to our entire team, who contributed their labor, money and time to a project that was a dream of mine to make for a long time. From nearly-donated cameras and cinema lenses to an underwater rig made of a fish tank, Chinita is a project that exists thanks to people’s willingness to work on something for a pure love of the arts and cinema.

Below is a visual breakdown of our post-production budget. Your dollars won’t be alone, we’ll be contributing around 60% of our post production budget ourselves.

We’ve gone greatly over-budget in almost every aspect so appreciate every dollar you give. That said, if we raise $6000 or more we would like to offer a special one-time screening of ¡Llámame Chinita! In Los Angeles for our patrons and friends. Details are TBD, but the screening would be in the greater Los Angeles area sometime this fall.

We’re looking to be fully wrapped with Chinita by the end of September. Beyond that we have two festival runs planned, the first (ongoing) will target Academy Award qualifying and other festivals of high prestige. After that run is completed, next season we plan to target smaller, niche specific festivals.

For our first run we have already submitted in over 67 festivals thus far. These festivals are not cheap, with application fees range from $10 to $70 per submission. We have plans to submit to another 30 this run, and another 50 in our following run.

That said, we're proud of our progress so far and have already won Jury Prize at the Las Vegas Asian Film Awards. We've also been selected as a semi-finalist at the Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival (Academy Award Qualifying), and have been selected at Urban World Film Festival (Academy Award Qualifying). We'll be adding more award acceptances on this page as we progress, but here are our current laurels:

 

Director - Stacy Chu

Stacy Chu, a graduate of AFI, is Asian American Los Angeles based actress and filmmaker. This is her second short film that she was able to shoot aboard and loved every moment of it. She loves the run and gun style of filmmaking but hopes in the future to have a more cushy shooting experience. She has a toy poodle named Scout that often can’t see because she rarely gets a haircut. 

Executive Producer - Richard Alvarenga 

Richard Alvarenga is a Los Angeles born, first-time Producer. He is a Software Engineer by trade, but has a deep love of film and the arts as a whole. He secretly hopes this won’t be his last time working in the film industry.

Executive Producer - Johnny Hernandez 

Johnny Hernandez is a Los Angeles born, bred and based Producer. His company Cult Classic has produced a number of well known, high visibility music videos for some of the most notable music artists working in the industry now. Johnny stops at nothing to get the job done, from production to grip to stunt driving work--he does it all. 

Executive Producer - Juan Carlos Ayver 

Juan Carlos Ayver is a graduated from the Production Course of CCC (Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica 2013-2014) in Mexico City. Producer of “Los Hámsters” (2014), “Devastación” (2016) and “Encarnación” (2017). Former director of the Short Film Department in IMCINE (Instituto Mexicano de Cinematrografía). Creator and coordinator of MICA Short 2017 and 2018. In 2021 he will premiere the short films “Call me Chinita”, “El Tigre Dormido” and “Fuego Fatuo”, and will produce “Fugas e Irrupciones”, the first feature film from his production company Fontana Films, which obtained the FOCINE-IMCINE fund in 2021. When in Ensenada, he enjoys visiting one of his favorite fish taco spots, La Guerrerense. 

Producer - Fernando Barajas 

Fernando Barajas aka Fern-Dogg is a graduate of the AFI Conservatory where he met fellow collaborators and classmates, Stacy Chu and Steven Breckon. His work as a producer ranges from documentaries, narrative, and music videos but always focusing on classic story with a modern pov. He grows his own lemon grass in his backyard which he uses to make tea every morning. 

Cinematographer - Steven Breckon 

Steven Breckon, a graduate of AFI, is a Canadian American Cinematographer based in Los Angeles. He has a keen eye to capture not only the moment, but the beauty of it. In his spare time, he loves being in the great outdoors and sometimes foraging for wild mushrooms to eat with his evening meal.

Production Designer - Laura Santoyo

Laura Santoyo is a Colombian Architect and Production Designer based in Los Angeles. She is very passionate about film, art and literature and loves traveling and learning languages.

Editor - Yiqing Yu

Yiqing Yu is a Chinese editor based in Los Angeles. She is an AFI Conservatory alumni and she worked with productions across China, Mexico and the US. She loves building Legos and solving puzzles. She has kept the routine of watching at least one film a day since high school.

We want to offer you some rewards for your help and support. Although they're small, every contribution means the world to the entire team!