"Love For Food" - A Short Film

Goal:
With your support, we are aiming to raise $2000.

With the $1500 we raised in December, we have completed filmming the project and captured all of our footage.  We are truly thankful.

Now, we are currently in the post-production stage, which also requires us to cover certain expenses.

The funds would be utilized for the remaining expenses:

COLOR GRADING
VISUAL EFFECTS
SOUND DESIGN
FESTIVAL DISTRIBUTION

We would greatly appreciate any amount of support.

What is Love For Food?

Summary:
Love for Food is about an Asian Immigrant named Bee who lives in SF away from her family.  She utilizes food as a coping mechanism for her separation from her family.  This internal struggle she experiences paves a somber narrative for the film.  From there, I explore her relationship with food and how it is influenced by the separation of her family.

Inspiration:
The inspiration of the film came from my fascination with the human vices and how it can have an effect on human behavior and decisions.  In the past, I have produced a short film during my undergradaute years called Leviathan , which breifly explored the vice of envy.

I have considered that to be a personal favorite.  After a a few more years of experience, knowledge, and additional projcets, I decided that I wanted to explore more on the human vices.  The vice that I chose was gluttony.

From there, I managed to pave that somber narrative for the character Bee, referencing the subgenre of Mukbang, or online eating.

Mukbang:

Mukbang is an online subgenre that started in South Korea, where people typically stream themselves eating online.  The streams typically revolve around the consumption of the food, emphasizing the sound of the food and stimulating the senses of the viewers.

While this is a very harmless subgenre on the internet, I wanted to look deeper into the subconcious of why people participate in Mukbang, streaming themselves eating in front of an online audience.

From my research, I have discovered that Mukbang might have been a result of social isolation and lonliness in the younger generation of South Koreans.

In  Asian culture, eating together as a family is quite common; however, the younger generation of South Koreans have been moving out at earlier.  This distance from their family is what may have created that sense of lonliness and isolation, paving a path for Mukbang to arise as a "solution" or substitution.

From there, I decided to take that general narrative and increase the stakes, allowing the story to take a darker, more somber tone that constrasts from the reality of Mukbang.  While it constrasts from real life, it is something subconcious I wanted to illustrate in the fictional reality of our film.

A New Direction:
For many of the films I have produced, I managed to produce them little to no budget.  Even while money was an obstacle in filmmaking, I never let that serve as a factor on how well I can produce and direct a film.  At the end of the day, it ultimately came down to how I can create a world on screen and immerse the audience into the narrative.  This included writing compelling stories, having complex characters, utilizing cinematic techniques, making the most out of what I have, and not settling for mediocrity.  I have managed to produce an intriguing portfolio, illustrating my capability as a filmmaker.

To see more of my work, please visit my website .

Since then, I have grown as an individual and as a filmmaker and I want to expand my filmic universe.  I want build more immersive spaces within the setting and allow stronger connections between the audience and character.  You would be part of something evolutionary and breathtaking.

The Crew

Raphael Mallari - Director and Writer 

Raphael is a first year MFA student at San Francisco State University.  He currently holds a BA in Film and Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz.  He has been making videos since the age of 12 and has not stopped since then.  He became acquainted with videography in high school as a media coordinator and continued his pursuit to filmmaking in undergraduate and graduate college.  

During his time in college, he started directing and producing films that dealt with social issues and humanistic issues.  Every time he has released a new film or video, they are always better than the last one, illustrating his drive to become a better filmmaker.


Audrey Navarro - Producer and Production Designer

A Los Angeles native, Audrey Navarro is a fourth year Cinema major at San Francisco State University. This year she will be finishing her B.A. in Cinema, with an emphasis in Production Design and continuing to build her portfolio, she anticipates to work on many creative projects throughout her career. Although her interests lie within design, this is her second film as a Producer and hopefully not her last.

Struck by the narrative and stylistic elements of Raphael Mallari’s work, Audrey has decided to collaborate with Mallari both as a Co-Producer and Production Designer.


Patrick Lee - Producer

Patrick Lee is a third year Cinema student at San Francisco State University who has experience in editing. He has worked on countless personal projects but is looking to branch out in order to gain experience in other fields, and collaborate and work together with other people on bigger projects. Patrick looks to expand his knowledge and develop his portfolio to showcase his variety in interests. Some of his interests include editing, music, animation, and graphic design. This is the first film in which Patrick will be a Producer.