Q&A with Kennedy Kao
A conversation with filmmaker Kennedy Kao on his short film, Danica's Mom.
How did you first get into filmmaking?
I got into filmmaking by watching a lot of John Hughes films in high school. His films inspired me to be a screenwriter (I didn't have the confidence or the resources to be a director). Eventually I had a bunch of scripts lying around and I decided to direct one with a couple of friends, and I got hooked.
What was your creative process for this film?
Geraldine (the actress who plays Danica's Mom) is not a professional actress - this was her first time acting and I wanted to make her feel comfortable on set. Not only that, but I wanted to take things from her personal experiences and implement them in the film. So before shooting I sat down with Geraldine and we had a long conversation about her life as a Filipino working mother. I wrote down anything I found useful and altered the script and the character to better fit Geraldine; this made it easier on Geraldine to act and her character seem more authentic. But all of my creative decisions went towards making the main character believable and compelling, which is what usually happens for me as I mainly make character-driven stories.
What projects are you working on next, and how can people who are interested best support or follow you.
I have a short film titled We Don't Need Your Kind that's currently in post-production. It's about an Asian-Canadian youtuber who experiences anti-asian racism during the pandemic. I'm also working on a documentary about Filipino food and culture. If people are interested in my work, they can visit my website at kennkao.com.
