CF features all Queer, Trans and/or POC leads, spanning Black, Mixed, Asian-American, Latinx, Queer, Trans, Bi, and Lesbian experiences. Our writers are POC, female and/or Queer/Trans, and our Director is a Queer Woman of Color. The creator's twin brother, Kevin, who has autism, also makes a cameo.

 

LOGLINE

CHOSEN FAM series follows members of an all-QTPOC indy rock band, as they navigate relationships, growing up and growing apart in the SF Bay Area DIY music scene.

 

 

SELECTED ISSUES EXPLORED:

• sexual racism

• callout culture

• drag and gender

• toxic codependency

• the model minority myth

• healthy family boundaries

• white vs. intersectional feminism

• queer celebrity and social capital

• queer / trans parenting & adoption

• lack of diversity in workplace leadership

• moving back in with your mom (and having a sex life! eek!)

• and more of course! (have suggestions? feel free to email us about season two topics!)

 

 

INSPIRATION:

 

Why a QTPOC series?

 

Kyle: The embattled Junot Diaz once put it perfectly:

 

"You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves."

 

As a queer bigender Asian American, I grew up in a world without mirrors, or any cultural reflection of myself that was not infantilizing, castrating, and/or downright dehumanizing. As a kid, I identified with whiteness, because it was all I had access to. They were the only humanized narratives available. Come middle school, I would make ching chong jokes at other Asian students. I did this to make my white friends laugh. I asked my white friends often, "I'm not that Asian, right?", and felt a rush of relief every time they reassured me "no Kyle, you're practically white."

I thought I was alone in this experience. But when I talked to my mom about it, she told me, that growing up, she harbored similar thoughts. There are a lot of things that contribute to internalized racism, but I believe the biggest aspect is media. Media tells us what stories matter, and also... who matters. When you don't see yourself in lead roles, and instead, you're relegated to a two dimensional plot device, a perpetual foreigner babbling unintelligibly, a passive deviant, or a sexless pathetic nerd, you start to believe it about yourself. The effect is only amplified when you're young, and just coming into your sense of self in the world. 

 

We created CHOSEN FAM because we need more cultural mirrors; We need dignified, accurate and heartfelt reflections of ourselves that don't produce tired, demeaning, WWII-leftover carnival distortions. We need the real stories, told by, and for people who look and love like us.

 

We hope you feel the same way.   

 

Why music?

Kyle: I grew up playing saxophone in punk bands in the SF DIY music scene. These people were the first chosen fam I knew. They were LGBTQ folks, people of color and Bay Area natives, who care about keeping creative communities alive, producing great art, advancing just social policy, and preserving age-old bayside traditions. Today, bay area artists and musicians are being rapidly displaced, making it even more imperative to share our stories. We are honoring bay area artists by featuring local music in the series soundtrack, and incorporating their stories, through in-depth interviews, into our screenplay. 

 

 

PLANS AFTER PRODUCTION:

 

Festival Circuit

With $25k in funding, we will shoot four more episodes, completing CHOSEN FAM season one! After finishing post-production, we will submit the 5-episode series to the following (non-exhaustive) festivals across the US:

 

• CAAMfest (SF)

• Frameline (SF)

• Outfest (LA)

• Newfest (NYC)

• Queer Women Of Color Film Festival (SF)

• SXSW (ATX)

• Tribeca (NYC)

• Lighthouse Film Festival (NJ)

• Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival (LA)

• Asian American International Film Festival (NYC)

• LGBTQ Shorts Film Festival (LA)

• Seattle International Film Festival (WA)

• Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival (HI)

• Palm Springs International Film Festival (PS) 

• San Francisco International Film Festival (SF)

• San Francisco International Women's Film Festival (SF)

 

Distribution

We have pipe dreams of getting picked up by a major network to shoot season two, which is already step-outlined and ready to go. Your help will keep the dream alive.