How do you remember the ones you love? And how do they remember their own life? 

Hi my name is Yoko Jing. I was raised by my grandma. I remember her by the very few valuable things she collected, by how hard she worked to raise me, by how strong she was with her physical disabilities challenging her daily.  But I never even knew what she enjoyed doing.  We never had a chance to talk about that part. She was too busy surviving to invest her time and money for fun, so I also felt guilty having fun.

That is why I wrote this story, Sachi can sing. It’s about love, healing and so-called generational trauma. 

Sachi is a suborned, strong-willed immigrant who lives in an assisted living home with progressive Alzheimer’s.

Her children, each with their own struggles to enjoy their lives, would come visit her when required. Feeling defeated by life, Sachi decides to treat herself and signs up for a singing class as she had always wanted. Investing in a hobby felt wasteful to her, but after she departs this world, her children carried the legacy inspired by the fun she had and the songs she sang.

As a writer-director, I am here to carry a fire strong enough to light others up. People with Alzheimer’s or dementia seem to be trapped into a part of their memory.  So, I wanted to remind my audience, the joy in their hearts is worth every second and every penny. After all, if we end up living in a repeated episode of our life, wouldn’t we wish it could be a joyful one?

The inspiration was an interview I had a while ago at an assisted living facility. One of my best friend worked there for years and thought the stories she told me, I saw a different side of life. She spend most of her time helping the patients and when they pass away another patient will move in. Many of them suffered from similar patterns of issues but loosing ability to be independent takes a lot out of people. It made me think about my own grandparents. I wasn't able to visit them often but when I do they were very excited. What did they do when we weren't there? I hope they weren't too longly and had something fun to spare their time. This hope led me to this film.

-The production-

Big portion of the budget will go to the location. Ideally I would love to find an actual assisted living facility that could allow me to use the room for a few days during the shoot. The rest of the budget will go to some basic necessities such as gears needed for the filming and its transportation, water or food on set for casts and crews, and some post production works.

Thank you.