SENTIMENTAL: A Family Portrait
An interview with director Michael Velasquez
by Nita Lieu
Michael Velasquez graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in art studio that he has since used to become a struggling filmmaker in Los Angeles. I asked him some questions about the creative process involved in making SENTIMENTAL.
Your film embodies many ideas pertaining to family. How do you envision these ideas to be applicable to Asian American families in general?
I'm not going to make any generalizations here because I don't want to imply that there is such a thing as a "typical" Asian American family.
I can tell you that in my family there is an increasing desire to strengthen the family ties and pass them on to the next generation. SENTIMENTAL is a small effort to help preserve a part of our family's bond and present it to others in an entertaining and hopefully beautiful way.
How did your art background affect your approach to film?
Well, for one thing, I don't really make films. Digital Video is a completely different medium that lends itself to experimentation and non-existent budgets in a way that film does not. Admittedly, I'm an addict of the Hollywood machine and most of the crap it pumps out but my art background helps keep me grounded.
The images in SENTIMENTAL transform from normal still-to-moving scenes into animated components of space. An example would be the hallway that suddenly broke into three fractions and moved on their own. What was the reason for this and what did you hope to convey?
All the images in SENTIMENTAL were taken in or around my family's home. When your family spends all its holidays, birthdays, funerals and anniversaries together in one house, that house becomes a part of the family. It has a history, a personality, maybe even a soul all its own and I wanted to show that the house was alive.
