This fall I started watching the 13th season of the TV series Film Lab Presents on Friday nights and the episodes have been a blast for me quarantining at home. The series showcases a variety of Asian American stories of contemporary drama, comedy, and everything in between. Lots of Asian American faces in these contents! The show is produced by the Film Lab, a non-profit that works to promote, support and create racial and gender parity in entertainment media.
The third episode of this season's Film Lab Presents features some great stories using the theme of "Going Viral". Connection directed by Mragendra Singh is about two people longing for "connection". It tells the chance encounter of a guy and a webcam girl on her site, and how one can find connection in the most unlikely places. Or the most likely? In the COVID-19 crisis that we are facing now, connections are essential and they feel even more precious than ever before. This story captures that idea and manages to depict it in a simple and meaningful way.
Vent, created by Desert Island Studios is about how easily fear spreads. Accompanied with the soft and at times menacing compositions of Claude Debussy's 2 Arabesques, we see the main character getting slowly consumed by anxiety as she spends her days quarantined at home and repeating the same tasks again and again. The vent can be seen as a symbolism for the viral internet and its many voices advocating for doubts and fear. Sometimes the disease is not the biggest enemy, because you can take precautions against it, but the fear within ourselves is.
Damage Control is a drama about an artist representative who is down on his luck in finding talents and decides to help promote an Hip-Hop artist selling CD's on the streets. The film's relationship with the Hip-Hop world is uniquely relatable to the theme of going viral. The film exposes the get-rich-quick mentality that a lot of musicians especially in the Hip-Hop genre embrace. And it shows the audience that not everybody is up to that kind of challenge and lifestyle. Damage Control is made by Doyen Artists.
The third episode of this season's Film Lab Presents features some great stories using the theme of "Going Viral". Connection directed by Mragendra Singh is about two people longing for "connection". It tells the chance encounter of a guy and a webcam girl on her site, and how one can find connection in the most unlikely places. Or the most likely? In the COVID-19 crisis that we are facing now, connections are essential and they feel even more precious than ever before. This story captures that idea and manages to depict it in a simple and meaningful way.
Vent, created by Desert Island Studios is about how easily fear spreads. Accompanied with the soft and at times menacing compositions of Claude Debussy's 2 Arabesques, we see the main character getting slowly consumed by anxiety as she spends her days quarantined at home and repeating the same tasks again and again. The vent can be seen as a symbolism for the viral internet and its many voices advocating for doubts and fear. Sometimes the disease is not the biggest enemy, because you can take precautions against it, but the fear within ourselves is.
Damage Control is a drama about an artist representative who is down on his luck in finding talents and decides to help promote an Hip-Hop artist selling CD's on the streets. The film's relationship with the Hip-Hop world is uniquely relatable to the theme of going viral. The film exposes the get-rich-quick mentality that a lot of musicians especially in the Hip-Hop genre embrace. And it shows the audience that not everybody is up to that kind of challenge and lifestyle. Damage Control is made by Doyen Artists.