ASIAN BITCHES SPEAK

This mother-daughter journey explores mental health and healing from intergenerational trauma amidst the rise in anti-Asian hate. The film was prompted by a violent verbal anti-Asian hate incident that my immigrant mom, Diana, survived on 4th of July, 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The road trip starts two years later at the July 4th parade in our conservative American hometown of Huntington Beach, California.
Our journey through Los Angeles, Orange County, and the Bay Area, highlights places of community and healing. My mom and I examine the trauma that runs through generations of women in our family, embrace our identities in Asian American, immigrant, female, and LGBTQ+ spaces, and we reclaim the derogatory word “bitch,” which was used to attack my mom. Most importantly, we learn to speak out loud, to each other and our communities.

Content Advisory: anti-Asian hate + mental health discussion, including suicide and depression

CREDITS
Writer: Janet Chen (Ma)
Producer: Janet Chen (Ma)
Director of Photography: Norbert Shieh
Editor: Janet Chen (Ma)
Sound Designer: Lien Do + Matthew Pereira + Megan Martinez Goltz

Plays in

AP ADVANCED PARENTING

Parenthood is a roller coaster of highs and lows, happiness, sorrow, and everything in between.