DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Within minutes after posting, the phone rang. It was my mom.
“What’s a #MeToo?” she said, in her Filipino accent. My mouth went dry.
I could post about the most traumatic event in my personal history for everyone in the world to see, but I could barely talk about it with the woman who birthed me? With my family?
What about these relationships makes this so difficult?
Challenged by the nuances of those feelings, I decided to write a film about it.
The Patients is borrowed from intersections of my own life. I’m a Filipina-American daughter of immigrant doctors. I’m the youngest, third child who sometimes inappropriately (but mostly adaptively) jokes her way through discomfort. I’m also sexual assault and intimate partner violence survivor… emphasis on survivor.
In our #MeToo storytelling of victim to survivor, often what we’re not talking about is the stuff in the middle. I know from personal experience that stories of survival don’t just happen. No one just overcomes. ‘The Patients’ is about the stuff in the middle — It’s about opening up difficult conversations with your loved ones. It’s about how shock and trauma can present in unexpected ways. It’s about asking for and offering help. It’s about how a culture clash presents itself within one’s own family.
If you know Filipinos, you know that family is priority one. If your family is anything like mine, we’re all up in each other’s business yet, at the same time, avoidant of conflict. I was inspired to create The Patients because that’s a unique and largely unseen family dynamic to explore, especially in times of trauma and healing.
We experienced a surge of support during production of this film. My stellar cast and inclusive crew - women, people of color, immigrants, and folks identifying as LGBTQIA - assembled quickly. The Patients was successfully crowdfunded beyond our goal and we received an influx of messages sharing personal connections to the film. Whether it be a character or a plot detail, the resonance proved real.
I’m grateful for everyone who has supported this film thus far and I’m committed to sharing it with more audiences. My mission for this film is to help survivors begin those tough conversations with their families, in hopes that we can listen to our loved ones and heal... because, chances are there's a survivor in your family who needs the support.
- Tess Paras
ABOUT FILMMAKER TESS PARAS