Shame

“The story personally hit me from left field because I was raised during a time that no one EVER believed a girl was sexually assaulted. It was always her fault. What did she do? What was she wearing? Why did she get in the car or out of the car or leave with that person? Victim blaming was a societal norm in America and part of American culture. After eighteen years of therapy due to my own experience with sexual assault and suicidal thoughts / tendencies, I had hoped that bigger strides had been made, but the thing is…only tiny steps have been achieved. Also, after talking to Ashna, who helped with my understanding that in many cultures around the world, there hasn’t been much progress; it is still the female’s fault and specifically in Asian culture, you don’t talk about it or seek counseling. This deeply saddened my heart and touched my soul in way that I needed to tell this story, that needed to be told.
 
The story is very provocative and is a short ride down a narrow path, but what I loved was that as a director, the challenge is to make it bigger, yet keep the narrow, nearly claustrophobic view so compelling that no one will leave without talking about ‘why.’ I hope to achieve this and with the amazing crew and cast we have, I believe we can and must tell this story in a way that uses the alarming content to jolt people awake, and yet not leave gratuitous actions on a screen, but in the minds of the audience.
 
And finally, this is a subject matter that I have always wanted to tackle, but because of my close relationship to sexual assault and suicide, I felt I couldn’t write something just yet in my life. So, when Ashna presented me with the script and I realized I could serve her vision, it became very clear that I wanted to be a part of this journey.”