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Take Me Home (short)

World Premiere Sundance 2023
Closed Captioning & Audio Descriptions available

After their mother’s death, a cognitively disabled woman and her estranged sister must learn to communicate in order to move forward.

SYNOPSIS

Anna is an adult with an Cognitive Disability living with her mother in Midland Florida. When her mother is unresponsive, she calls her sister for help, but without the language to be believed, Anna is brushed aside.
Emily returns home and is immediately engulfed in a futile struggle for medical information, while Anna’s world is deconstructed. In this sadness, Anna sees the bigger picture and with a straightforward strength, Anna holds her own. The uncertainty for the sisters’ future independence remains but they are now a team against all odds.

  • Liz Sargent
    Writer
  • Liz Sargent
    Director
  • Janet Yang
    Executive Producer
    President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Julia S Gouw
    Executive Producer
  • Virginia & Timothy Millhiser
    Executive Producer
  • CAPE
    Executive Producer
    CapeUSA.org
  • Minos Papas
    Producer
    MotherWitch, Tango On the Balcony, Behind the Mirror, Flowstate
  • Anna Sargent
    Key Cast
    "Anna"
  • Jeena Yi
    Key Cast
    "Emily"
    Nyad, Blacklist, Only Murders in the Building, Lapsis, Manifest, Modern Love, Succession
  • Lisa Panagopoulos
    Key Cast
    "Social Worker"
  • Danielle Bowman
    Key Cast
    "Medicaid Nurse"
  • Soulja Bless
    Key Cast
    "Cab Driver"
  • Minos Papas
    Director of Photography
    MotherWitch, Tango On the Balcony, Behind the Mirror, Flowstate
  • Molly Jordan
    Associate Producer
  • Robert Sargent
    Associate Producer
  • Wilma Smider
    Associate Producer
  • Kaneza Schaal
    Associate Producer
  • Ashley Roby
    Editor
  • Filius Blue
    Music
  • Danielle Bowman
    Assistant Director
  • Laura Gomez
    Assistant Camera
  • Anh Vu
    Gaffer
  • Tanner Nau
    2nd AC/Grip/Swing
  • Alan Harris
    Production Sound Mixer
  • Vassilea Terzaki
    Art Director
  • Lera Juno
    Hair/Make Up
  • Soulja Bless
    Key PA
  • Jana Henry
    ART PA
  • Victoria Bek
    Stylist Consultant
  • Tiffany Chen
    Costume Buyer
  • Taylor Mahoney
    Colorist
  • AJ Pyatak
    Sound Editor/Design
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Family, Disablity, Adoption, Asian
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 49 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:2.39
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Sundance Film Festival
    Park, City
    January 23, 2023
    World Premiere
  • LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL

    Golden Reel (Academy Qualifying)
  • SXSW
    Austin, TX
    March 10, 2023
  • Santa Barbara International Film Festival
    Santa Barbara, CA
    February 8, 2023
  • Florida Film Festival
    Orlando, Florida
    April 14, 2023
  • Reel Sisters Fellowship and Microgrant
  • CAPE Julia Gouw Fellowship and grant
  • Script Finalist // Tribeca Gold Open Competition
  • Florida International Film Festival
    Orlando
  • RiverRun International Film Festival
  • CAAM
  • deadCenter
  • Palm Springs ShortFest
Director Biography - Liz Sargent

Liz Sargent is a Korean American Adoptee writer and director, who's award-winning work explores themes of adoption, disability and family. She has been awarded a NY Emmy, Best Director at Diversity in Cannes, Best Screenplay at Brand Film Festival London. Her films have been released in 6 languages, screened at Venice Biennale Danza, Lincoln Center and broadcast on PBS.

The short film STRANGERS’ REUNION about an adoptee reunion was one of five films chosen by Ritz-Carlton and Hearst to be made with mentorship by Mike Figgis and production by RSA Hong Kong. TAKE ME HOME is a short film about disability, family, and communication. The script was awarded a Julia S Gouw Fellowship with CAPE and Janet Yang, a Reel Sisters Fellowship 2022, Asian Women Giving Circle grant and raised 30K on Kickstarter.

Liz incorporates her extensive background as a choreographer trained at North Carolina School of the Arts into her commercial and experimental work. Experimental dance film collaborations include work with Pam Tanowitz and Fisher Center at Bard, Eiko Otake and Jacob’s Pillow, and Adrienne Westwood and Angelica Negron.

The extension of her personal stories have been told through podcasts and in her story slam that won the Korean American Story ROAR in Chicago. She is a Ryan Murphy HALF INITIATIVE Mentee and was a top 3 finalist for the SeriesFest Shondaland Directing Mentorship 2022. Her work has been developed at UnionDocs, UCROSS and in Sundance Co/Lab workshops. Liz produces with Cyprian Films New York in New York and Cyprus.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

TAKE ME HOME captures a moment of fear for people who worry about how their lives will change without a plan for their siblings who cannot live on their own. As we reenter the fast competitive world, priorities are reconsidered. I think most about the youngest sibling with an Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD) and how the world isn’t made for her.

In this story Anna must find a way to communicate her self-agency while her sister overhauls her home. Both sisters are learning how to mourn and change and compromise. And the only way they can move forward is if they can understand each other, but Anna’s verbal skills are not fully developed. How can they transcend language?

So many people’s lives are altered the moment a parent dies, but even more so when they inherit their sibling’s needs. It is a sudden learning curve to figure out the bureaucracy for a disabled sibling. Best practice is to honor and empower self-direction, but how do we weigh each person's independence? Anna wants her own home but in reality there is a 15K+ wait for Assisted Living in most states and the cost is exorbitant. The film does not solve this problem, but gets the characters through the overwhelming in-between moment, with a hope that they can find a way to co-exist as independent adults.

All actors are unique, but for this film I considered each performer's strengths and what a safe environment feels like from their perspective. This information was the guide to the schedule, lighting and time we allow to find authentic moments. The actors improvised within the scene's structure to help hit the objective organically.

This film is about two Asian Adoptees but it is not heavy handed with adoptee trauma; rather it accepts the adopted family as its own unique balancing act. The family responsibilities are overwhelming and unique but it is a universal story.

In the end we are left with a sense of hope. Anna understands how to share, how to remember, and how to move forward. It is what we all strive for in intense moments of change. The dinky fireworks reflect forgotten America, and the flower seeds reference a regrowth, a rebirth.

www.sargentliz.com