Luke and Emma and a Gas Station on Franklin Avenue

This short film explores issues of racism and sexism in 1986 rural America. The story is told through the experience of adolescents who are exploring their feelings for each other as they push the boundaries established by their parents’ and their community.

This is a story about a biracial Asian American boy and a white girl growing up in a small Midwest town in 1986. They like each other. But they kind of know that they aren’t supposed to.

This is a story about an immigrant mother from Thailand who has settled in the Midwest to raise a child who is growing up American. She wants what’s best for him but also worries about him embracing a culture that doesn’t accept them.

This is a story about a white man who has status and resources. But he’s still a product of a world built around him which means he’s as much a victim of this world even as he benefits from it.

This is a story about growing up biracial in a world where attitudes about race mixing had scarcely changed. It’s about how someone finds belonging when they belong to more than one culture and, sometimes, it seems, none at all.

It’s about how the community you grow up in shapes who you are and how you perceive yourself.

My mother was an immigrant from Thailand. I grew up with the food and the language and elements of the culture. The one thing I remember most about being Thai is that no one knew anything about Thailand. Most people asked us if we were from China or Japan. Not much has changed aside from people are more familiar with the cuisine. Sort of.

One of the themes I want to focus on is that Asian Americans come from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and we are unified through our experience as immigrants in America.