A film featuring a Filipino family celebrating Thanksgiving in San Diego won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the United States.
Filipino-American filmmaker Kayla Abuda Galang’s short film “When You Left Me On That Boulevard” was named among the short film award winners of the first hybrid edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
This year’s festival jury lauded the short film for its “uproarious take on extended family, irreverence and tradition.”
“From the first moment, we were fully on board for this rowdy ride. An uproarious take on extended family, irreverence and tradition with incredible attunement to details and frame,” the jury citation for Galang’s film reads.
“When You Left Me On That Boulevard” is a slice-of-life comedy that follows teenager Ly at a boisterous Filipino family Thanksgiving set in southeast San Diego in 2006.
Galang said her movie was filmed in Paradise Hills in San Diego, California, and is a tribute to where she grew up, her younger self, and her family.
The hybrid edition of the Sundance Film Festival was held in person in Utah and online from January 19 to 29, 2023.
Kayla Abuda Galang is a second-generation Filipino American exploring themes of home, family, and belonging in her films. She was born in Olongapo City in the Philippines and was raised in San Diego, California, and Houston, Texas.
Galang’s film “Learning Tagalog With Kayla” earlier premiered at SXSW, received an Audience Award and went on to screen at festivals such as Palm Springs, Indie Memphis, Encounters, and Reel Asian.
Galang is currently working on two feature films “06-’07”, a coming-of-age comedy set in the mid-2000s southeast San Diego, and “On Earth as it is in Heaven”.
Filipino independent films “Leonor Will Never Die” and “The Headhunter’s Daughter” bagged historic firsts for the Philippines in last year’s online edition of the Sundance Film Festival.
Filipino short film “Excuse Me, Miss, Miss, Miss” with its satirical look at labor rights in the Philippines earlier screened at the 43rd Sundance Film Festival in the United States.
SEND CONGRATULATIONS in the comments below to Filipino-American filmmaker Kayla Abuda Galang for winning the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her short film about a Filipino family at Thanksgiving, “When You Left Me On That Boulevard”!
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