Jay Carolyn Wu

I first met @aramcollier when he was screening his first feature "Stand Up Man" 8 yrs ago at @reelasian. There was an Artist Talk, I was a nervous wreck but desperate for some industry advice. Aram and his producer @xiebetty turned out to be exactly the kinds of people you wanna meet at anxiety-inducing networking events — warm, helpful, generous, and open. Energy I needed more than I knew. They ended up taking a big chance on me and bringing me on as an assistant editor on their short doc "Sweet and Sour Christmas", probably one of the first short docs in my own cultural language, Cantonese, I'd ever even seen (much less worked on)! Years flew by, and Aram and Betty became the best kind of film mentors-turned-friends and collaborators you could ask for. Talented, driven, creative, supportive, and most importantly, genuine.

When Aram wanted to partner with us at LaRue on this incredibly thoughtful script, it became the first official project I was able to bring onto the slate. And then, between many late nights, r/relationship_advice threads, and 1000s of Whatsapp streams of consciousness, we hunkered tf down and developed the shit out of it. As always, development is work that's tenuous & taxing, that demands constant honesty & dialogue. It helps a LOT to be doing it with people you love and trust so much.

This is a film about the vulnerability (and absurd observations) of growing into a middle-aged body. About longing and community and learning and unlearning. Me personally (always the self-described romance aficionado), I can't wait to see how we'll also get into the cracks of this beautifully messy relationship between two very different types of people in the Chinese diaspora. (Oh and yes it helps that one of Aram's inspos, though quite different, is legit my favourite film of all time, Poetry (2010)!!)

Tremendously proud of this one. Thank you thank you thank you @telefilm_canada for believing in us. Thank you endlessly Aram & Betty 🫶🏻🫶🏻 forever grateful to you both for the HUGE impact you've had on my life. Now, we just gotta go have fun making the damn thing!!! @larueent