Daly City

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Daly City is an autobiographical story that examines themes of exoticism, assimilation and the model minority myth, through a clever and playful tale about an Indonesian boy and his mother who pretend that Chinese takeout is actually a traditional family dish at a potluck in order to impress the largely white church community. The boy’s mother teaches him how to "play the game" - how to maneuver, perform and captivate in order to gain acceptance. But later that night, after witnessing his father getting ridiculed and bullied by his co-workers, the boy learns that this behavior can come at a cost; you can end up losing your culture, your sense of worth and even your very name.

Director’s Statement: Daly City is a story about the cost of assimilation. As a child, I watched in awe as the pastor surprised my mother on stage with an award for "best dish" at the potluck. She had successfully impressed all the church-goers by making them think the Chinese takeout she had brought was actually homemade Indonesian food. She taught me that sometimes as immigrants it's necessary to use people's preconceptions of us to our own advantage. But later that night, I remember fuming in anger as I watched my father get ridiculed and bullied by his co-workers, laughing off jokes meant to cut him down. It was only as an adult, that I realized both my parents were doing the same thing that night; they were embodying the "model minority" in order to assimilate and survive in this new country. I want to tell this story for the new generation of immigrants, so that we can both understand our parents' sacrifices but also transcend them and realize that our sense of worth should not be defined by others but by us alone.

Directed by: Nick Hartanto

Produced by: Nick Hartanto, Clara Peterson, and Anton Vicente Kliot

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