Movie set in Milpitas shows how an Asian American family deals with depression
MILPITAS, Calif. - An award-winning film about an Asian family dealing with their dad’s depression debuted in Milpitas this week. The movie is also set in Milpitas and the writer-director says the film is based on his own life experience.
The writer and director of this film says this story is personal for him and shedding light on mental health issues in the Asian community is one of his priorities as a filmmaker.
"I’ve never seen a movie about depression. So I’m curious to see what the director, producer, writer had been going through when he was writing about the script," Linda Chou, from San Jose.
Hundreds of people packed the theater Tuesday to see Dealing with Dad, a movie about an Asian American family dealing with their father’s depression. The dramedy emphasizes how depression may look, highlighting that their father has been nicer since falling into depression. Dealing with Dad is the third feature film for writer and director Tom Huang who grew up in Fremont.
"So the film was based on my experience trying to get my dad out of depression. It took about eight years and part of the reason was I didn’t even understand what it was. Once I figured it out, it took me a long time to get my mom and his family and his friends to understand that it was a disease," said Huang.
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After showing the film in 35 festivals across the country, Huang partnered with the Santa Clara County Department of Behavioral Health and the Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) to offer the community mental health services and spread more awareness.
"With the Asian American community, there are also layers that have to do with cultural sensitivity and language on top of that. So for Asian Americans, it’s kind of like a double challenge," said Vaughn Villaverde, AACI director of advocacy.
Huang has won multiple festival awards for his screenplays and feature films. He’s also written for shows on ABC, CBS and UPN. He says he started out as an actor in Hollywood but then realized he had a larger purpose and calling.
"We’re going through a theatrical run right now and people are just coming up to me and saying ‘thank you. Thank you for telling our stories or having people like us on the screen,'" Huang said.
Dealing with Dad is now streaming on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, iTunes and VUDU. You can find more information about the movie at dealingwithdadfilm.com.