5Q's w/Emma Asson "Love, Dad" Director

#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it in less than 140 characters?

A heartfelt story of emotional connection and family relationships told through one man’s bittersweet journey with depression.

#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?

This film is about more than just a relationship between father and child. It’s an attempt at showcasing the generational bond between fathers and sons, sons and mothers, husbands and wives, and how these intricate relationships often overlap and affect one another.

#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.

I grew up using my family’s VHS camera to film music videos and commercials with my friends, and capture as many moments as I could of my family. I always loved filming and photographing everything around me as a way to remember exactly how things were in a given moment, and now I am thankful to have all those videos. I went to Dodge College of Film and Media Arts to study documentary and sociology in hopes of creating nonfiction content to capture and educate audiences on a variety of sociological topics. I have one other film, Valley of Flowers, also at this festival, about how the San Diego flower farming industry survived the pandemic.

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?

This film taught me how to navigate the relationships between filmmaker and subjects, since the subjects were my family and I was dealing with the same issues that are portrayed in the film but wanted to keep an appropriate distance when interviewing them. At some points it became difficult to keep my own emotions out while editing and deciding what was most vital to the storyline, and which emotions other people could relate to to make it successful among audiences.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?

I’m running the festival route now and hope to land my film in a group of mental health/family therapy groups to reach an audience it resonates with. I am now growing a freelance company to produce a variety of videos like “Love, Dad” to tell other intimate families’ stories.