Defining Her Own Path
Asian-Americans, teens on TikTok, and LGBTQ+ audiences have loved “Lucky Fish,” the debut short film by writer and director Emily May Jampel ’13. But the appeal of her storytelling is broad, and Jampel is reluctant to be put in a box.
“It’s been interesting to see the reception of how your work gets perceived and portrayed,” she says. “People assume ‘all your films must be queer,’ or ‘you only make movies about Chinese-Americans,’ but they don’t know that I’m also Japanese and that I’m also a quarter white. I definitely am conscious of not wanting to be pigeonholed as a filmmaker or just as a person in general.”
“Lucky Fish” is a coming-of-age tale of two Asian-American teen girls who meet in a Chinese restaurant while out to dinner with relatives and quickly find common ground in their family expectations, sexuality and teen angst. It has played at festivals including Palm Springs International Film Festival (Winner, Young Cineastes Award, Special Mention, Best LGBTQ+ Short), Champs-Élysées (Winner, Audience Award), Outfest L.A. and premiered on NOWNESS Asia. The short is also a bonafide viral sensation and was instrumental in helping Jampel attain The New Voices Filmmaker Grant 2023. The new initiative, a partnership between Netflix and NewFest, provides a $25,000 grant to facilitate the creation of new projects and professional development.
Striking while the iron is hot, Jampel is now set to unveil a second short, “Mānoa Valley,” which reflects a different, artsier side of her. Shot in her hometown on O‘ahu, this film is about two high school friends who spend a summer day together before leaving for college. Both of the main characters are hapa, and the film is set in Hawai‘i, but the word ‘Hawai‘i’ is never mentioned. “That’s kind of the way I want to make films as far as how I represent gender and sexuality and ethnicity and culture….
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