Today we’d like to introduce you to Achim Mendoza.
Hi Achim, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started out in the Filipino film industry when I was 12. I had just attended a film class for kids over the summer in Manila when the head of the school, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, a renowned Filipino director, saw my works. She asked my parents if she could mentor me. At that time, we were living in Davao City, which was an hour or so away by flight. As someone from the countryside, this was a huge opportunity. I really didn’t know what to do with my life then (since I was only 12!), so I said yes. Every once in a while, I would spend a weekend in Manila to learn from her. When she got diagnosed with cancer, she urged me to discover life outside of film and to expand my world–to see if this was really for me. This led to a lot of journeys in my life: I got to go to Japan and then France as a cultural scholar (Marilou really pushed me to go to Japan at one point in my life); I became a volunteer at a non-profit group, and I got to travel around the Philippines for it; After finishing my undergrad, I was hired to become a translator of Filipino soap operas. Meanwhile, I could not shake my passion for film. Opportunities to work in film just seemed to present themselves serendipitously. I ended up becoming a freelance director, writer, and editor. I mainly worked on a YouTube channel, “Stages Sessions,” which focuses on Filipino indie musicians and poets. Over the years, I was able to help my colleagues grow the channel until we received the YouTube Silver Award. In 2019, I decided to work in film full-time which eventually led me here to Los Angeles.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
You can tell it hasn’t been exactly a smooth road! But mine has been a fun and interesting path with a lot of detours. I think some of my struggles are the same as everyone else’s: how to pay the bills when you’re working on low-budget projects, the constant stream of rejections you get just by putting your name out there, the constant self-doubts you face: I think those were the main struggles. I think it’s harder as an international folk in the US to face these challenges because you also have your visa paperwork to be on top of, which can be a lot of work as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I mostly do editing, but I am also a writer and a director. I have two shorts in the festival circuit that I directed and wrote: “Connection” and “A Karaoke Space Odyssey.” I describe Connection as a bilingual TikTok musical battle between a Filipino musician and French content creator; while I describe A Karaoke Space Odyssey as a “rom-com sci-fi karaoke musical” about an undocumented person going on a date with a strange man who turns out to be an alien from outer space. Recently, though, a short documentary that I edited, “ALOK,” had its premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a documentary featuring gender non-conforming poet, writer, and author Alok Vaid-Menon, and it is directed by Alex Hedison and executive-produced by Jodie Foster.
Most of the work I deal with is joyful, and I am always emphasizing the radical power of joy, especially for queer international people of color like myself. I love tackling the theme of finding connection in a world that seems to both want to punish you and uplift you–a world that can be both cruel and kind. I think this is what is at the heart of all my works.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I think Covid-19 has made me think of ways to portray social media cinematically. It seems some of my peers still shy away from exploring that world in film for many legitimate reasons, but it is an undeniably integral part of our society right now. Covid just made that more apparent.
Covid-19 also strengthened my ties with the international community, and I have learned to tap in that in my project. The shorts I have directed are made in different parts of the world… One even had us directing a scene in two different time zones simultaneously!!!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addik_92/
Image Credits
Bianca Catbagan
Mima Holt
Marie Dinolan
Hazel Lozano
