A Young Director’s Dreamlike Portrait of Asian American Artists at SFFILM

Editor’s note: This story is part of KQED’s Youth Takeover. Throughout the week of April 22-26, we’re publishing content by high school students from all over the Bay Area.

Walking into Agelio Batle’s San Leandro art studio, Kaiya Jordan heard an idea that stuck with her: that art should be “like a stone or flower.”

The Berkeley High School student originally set out to make a straightforward documentary, but her plans shifted dramatically after her conversation with the painter and sculptor. They spoke for hours about what art means to them and how to translate their innermost emotions for viewers.

“[Batle] is working on these mirrors [with] gold frames, and it’s representing the impact of war on his childhood in the Philippines and how that impacted family dynamics,” says Jordan. “He was the one that inspired the whole idea behind the film.”

Jordan uses film as a means to push the boundaries of storytelling. Her latest short film, like a stone or flower, was inspired by her conversation with Batle and two other Asian American artists of different generations: the dancer-visual artist Tamara Chu and illustrator Mika Jordan, who is Jordan’s 14-year-old sister. Jordan’s work often blends film with animation, and her latest piece uses multimedia elements to go beyond a typical documentary and spark reflection in the viewer.

“I think utilizing various different photographs and paintings and animation and incorporating that into my film is freeing in how I’m able to express myself and tell the stories that I want to tell,” she says.

like a stone or flower will premiere at the Youth Works screening at the Marina Theatre on April 28 as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. The student director is an alum of SFFILM’s Youth FilmHouse Residency. She also honed her skills at Problem Library’s Problem Children, another mentorship program for young Bay Area artists.

During her time at Youth FilmHouse Residency, Jordan connected with professional filmmakers, and Daniel Freeman’s experimental approach became an inspiration for like a stone or flower. “He was the first one to show me how to blend documentary and narrative films in a way where you’re capturing real stories, but then you’re also embedding your own opinion and thoughts and story into the broader documentary itself,” Jordan says.

Jordan edited nine hours of interview footage down to just nine minutes, creating a short but thought-provoking film. Jordan wanted to better connect with her own identity as an Asian American artist by seeking out others with similar backgrounds.

“Since I was able to interview those three artists, I was really able to understand how their own heritage and community and culture had affected their art,” she says. “Even with my sister, too, we talked about [how] … we’re both half Chinese and half white, and I think that sometimes we both feel that we’re somewhat white-presenting. So I think it can be tough to grapple with that.”

As her interview with Batle continued, the need for structured questions melted away, and Jordan allowed the conversation to continue to more philosophical ideas around art. This is reflected in the film, which Jordan says “transcends rationality and logic” in a series of dreamlike montages overlaid with the artists’ speaking about their processes. She intersperses clips from each interview with images of the artists’ work. The film takes on complex questions of artistic motivation and answers them with interwoven, highly personal reflections on self-expression.

All three artists speak about their artistic instincts: Chu’s everyday inspiration, Batle’s serendipitous sculptures and Mika Jordan’s emotional characters. Chu takes abstract photos of “alien landscapes,” rippling scenes of light cast from her windows. She wants her art to allow the viewer to “enter [a] magical land where things that shouldn’t be able to happen are happening,” which is how she feels when light sparks her imagination. She hangs these photos over a lime-green chaise in her cozy and eclectic home, which also provides a set for her dance.

The youngest artist, Mika Jordan, draws anime-inspired characters with bold personalities to amplify hidden parts of herself. Her room is covered in posters, and she says at one point that artists are “like superheroes.”

“I think that was a particularly impactful moment in the interview process because it was seeing someone so close to me have this moment of realization that I could definitely connect with,” Kaiya Jordan says.

Batle comes across as wise and experienced, and focuses on the complexity of art above all else. His studio is filled with mementos of his process: a bright orange geometric structure, glass bell jars, black paper covered in golden grids and finished artwork on the walls. His metaphors for art guide how we interpret the rest of the film.

After she finished the filmmaking process, Jordan discovered more about herself, but not in the way she had anticipated. Though she hasn’t chosen her college yet, she plans to continue her journey by studying film production at a four-year university. When reflecting on creating like a stone or flower, Jordan remembers the “transformative experience” of collaborating in a setting where all ideas were equally respected, regardless of the creator’s age or experience.

“I had previously thought of being a youth filmmaker as something that is sort of inferior to adults who have more access to the industry,” she says. “But I think with the help of SFFILM and Problem Library, I’ve been able to understand the importance and beauty of being a youth and having access to adults who will both understand your perspective, but also be there to mentor you. The connection and the community between youth filmmakers is pretty powerful.”

‘like a stone or flower’ premieres at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 28. Details and tickets here. 

Anaya Ertz is currently a sophomore at Marin Academy. She enjoys reading, writing and dancing.