Short Film: In Lieu of You
In Lieu of You, is a project I created within my final year of my MFA program. I took a film class within my final semester that had an option to make a film for the final project, which pushed me to finish the film I was already developing. It took a while to figure out what I was doing but I wanted to have fun while figuring out my thesis. My family was the camcorder type and had a lot of family footage on tape, sitting in storage, so as the family archivist I wanted to salvage what I could. What I didn't know is how much of my mother I would get back when sifting through that footage.
This film is the result of not breathing during grieving. I let the frog in my throat grow comfortable. Before grad school, I stopped dancing, singing, gut laughing, smiling often and showing up for myself. I would consider this film to be my first deep breath within coexisting with my pain.
I am not in the place yet where I can fully explain what this project opened up for me but I can share that this 6 minute and 35 second film took several months of scouring though hours of footage to say something close to where I am.
As a first daughter of a first daughter I'm learning a lot, alone. I hope that in the future I can continue to make work that renders the feeling of living with loss.
This is a short film I worked on from fall 2024 to spring 2025 in response to the time passed since my mothers passing in 2019. It is composed of old VHS, mini-DV films and current digital footage from 2025. Using software from my graduate schools digital lab utilizing adobe suite, iMovie, VCR's and vintage Sony tape software to help convert the films from the 90's and early 2000's.
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Jahniah Kum
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This project was inspired by my later mother and the things that I have endured and learned in the wake of her absence. Enjoy the first two episodes and click the follow button below to subscribe if anything resonates with you.
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