KAYA

KAYA: AN ISABEL LAMERS FILM.

By Emmanuel Itier

First time director Isabel Lamers just launched her film “Kaya” at the Oscar-Qualifying Hollyshorts in Los Angeles. Watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/1177104875 . This already acclaimed short got its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and it follows half-Filipina kickboxer Nia (played by Isabel Lamers) who sees a chance to finally belong by joining a prestigious Filipino Martial Arts team. This is a genuine movie about finding yourself and your true identity; where you belong and who, truly, is your family. Being French and living in America, I can identify to this aching of finding your tribe and to never really belong anywhere. At the end it's about admitting that life as an outcast is not that bad and that ultimately you will be judged for what you do and not what you look like, for what you achieve and leave as a legacy as well as for your resilience and your bad ass beauty within…and without. We all are our own Hero, and we need to better listen to the voice within that frees us from fear and limitation. Isabel Lamers is a hero for herself, and her community and she shows that Hollywood has now to count with one extra voice, extra soul, to conquer the big screen. Can’t wait to see what this fine lady will do next. I’m in full support. Go Isabel, rock the day, rock your life.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Isabel in between screenings of her film:

Q: What was the idea making this film, what were you trying to achieve with it?

Isabel: I made it because I experienced mix race growing up. It was a very interesting journey to go on, and I wanted to share from my perspective how it was like and what kind of encounters I came across. I thought this was worth doing this film. 

Q: What challenges did you face putting together this film and shooting it?

Isabel: The most important and first challenge was the fundraising. I didn’t have any budget at first, I didn’t have any of my own money to put in this film. At the end this is an all-crowd funded picture. It was hard to go out and ask for help. In a way it was embarrassing asking friends and family to help us. It was tough raising money as we don’t even know what kind of investment they could get back. It forced us to think why is this film helpful to others. And I found out lots of people in the martial art community wanted to support this film as it promotes a good image of the community.  At first it was called ‘Filippino Karate Kid’; inspired by the ‘Karate Kid’ franchise. Finding the right producer was also hard. I had a difficult situation with the producer in the Philippines, and I ended up with no budget after principal photography! So, we had to find more money after. Finding people, you can trust was very challenging. As my first film it was a big learning process. It was great to find out how to learn how to work with other people and focus at making the best film possible.

Q: What do you think this movie is truly about and the themes explored?

Isabel: It’s mostly about identity and to show who you are without needing other people’s approval. At the end of the day, in the movie, Nia tries to prove people she is Filipina and at the end she is  like: “Whatever! Think what you think but I’m still who I am”. For me it’s the inspiration from The Karate Kid movies that gave its spirit to this film. Especially the one with Will Smith’s kid and when they go to China to fit in.  

Q: What are your hopes with this film? And the takeaway?

Isabel: Essentially, I wanted to show what I can do as a filmmaker. My goal is to make feature women action films. This is a sample to the full feature I want to do. This one is more of a martial film, but the feature will be more pure action driven. I want it to be be female led like this short was with a female director, Director of Photography, etc. Of course, the film will go in other film festival and to try to be selected for the Oscars. This would be amazing!