Director Caylee So and Writer/Actor Doua Moua Attending.
Based Doua Moua’s own script, director Caylee So’s The Harvest is the rare feature focusing on a Hmong American family. According to Moua, “As an actor, I was told my type of Asian does not fit into the narrative of America, which led me to writing narratives that I wanted to tell.”
Moua plays Thai, a Hmong American man from Southern California struggling to become a writer. When his proud and resolute father, Cher, begins to succumb to years of kidney failure, Thai returns home, to find a family in disarray, hiding their secrets, which include mounting medical bills. Thai must balance the fine line between returning to the fold and being his own person. This moving portrait of a Hmong family struggling in California is also a strong statement on the burdens of American capitalism.
Director Biography
Caylee So is the director of the documentary features Chpaa: a Medical Mission (2014), In the Life of Music (2018), Remembrance and Renewal: Celebrating Cambodian American Stories (2021). The Harvest (2023) is her debut feature film.