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About The Film
+Short Documentary +English, Tagalog + USA + 26:46 Minutes +Color
Logline: When 50-year-old Filipina immigrant travels to the Philippines for the first time since infancy, she immerses in her native culture and learns traditional dances to bring back to her Filipino community in Alaska, hoping to spark cultural engagement and identity amongst youth increasingly disconnected from their heritage.
This is a story beyond just one culture; it is about the struggle of immigrants to maintain their identity in the United States, played out on the last frontier.
About Alma Manabat Parker
Director of Operations, Ketchikan Wellness Coalition
As a Filipina Alaskan, Alma Manabat Parker has an intimate understanding of the Asian American identity crisis. Growing up, she struggled with racism. Philippine folk dance is helping her rediscover her cultural roots.
She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Alabama at eight months old. Then, at age eight her family moved to Ketchikan. Alma's life took a significant turn when she settled in Alaska, which she has called home for over five decades.
Alma's life is not merely a geographical journey, but also a journey of self-discovery through dance. Dance, for Alma, is more than just a hobby. Dance is a healing expression of her cultural heritage and a powerful tool for reconnecting with her Philippine roots.
While Alma plays many roles in her life - a loving wife, a devoted mother, a committed sister, and a professional in health equity - it's her role as a dance coach that ignites her spirit and fuels her purpose. Since the age of 8, she has danced and coached the next generation daily. This enriches her life and her community.
Alma continues to be an inspiration for others in Ketchikan, Alaska. She embodies that rediscovering one's roots can be as simple as following the rhythm of your heart on the dance floor.
About the Director
Rafael is a Center for Asian American Media Fellow and receives mentorship from Tadashi Nakamura.
At age six, Rafael’s creative journey started when he used his mom’s camera to capture his older sister during a dance performance in the Philippines.
Early exposure to the arts sparked his creativity, which came into focus years later. As a 7th grader in Kodiak Island, Alaska, he documented the life of a retired Filipina nurse and teacher. Since then, he has been filming documentaries centered on overlooked stories (particularly Filipina/o Americans).
In 2016, Rafael represented the Kodiak History Museum at the National Arts and Humanities Youth Programs Award, where Michelle Obama highlighted his contributions to photography and filmmaking. Rafael’s work has garnered support from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Humanities Forum.
Beyond filmmaking, he teaches digital storytelling to youth and educators across Alaska through the nonprofit See Stories. The power of film and service fuels him to uplift others with dignity. Rafael is a Coca-Cola, Horatio Alger, and Live Más Scholar with a B.S. in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.
About the Producer
Raised in Guam, Lailanie Gadia (she/her) is a Filipina American community builder, producer, and financial professional based in Los Angeles. She serves as the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc)’s Operations Director, supporting over 1,700 filmmakers and film professionals, where she helped series produce Emmy-nominated and Silver Anthem award-winning 2022 Asian American Stories of Resilience and Beyond shorts.
She is on the producing team of Tadashi Nakamura’s Third Act (Sundance 2025) and assists with fiscal sponsorships at Visual Communications. She held marketing, sponsorships, partnerships, event production, and operations roles. She has several projects in development, including fiction feature Shoots, a 2024 Tribeca AT&T Untold Stories finalist. She is a 2023 Documentary New Leader and a 2021-2022 LEAP Impact alumna.
She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Loyola Marymount University, where she serves as an API Alumni Association board member. She is driven to uplift and empower AANHPI filmmakers and storytellers to live out their creative pursuits through community, collaboration, and impact. She previously had a 6-year career in mortgage banking before pursuing a more creative life in 2018. Visit
meetlailanie.me and find her on Instagram @itslailanie.
About the Editor
A Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab Fellow (2022), Diroy is the editor of the feature documentary Standing Above the Clouds (2024), which world-premiered at Hot Docs and won the Bill Nemtin Social Impact Award.
In 2019, she edited the short version of the film, which won Best Documentary Short at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Diroy also edited Fire Through Dry Grass, Best Feature Documentary at the BlackStar Film Festival, a New York Times Critic’s Pick, and part of POVʻs Season 36 on PBS.
In 2021, Diroy was selected for the Sundance Art of Editing Fellowship, and in 2018 was a fellow chosen for the Karen Schmeer Diversity in the Edit Room Program. When Diroy isnʻt creating, sheʻs teaching video editing at UC Berkeleyʻs Graduate School of Journalism and has previously taught youth at the Bay Area Video Coalition and the Educational Video Center in New York. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and continuously strives to collaborate, build community, and make magic with other creatives locally and remotely.
About the Mentor
Emmy-winning filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura was named one of CNN’s “Young People Who Rock” for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and listed as one of the “Top Rising Asian American Directors” on IMDb.
His last film, Mele Murals, a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians, was broadcasted on PBS and Al
Jazeera, and was nominated for an Emmy in 2018. His previous film Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, was broadcasted nationally on PBS and went on to win the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award.
Nakamura’s trilogy of documentary films on the Japanese American experience, Yellow Brotherhood (2003), Pilgrimage (2007), and A Song for Ourselves (2009) have garnered over 20 awards. Nakamura has a M.A. in Social Documentation from UC Santa Cruz, and a B.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
Bitanga Productions
© 2023 by Bitanga Productions. All rights Reserved.
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