Sunday Errand

Director’s Statement:

“Sunday Errand” is the movie I needed to see when I was a kid and felt powerless against the adult world. I grew up to become a filmmaker because storytelling and comedy saved my life and I want families such as mine - who are often undocumented, shamed or feel silenced - to see their stories reflected in everyday culture.

The film, a dark comedy, is inspired by my childhood memories of growing up in the American South.  My family and I were the first Asian-American family in Sterling, Virginia, a town which had been chartered in the 60’s as a “Whites’” sanctuary for Southerners who opposed integration. (During a stretch of my childhood, the Ku Klux Klan sent threatening letters to our house.)

I watched my family being regularly refused service at gas stations and grocery stores. I also watched them fight back many times, in sharp contrast to the American stereotypes of Asians being model minorities or compliant.

In a time when the country is yet again seeing a spike in anti-Asian sentiment and violence, my hope is that Sunday Errand, which will feature a fierce, complex Asian American woman and girl as leads, can provoke meaningful discussion about the untold story of historic anti-Asian racism and the ways that ordinary families have fought back.

-Christy Chan