Chelsie Pennello on Finding Imperfection in Film

Mixed Asian Media - June 25, 2024

By Angela Wong Carbone

Although filmmaking was late on the list of modes of expression, for Chelsie Pennello, inspiration strikes hard and fast. Her freshman film, Mandarins, boasts gut-busting laughs among a delicate story of a family’s experience of burying their mother. Sitting down with MAM’s Angela Wong Carbone, Chelsie opens up about what inspirations blossomed her creative spirit, what she hopes to contribute to the AAPI film canon, and how it feels to share her work with one of her biggest influences: her mom.  

This interview is part of the 5 Filmmakers to Watch series. Check out our interviews with Alexandra Qin, Maegan Houang, Emily Jampel, and the team behind FutureProof!

*THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR CLARITY AND LENGTH.

How did you come up with the idea for Mandarins? Is it based on something personal or were you more interested in just speaking about generational trauma at large?

I started with some feeling or topic that I wanted to explore and built a world around it. I had recently watched Festen by Thomas Vinterberg. And I think that movie in particular was really inspiring to me because he just did the thing according to the principles of Dogme 95.

They only wanted to use in-scene lighting. They didn't wanna do any movie magic effects. And it doesn't look well lit because that was the intention of it. It was pretty jarring at first watching it but then you just forget because the writing, acting, and the characters were so strong. It was a combination of those feelings, so watching his film I was inspired to write something like that.

I feel like Mandarins has the Vinterberg quality of a deep unraveling that you get to witness. You find people really going through it in his movies. 

How were you able to get there and was there any influence from your own cultural identity? The film is so laced with those elements, like the mandarins, the expectations of what happens at a Chinese funeral. I've been to Chinese funerals. I never had to give any speeches, luckily.

I actually haven't experienced a Chinese funeral. I think the way that I'd wanted to approach it was based on my experience in Asian America as a second-gen.

I had a very Asian upbringing. The community and friends that my mom had were all Asian in a very Taiwanese community in the DC metro area.

The way that we approached the funeral was [how] the siblings, like me, are all second generation. Putting this funeral together when they’re not fully aware how these traditions work… they're doing the best with what they know. They probably were like, “Well, mom raised us and spent a lot of time in this Chinese community center. So, we'll have the funeral here with the community that we grew up in.” Just like the classic Asian American experience of doing the best with what you've been taught, but obviously, there's gonna be gaps because you live in a different country than the country that your parents were from.

As Asian Americans, we all feel very much, but it's not necessarily shown on screen. How do you feel about the canon of AAPI representation and how do you feel your voice fits in?

There's really only a handful of things that have been out there. We're just starting to unpack what that can look like. But in terms of how I want my voice to fit, I try to add to the conversation. I feel very strongly that equitable representation of women and Asian American women and Asian Americans in the media is not propping up a POC character as this perfect hero. To me, that feels like a major disservice to what we are and how. And how diverse we can be.

And so with the lead character in the film, I really wanted to write someone who was deeply imperfect, deeply flawed, and failed her way into a moment of grace. I feel so strongly that that's the way forward.

Tell me about your journey to film. Did you always know that you wanted to make films? 

Definitely did not know that I wanted to be a filmmaker. I feel that tends to be the general experience of a lot of women. There are a lot of male directors who are like, “I picked up my camcorder when I was 5 years old and I just knew,” and I feel like a lot of the women I talk to have a very different experience and come to it a bit later.

I was always artistically inclined, really enjoyed story and really enjoyed creating. Then in college, I went into the communication school at Syracuse undecided and I took an intro to film class. That was the greatest influence on me: a bunch of art house films that I had no idea existed that I would then go home and watch. And just made me realize what film as a medium could do.

You mentioned that growing up, you hadn't been exposed to certain kinds of media. Did you have any friends or alliances along the way where you were able to step into that creative power? 

I really think so much of it is just exposure. You don't know what you don't know. And I think that was me for quite a long time. I feel like such a late bloomer. I'm just catching up. I watched a lot of Chinese films growing up, martial arts films that my mom would watch. My mom has never been like, “Oh, don't do that.”

That directing class that I took in college unlocked me.

Has your mom seen the film?

I [originally] was having nightmares about [her seeing it]. I was like, “Oh my God, she's gonna think I hate her.”

She was actually on set. You see her for half a second. She had a line. We had to cut it ’cause it was the first day of shooting,  and, we were still establishing our cadence so we had to cut it, which I'm actually sad about.

I think she had fun seeing me do my dream. And then when we had our little private screening for cast and crew I had no idea how she was gonna react. She said afterward she teared up  and it made her think about her relationship with her mom and how her mom never said, “I love you” to her. It made me cry when she told me that. So it was actually like the best possible response from her.

Mandarins premiered on Film Shortage on February 26, 2024. To learn more about Mandarins, watch here: