“Searching for Kapwa” a film inspired by Social Justice Movements and Filipino Cultural Identity
An interview with the filmmaker Larry D. Lariosa of Alchemy and Twine Productions
Larry D. Lariosa is a queer filmmaker, singer/songwriter, and musician. The child of immigrant Filipino parents, his artistic process draws on both life experience and his 20+ years as a licensed mental health therapist.
As a filmmaker, Larry wrote and co-produced the documentary, Searching for Kapwa, an exploration on colonialism and its impact on identity. The documentary was featured in the 2022 United States of Asian America Festival, awarded the Kinship Award at the 2023 DisOrient Asian American Film Festival and was the Centerpiece feature at the 2023 San Diego Filipino Film Festival. Under the pseudonym Atir, he has self-produced original music albums on Apple Music has most recently composed the scores for two upcoming musicals.
Larry currently lives in Oakland, California with his partner/co-filmmaker and their 3 chihuahuas.
🎥 Watch the trailer to Searching for Kapwa and learn more about the film and upcoming screenings at www.searchingforkapwa.com! 🎞️
Be sure to follow the project on Facebook and Larry on Instagram @alchemytwine for more of their upcoming work!
APICC: Larry let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us how this project came to life?
LARRY D. LARIOSA: My creative process for the documentary “Searching for Kapwa” started almost 8 years ago. I was going through a career transition and starting to develop a greater awareness of my cultural identity.
It began through journal writing and filming short videos my partner/co-producer would take of me reflecting on my journey of cultural exploration. I was motivated by other people telling their stories as well as the social justice movements at the time. Being a more introverted type, my creative process served as a way to get involved in social justice with the hope that I could share the completed film with a broader audience to help facilitate deeper discussions about identity and history.
My creative process served as a way to get involved in social justice with the hope that I could share the completed film with a broader audience to help facilitate deeper discussions about identity and history.
APICC: How has making this film transformed you?
LARRY D. LARIOSA: This creative process transformed me in ways I never anticipated. Before making this film, I felt lost and disconnected from my history and cultural identity. Because the film is about a journey of self-discovery and connecting the dots between history and present day, I now have a greater awareness of my place in history, and the shoulders I stand on to have gotten to where I am now.
This process has allowed me to start to heal in ways that only creativity can. Healing isn’t always intellectual or verbal. It can be in creating music that captures an emotion you can’t express in words, or in putting a montage of old photographs together that evokes a certain response in the body. This process has also allowed me to connect with people who feel similarly. It helps remind me I am not alone. Everyone on some level is searching. That is probably the most gratifying part of the process.
This process has allowed me to start to heal in ways that only creativity can. Healing isn’t always intellectual or verbal. And, letting yourself go internally to the scariest places, becoming vulnerable in your process, is how you can start to heal, and ultimately connect with others.
APICC: What have you learned from exploring storytelling, identity and history?
LARRY LARIOSA: That everything matters. History matters. Stories matter. And, letting yourself go internally to the scariest places, becoming vulnerable in your process, is how you can start to heal, and ultimately connect with others.
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