Kickstarter

The Story

Formosa, TX is the story of Lon, a first generation Asian-American growing up in a small outpost town helping his mother run the family diner.  Without a sense of belonging, he seeks connection with a world outside of his own.  As passengers off a broken down bus enter the diner to wait out the repair, Lon's mother spies an opportunity to make some badly needed extra income while Lon sees an opportunity to make a more personal connection pitting one against the other in a clash of culture, generations and family.

A Note From the Director

Watching movies is great and it's even more of a joy to get the opportunity to make and eventually share stories as personal and unique as I think this one is through film.

Having grown up in a small town as the son of immigrants has afforded me a perspective across two cultures: one of my family's heritage and one of my country.  From this, my sentiment is one that we're probably more a part of the same experience than different and hope to see this idea realized in the emergent themes of this project.

I thank you in advance for taking the time to consider this project.

Where does it go?

We're looking to raise funds to bolster the production phase and to cover a portion of the post production phase of the film:

Locations - We are shooting on location in Marfa, TX which means we will be away from our home base of Austin, TX.  We'll need to cover the transportation costs of getting the cast, crew and equipment from both Los Angeles, CA and Austin, TX out to Marfa.  We will also need to cover the cost of food and shelter for cast and crew during the ten-day shoot.

Format and Equipment Rental - We chose 35mm film as the format for this film as we felt it would best capture the eerie beauty of the West Texas landscape and sky as well as the timeless quality of the locations we'll be shooting in Marfa.  In addition, the support for such a format requires the use of specialized equipment designed to handle the heft of such a camera and support its movement as well as lights and the generators to power them, all towards maximizing the potential of the format.

Development and Transfer - With the choice of shooting film comes the development of the film itself and the digitization of the film for use in today's non-linear editing workflows.

Creative Team

Roy Rutngamlug - Writer/Director:  Roy is an MFA (Film Production) candidate in his final year of study out of the University of Texas Department of Radio-Television-Film.  He enjoys making films.

Ellie Ann Fenton - Cinematographer:  Ellie has just completed her MFA in Cinematography from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California.  In addition to being a veteran of numerous film productions in Austin and LA, as a native of West Texas, she has a unique appreciation for the landscape of this area.

Kelsey Coggin - Producer:  Kelsey hails from West Texas and is nearing completion of her BS in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas.  During that time, she's produced and worked as assistant director on sixteen award-winning films that have gone to screen at the likes of the Austin Film Festival, aGLIFF, Slamdance and SXSW.