Inner Child
Lauren, a young adult who feels the need to be productive and make meaningful decisions that would lead to a bigger goal, battles shame for her desire to simply let loose and play.
Director: Angie Lin & Ji Lee
Writer: Angie Lin
Executive Producer: Angie Lin
Producer: Lizzie Green
Director of Photography: Elisabetta Fox Piantoni
Assistant Director: Xing Tong Zhou
Editor: Limbert Trinidad
Production Assistant: Bayley Ellenburg
Production Designer: Morel Malcolm
Set Dresser: William D'Antonio Dry
Gaffer: Nobu Emura
Key Grip: Max Woods
Still Photographer: Ben Conde
Sound Recordist: Yang Liu
Sound Mixer/Designer: Peter Zhongting Li
Composer: Adult Blonde
Colorist: Elisabetta Fox Piantoni
Poster Designer: Angie Lin
Director’s Statement
Growing up in an extremely competitive environment, I was conditioned to be result-oriented. My sense of self-worth was dependent on external validation, which suppressed my creativity and ripped me of the freedom to experience joy through exploration. For most of my life, I felt like a walking dead.
Throughout the past few years of pursuing art forms such as acting, dancing, writing and more, I have been trying to recall my passions from early ages, to let go of my perfectionism, to stop people-pleasing, and most importantly, to allow my wonder for this world shine through the mundane.
While it has been difficult to unlearn self-limiting behavioral patterns, slowly but surely, I have rediscovered who I am. I refer to this sense of self as “inner child” because I noticed that “who I am” was very clear when I was a child. It gradually got buried in people’s expectations for me as I got older, but it has always been there, waiting to be brought back to life.
Today, I have come to accept and appreciate my sensitivity, inner drama queen, love for play, experiments, and even mischief, as well as my curiosity for various directions and possibilities in life.
I believe that we are all just children trying to be adults, entrapped in ideas of how life is supposed to progress. Although it is necessary to take care of our responsibilities as adults, I hope this film can inspire people to hold onto the joy, innocence, and adventure that we experienced when we were children, and to protect their own inner child as the most precious gift.
Impact
Why is it important to learn about our inner child? As the strike has brought to our attention, creatives in the entertainment industry are being replaced by AI and our compensation does not nearly meet the amount of time and effort we provide. Our imagination, hard work and investment have not been valued by profit-driven authorities.
A lot of us have encountered family conflicts, financial struggles, sexism, racism, emotional labor, fatigue, toil and other forms of unjust while pursuing our dreams. Many of us have had these dreams since we were young, and continued to foster our passion despite various challenges along the journey because creativity is our fuel, the food for our soul, and what makes us feel alive. Without using our creativity, it is difficult for us to feel fulfilled. It is unfair that fulfilling opportunities are being taken away from us due to greed.
This is a film dedicated to all the creatives out there. When the industry tries to reduce us, the only joy we get out of this profession is the doing of it. We have to keep hanging onto that spark in our hearts regardless of rewards. We have to encourage our sense of play that brings out our individuality. We have to allow ourselves freedom to let loose and explore outside of the boxes people try to put us in. We have to keep spreading our hope and fascination for the world. A lot of this pure love for art and life can be found in the child versions of ourselves, still living within us. It is a gift we have to offer. I hope this film can remind creatives to keep that gift safe and sound. Don’t let it fade away with time and judgement.
Although this film ends with Lauren keeping her inner child private, I hope the ending can also encourage artists to share that private side of them with the world. I know that we keep what we love close to home and sometimes overly protect it, but you never know who you can inspire and who needs that push to go after their dreams.
