D. Asian started as short story penned by Phillip Guttmann (writer/producer) in Brooklyn, NY in the spring of 2014, based loosely on his own childhood memories.  It is the first in a series of slightly twisted, dark and nostalgic memory short stories.  The series of short stories deals with the strange growing up years of a slightly awkward, gay, Jewish kid from Minnesota being raised in California by a mother from New York City, father from South Dakota and step-mother from Boston (to this day, Phillip still has no idea where the hell he is).  Phillip’s writing and producing partner Sarah Smith, while trekking the Camino de Santiago in the north of Spain in search of a spiritual awakening, thought, “Yes, this is what I’ve been looking for!  I’m always just trying to fit in!”  And immediately set off to adapting D.Asian into a short film.

 

At its core D.Asian is the story of a child seeking to clarify who he is in relation to those he identifies with most.  It's a timeless tale of that period in our lives when we crave the acceptance of our peers but regardless take a stand and for the first time say "no, THIS is who I am."  While today it's more accepted to name your own identity, we still have a long way to go - and in very recent times, the notion of "self-identification" was practically unheard of.  D. Asian is a reflection of a boy seen as part of the majority on the outside, that feels anything but on the inside.  D. Asian encapsulates the universally understood struggle to be different - and for that to be okay.

 

Sarah and Phillip plan to embark on the next chapter of the short story series with Robbery on Louisiana in the coming year.