Dear Universe,

I want an Oscar (SO MUCH) – the elusive golden statue that appears in most filmmakers’ dreams, a symbol that validates all the blood, sweat, and tears, and one of the highest honors a filmmaker can hope to achieve. Once, this goal seemed barely obtainable, but now “My Heart – Ya Albi” is one of the 160+ Oscar qualified live action short films contending for a spot on the “Short List” for a 2018 Oscar nomination.

My Heart – Ya Albi is an Oscar qualified live action short film

I am so thankful that we have made it this far. It has been quite the journey, one filled with a lot of hard work, learning experience, and a wide range of emotions. I look back at what my Moth to Flame team has accomplished so far and feel an immense sense of pride and joy. Together, we birthed this seed of an idea into a beautiful short film that will hopefully also become a feature in the future.

Every filmmaker, myself included, goes through his or her career dealing with crippling self-doubt, a lot of uncertainty, and copious sacrifices to reach the next milestone. Every time I make a film, especially one that I have written, directed, and co-produced, I open my heart (pun not intended) wide and let myself be completely vulnerable to the world. It is a scary, yet life changing feeling to take a leap of faith and put everything (mind, body, soul) into something you believe in. The beauty about a great film is that every single person on the team must take that same leap of faith with you. My Heart – Ya Albi is great because I believe in it, my team believes in it, and most importantly everyone who watches the film believes in us.

Making it onto the Oscar short list would be a dream come true, but we cannot do it alone. Now that we have qualified for an Academy Award, we need your help. If you believe in the film or if you believe in us, please join our journey to the Oscars by helping us promote My Heart – Ya Albi. We have about a month before the Oscar voting/rating process ends in early December. During this month of November, our goal is to spread the word about My Heart – Ya Albi. Not every film has to be watched for votes to count, so to encourage Academy members to watch our film, we must generate as much buzz as possible.

You can do this by sharing the film trailer, our blogs about the film, and basically anything to help spread the word that this is a film worth watching. Let us create so much excitement and attention about My Heart – Ya Albi that we attract the attention of every Academy Member and hopefully inspire them to also watch the film. We truly believe that when they do watch My Heart – Ya Albi, they will fall in love with it too.

Love,

Christine W. Chen & Team My Heart – Ya Albi