After the incredible response, we got from our post on Adultolescence. channelAPA.com is glad to see that the film will be screened Friday, April 29, 2011 at 9:45pm at the DGA as part of the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. (you can get tickets here. Here’s director/actress Vicky Shen on Adultolescence:

“Adultolescence” is about an artist suffering from post-college career ennui, who returns home to live with her parents, even though she had been previously disowned by her immigrant mother. Besides the major theme of familial disconnection, the film could also generate a cinematic forum for discussion on themes from identity politics to the economy to what it means to be a young adult today, a generation so heavily influenced by social media and voyeurism.

Using the story of stagnation for one twenty-something to reveal larger themes of the economics of emotions for post-grads, “Adultolescence” also blends the dual identity of American born children of immigrant parents. It is ultimately a story about finding peace with the parents by growing to accept them, and to find an identity beyond them despite the heaviness of parental expectations.

A visceral, thematic narrative is also woven through the film to integrate how popular culture creates a sense of isolation within the individual. “Adultolescence” speaks of today’s media-influenced generation: for the main character, Lea May is so affected by idealized fulfillment, a modern-day “Madame Bovary,” the barrier between reality and fantasy bleeds. This stylistic approach could also spark debate over the positive and negative sides of technology and how it relates to media. How can media still be a great educator and a source of energy?

Finally, “Adultolescence” is a term coined to describe a new stage of life, between that of adolescence and adulthood. Many young adults have been facing financial difficulties because of rising college costs, consumerism, graduate and professional school programs, careers of lower security, more frequent job changes, and an ongoing need for new training and education. As a response to all of the above, parents of today’s youth seem increasingly willing to extend financial support and even an invitation to live back at home well into their twenties and even into their early thirties.

This leads to another question, “How can the support adult-children receive from their parents have potential to be more crippling than helpful?” Forget the financial ramifications of post-graduates falling back on their parents for help, “Adultolescence” reveals that the tricky stages of childhood may have a lasting emotional impact, leaving adult-children without the tools to grow into maturity in their parents’ home and, ultimately, without the ability to move out with grace.

Look for the movie coming to a film festival near you.

Adultolescence trailer