Special Delivery Productions is thrilled to announce that the award-winning sophomore short film ‘Sorry For Your Cost’ from writer-director Rosie Choo Pidcock (Esther & Sai) will debut in New York at the 48th Asian American International Film Festival on August 3rd at the Regal Union Square Cinema. The film features Olivia Cheng (Warrior, Marco Polo), Simon Chin (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Avatar The Last Airbender), Lucas Mocchi (Hulu’s Under the Bridge), Enid-Raye Adams (With Love and a Major Organ), and newcomer Adeline Lo as Ren.
.
Keen to transcend their basement suite status, Ren and her family are fighting for her dream to go to theatre school. With Hamlet’s monologue in her chest and a decade’s worth of savings in her bank account, Ren is ready for takeoff. When her Mom dies, the day she gets into theatre school, Ren faces giving up her acting dreams to pay for the funeral.
.
“Asian women have often been reduced to tropes on screen and in reality. Bringing to life two dynamic female Asian characters, a teenager and a mother in her 40s, is the most hard fought and hard won achievement for me as a female Asian filmmaker,” says Choo Pidcock. “The story is an amalgamation of three personal experiences: planning my mother’s funeral, participating in a balloon release at a funeral, and finding a grave plot that was for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $30,000. These experiences led me to reflect on my own grief rituals that I have built to survive the times when I miss my Mom the most. This film is an offering for those reckoning with the collective grief of our current times.”
.
Rosie Choo Pidcock is a Chinese Canadian writer, director, and producer based in Vancouver. Her award-winning debut short film Esther & Sai, a portrait of the friendship between two immigrant nursing students in the 1970s, received distribution on Air Canada and is currently in series development with the support of the Canada Media Fund, Reelworld, and the TIFF Series Accelerator. Her sophomore film Sorry For Your Cost, which explores the predatory nature of the funeral industry through the eyes of a Hamlet-crazed teenager, world premiered at the St. John’s International Women in Film Festival, played in Toronto at Reelworld, Disorient, Seattle Asian American Film Festival and Chilliwack Independent Film Festival where it won Best Script.
.
.
The film was shot in Vancouver and Burnaby, BC, with select scenes filmed in the celebration hall of the Mountain View Cemetery where Choo Pidcock’s mother Sai’s ashes are interred. She cites her mother, Sai as her greatest influence and inspiration in terms of leading an artistic life. The film was written, directed and produced by Rosie Choo Pidcock (Special Delivery Productions), produced by Geoff Manton and Angelica Stirpe from Boldly and Athena Russell (Wives Entertainment), Shaun Morse is Associate Producer, Joey Gu and Daniel Cheng from Mimosa Productions are Executive Producers. The director of photography is Belen Garcia, the film is composed by Jordan Andrew, Mel Zaini is costume designer, production design by Adrianna Marchand and hair and makeup by Isabel Paganine. Sorry for your Cost stars Olivia Cheng stars and she is also an Executive Producer.
.
The film was made possible with the support of Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, National Film Board of Canada, Seed&Spark Community Contributors, Keslow Camera and Pacific Backlot.
About Author
