It’s not dinuguan, if that’s what you’re thinking.
Rather, it is a dish that writer-director Edward J. Mallillin’s Iloilo-born grandmother created just for him when he was a child living in Texas .
"As a child, I asked her for the name of the dish, and she never had an answer," Edward shared with Asian Journal in a recent interview.
The tasty dish became Edward’s favorite and frequent requests for his lola to make him "the brown soup thing" are part of his childhood memories.
Years later, Edward would write and direct a film about being a Filipino in the USand what would the title be? Brown Soup Thing.
Brown Soup Thing is a movie that shows a young girl’s attempt to define what a Filipino-American is, much like Edward’s attempts at trying to name his childhood comfort food.
The movie centers on 10 year-old Lita and her quest to raise her average by putting together a video project for school about what it means to be a Filipino in America. Her birthday provides the perfect setting for the project since everybody is there: her parents who can’t relate to their kids, her immigrant sister Fely, her always-guilty over-achiever brother Jude, her hip-hop sister Maria, an array of cousins, her grandmother who just wants to cook, and her favorite sister Shana, who moved out of the country to get away from everyone.
Brown Soup Thing will be shown at UNLV in Las Vegas on Nov 14 and 15, at 1pm. Manny Pacquiao fans who are in town to watch his fight against Miguel Cotto will be thrilled to know that the Pinoy champ is also in the movie. The Las Vegas premiere was also organized by the Filipino American Student Association at UNLV.
Aside from Manny, Filipino stars in the film include Raymond Bagatsing, Bernardo Bernardo, Cora Ugalde Yellen, Becca Godinez and Anthony Castelo. Famous internet star Christine "HappySlip" Gambito will be in the film as well as popular Asian-American comedians Paul "PK" Kim and KTTatara.
Writer and director Edward Mallillin is also the creator and executive producer of the hugely popular internet series Flipped Switch, which will provide fans with exclusive coverage of Brown Soup Thing’s weekend in Las Vegas .
Brown Soup Thing is an official selection of the Filipino International Film Festival Los Angeles, the Pacific Media Expo, and the Chicago Filipino American Film Festival. Packed venues indicate how this indie film’s popularity among Filipino-Americans across the US.
The movie has also been accepted into the Delray Beach Film Festival in Florida in March 2010.
Tickets for the Las Vegas screening are available at www.brownpapertickets.com by entering "Brown Soup Thing" into the search.
( Published November 13, 2009 Asian Journal Las Vegas p. B2 )
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