Filipina performance artist Bethesda moves into an art commune to search for her long missing biological mother. Along the way, she comes to realize that she just might be a fairy princess, fruit fly.

Director Biography - H.P. Mendoza

H.P. Mendoza is a Filipino-American filmmaker best known for his work as screenwriter, composer and lyricist on Colma: The Musical (2006), as well as his art-house horror film, I Am a Ghost (2014) called “H.P. Mendoza’s objet d’art” by Dennis Harvey of Variety. After his directorial debut Fruit Fly (2009), David Lamble of the San Francisco Bay Area Reporter dubbed Mendoza “San Francisco’s queer cinema poet”. In 2012, Mendoza was inducted into Essential SF by the San Francisco Film Society which supported his Filipino-American dramedy Bitter Melon (2018) which placed on over a dozen Top 10 lists after its 2018 theatrical run and was hailed as one of the “20 Best Bay Area Films of the Decade” by the Mercury News. Along with his feature films, Mendoza is also known for his music and art installations including the touring screening of his experimental visual album, Attack, Decay, Release, winner of the 2022 Grand Jury Prize at the Tallgrass Film Festival, Stubbornly Independent.

Mendoza is the 2024 recipient of the Marlon Riggs Award, given by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. After world premiering at Tribeca 2023, Mendoza recently won the 2023 Best Director award at the Ouray International Film Festival for The Secret Art of Human Flight which opened in theaters in the summer of 2024 via XYZ Films and on home video on Christmas of 2024 via Level 33 Entertainment.

Director Statement

I could start this statement by saying that I've had a rough five years but honestly, who hasn't? Between the social unrest amidst a global pandemic, several ongoing wars, numerous strikes and devastating wildfires, we've all been struggling to thrive during this time of "hypernormalisation". And while it's been comforting to hear folks say that they depend on the arts to fuel them during difficult times, I have to wonder: who do artists turn to when times get rough?

I recently had a retrospective of my films screen at the San Francisco Public Library for the month of October, capping off the month with a live sing-along of my music. While I was preparing for this crazy month, I was finishing off the theatrical run of my most recent film, The Secret Art of Human Flight. And even though I had a whole month dedicated to honoring my work, I found myself in a dark place. Possibly because I had lost five friends in a row, some to COVID, some to cancer. Possibly because everyone in my field was struggling from the strikes and the contraction of the film industry at large. Possibly because it was obvious at that time that the whole world was heading into a dark place. And I started to question my value, my output and my place in the world. Am I doing what I aimed to do? Was I who I aimed to be? To shake off this depression, I decided to go to Spotify and listen to all the music I'd ever created, whether it was from my movie soundtracks or my own albums. And I went for a walk.

I suddenly heard various versions of myself singing songs to people that I couldn't remember. I knew I'd written many songs for people over the years, but all of a sudden I felt like these lyrics were aimed at me. The 27 year old version of me was suddenly giving pep talks to the 47 year old version of me. And I realized, as I sat in the park listening to my younger self raconteuring from the past, that I was always only ever going to be who I am now.

So while I listened to "You Do This for a Reason" from the Fruit Fly soundtrack, I offer that - for those of you who remember the raunchy romp that is my first directorial effort - you watch this film in this new light. What once had a silly meaning in 2009 may have profound resonance now. And conversely, what had profound resonance then may seem totally silly and misguided now. That's ok. I'm fine with that. Our identities are currently under scrutiny and our existences are being questioned. I'd like to think that by the time we get to the end of the film and everybody is screaming the lyrics "We're gonna live life undenied", we will all have collectively found a space where we can all celebrate each other for our profundity and our silliness. Because we made it this far. If you're alive, you're doing something right. And you were always...always only ever going to be who you are right now.