A miscommunication between a Filipina immigrant mother and daughter is scrutinzed through film re-enactment in the pursuit of love, acceptance, and rewriting the past. 

Director Biography - Minerva Marie Navasca

Minerva Navasca (she/her), the director of Desync, is a Filipina immigrant director and producer, entering her final year of the Bachelors of Film and Television program at Sheridan College. She is best known for her short documentaries “Guardians” (2021), and “Kamayan” (2020), which has been showcased in local and international festivals such as the 2022 TIFF Next Wave, the 2021 Regent Park Film Festival, and the 2022 CineYouth Film Festival.

In all avenues of her work, she aims to explore hyper-personal stories of cultural dysphoria and girlhood with intimate specificity. She grounds her films in her own experiences, stating “I want to make films about subjects that make me uncomfortable”. And so, Minerva delves into perspectives steeped in anxiety and internalised shame, stemming from her cultural background, queerness, and other aspects of her identity.

Minerva aims to re-frame disregarded narratives by prioritising Asian voices both in front and behind the camera. Through embracing the fearful challenge of vulnerability, Minerva hopes to spark conversations that alleviate audiences of the same shame she endured growing up. She continues to push for authentic BIPOC representation in media, and supports equal artistic opportunity, regardless of class and economic background, in Toronto’s schools and film industry.

Director Statement

Due to the impoverished backgrounds of the majority of Filipino people, hard work has been the answer to living a better life. This mindset infects generations into believing that grit and resilience is necessary in order to get the work done, while repressing uncomfortable emotions to do so. This mindset carries over into immigrant and first generational families. Even though their new lifestyles have more opportunity for improvement, these families have not harnessed the tools necessary to communicate the need for support. Even after achieving the "American dream", immigrant communities are more isolated than ever; and so, the cycle continues.

In Desync, we see our protagonists believe that the way to earn love is to try harder, and end up destroying their relationship in the attempt to do so. Showcasing mental health conflicts within immigrant families is not only necessary in terms of establishing representation in media, but necessary to spark up a conversation about why immigrant families cannot showcase their love towards one another, even if they care for each other so much. We preserve the authenticity of the film by establishing a BIPOC-led team, with the creative leads being majority BIPOC and women-led.