Disney’s Launchpad Filmmakers Interview: Inspiration Behind The Shorts

Disney’s Launchpad season one includes six shorts, all themed around “Discover” – in this interview the filmmakers discuss their inspirations.

Disney’s Launchpad is a six part series of short films that all have one theme — Discover. The series debuts on Disney+ May 28th, and in this interview with each of the filmmakers, they discuss their inspirations behind their films. This program is a great way for newcomers to showcase their abilities, and express themselves through the power of film.

Participating Talent

• AMERICAN EID: Aqsa Altaf (Director)
• DINNER IS SERVED: Hao Zheng (Director)
• GROWING FANGS: Ann Marie Pace (Director)
• THE LAST OF THE CHUPACABRA: Jessica Mendez Siqueiros (Director)
• LET’S BE TIGERS: Stefanie Abel Horowitz (Director)
• THE LITTLE PRINCE(SS): Moxie Peng (Director)
• Mahin Ibrahim (Director, Disney’s Diversity and Inclusion)
• Phillip Domfeh (Launchpad, Sr. Manager)

The Inspiration Behind Each Film

AMERICAN EID
Written and Directed by Aqsa Altaf

Ameena, a Muslim Pakistani immigrant, wakes up on Eid to find out that she has to go to school. Homesick and heartbroken, she goes on a mission to make Eid a public-school holiday, and in the process, reconnects with her older sister, and embraces her new home, while her new home embraces her.

“I grew up watching films that did not represent people that look like me, or stories that were like mine, or even people that are around me – none of it was represented on a big screen. I started internalizing that as me thinking that we’re not important enough or valuable enough or cool enough to be on big screen or be worthy enough. That is just such a toxic thing to think as a child and that’s the inherent aspects and inherent result of lack of representation, whether you like it or not kids internalize that. It’s not going to be one story that’s going to be enough to crack that ceiling, but it’s a crack, and one crack will build another crack, will build another crack, and eventually, we will have proper representation of my religion culture on screen.” – Aqsa Altaf

DINNER IS SERVED
Directed by Hao Zheng, Written by G. Wilson & Hao Zheng

A Chinese student at an elite U.S. boarding school realizes excellence is not enough when he tries out for a leadership position no international student has ever applied for.

“It’s pretty much based on my own experience when I first came to the States. I was 15 back then. I went to a high school in New York, and I just felt like nobody knew me when I first landed. I really wanted to have people see me, so I literally applied for every position I could on campus. I would participate in anything I can. That’s the story that I wanted to also share with Dinner Is Served like how we embrace our own voice, even though it may be awkward, even though maybe nobody will understand.” – Hao Zheng

GROWING FANGS
Written and Directed by Ann Marie Pace

Val Garcia, a Mexican-American teen who is half human/half vampire, has had to keep her identity a secret from both worlds. But when her human best friend shows up at her monster-infested school, she has to confront her truth, her identity, and herself.

“On that first day of shooting, we all piled around to have our safety meeting. I remember looking around, and I had never seen so much diversity on a set before. It was really profound for me to see. I had a realization that all of us on set together had experienced at one time or another, what it’s like to be an outsider in our own way and to have that and to have those people altogether, making a story that they feel passionate about because they themselves have experienced it is really powerful. I think when you have people tell their own stories, not just the director, but actors and crew members, everyone really telling their own stories, something really beautiful happens and you feel that passion and love and life experience through the screen.” – Ann Marie Pace

LET’S BE TIGERS
Written and Directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz

Avalon’s not ready to process the loss of her mother, but when she’s put in charge of a 4-year-old for one night, she finds more comfort than she ever could have expected.

“At the time that I was writing it, my zany grandpa was going to be 100, just like Jessica’s grandma. My parents were going to be 70 and my nephew was going to be four. I was just thinking about this passing of the Baton of life that was happening. In my 20s, I was a babysitter and I took care of this really cute four-year-old kid who was so loving and so smart and so incredible and taught me about love. Also, one day, he tried to shoot me dead with his finger gun and I was like, ‘Do you know what that means?’ He didn’t and I said, ‘Well, if I was dead, I wouldn’t be here anymore, and I won’t get to spend time with you and we wouldn’t get to play.’ He was really sad. As we would all be, that’s a sad, sad thing. It just got me thinking about the simple tragedy of our lives is that we’re all going to die, and everyone in our lives is going to die. In that, we’re all going to experience suffering and loss over and over and over again. How do we talk about that in our culture? How do we share that? How do we talk to kids about difficult things?” – Stefanie Abel Horowitz

THE LAST OF THE CHUPACABRAS
Written and Directed by Jessica Mendez Siqueiros

In a world where culture has nearly ceased to exist, one lone Mexican-American struggling to carry on her traditions unknowingly summons a dark and ancient creature to protect her.

“The film was inspired by the fact that my great grandma might not have Chapa who is aptly badly characters named after, lived till she was 100 years old. She died five days after her 100th birthday. My family has always been very proudly Mexican American family, and have always been indigenous to the land that we were from in Arizona originally. I realized after she died, after I had 25 years on this earth with her, that I didn’t gather the information that I should have from her. That left me feeling like a bit of a failure to my own culture and really realizing that the responsibility is on us to keep our cultures alive.” – Jessica Mendez Siqueiros

When writing her story for LAUNCHPAD, Jessica started to think about what that meant on a mythical level. The way that we look at culture in this country can also be with such a perspective of fear, a perspective of losing our own culture for fear of celebrating somebody else’s. The best way to represent that was through a creature that was also very fearsome so she looked to the chupacabra.

THE LITTLE PRINCE(SS)
Written and Directed by Moxie Peng

When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel’s feminine behavior and decides to intervene.

“The Little Prince(ss) is very dear to my heart because it was based on my life experience growing up in China as a child. I was five. I was like Gabriel. I was very into feminine stuff and to pink and princesses. I became friends with this kid in our neighborhood who is running around and who’s wild. His dad started to have a suspicion of us and think I’m a bad influence. One day he came over to our dinner table and he told my dad that I was not normal and I need to be fixed. I started to cry and think I let down my family. My dad got very upset and he took my side and really stood up for me and said that he loved me for who I was.” – Moxie Peng

Launchpad Giving Opportunities

Disney’s launchpad is giving incredible opportunities and resources to up and coming filmmakers, who have been honing their craft for a while, and are ready for their moment to shine. Phillip Domfeh, Launchpad’s Senior Manager, is very excited about being able to do this. 

“I think maybe you said it so well and I think something that’s just important to call out is that each of the filmmakers here have been harnessing and developing their craft for years. We’re really looking for filmmakers in LAUNCHPAD who are ready for this moment, ready for these kinds of resources. Even just thinking about, Jessica, we’ve had the opportunity to work together on a previous show and Jessica has been building her voice and her style.” – Phillip Domfeh

When asked about what the process for selecting the filmmakers is like, Mahin Ibrahim, Director, Disney’s Diversity and Inclusion, explains that there were a lot of applications for the first season, and it wasn’t easy to narrow it down to six. 

“For season one, we had over 1,100 applications. Our super-competitive process and our six filmmakers we’re really lucky to work with were standout filmmakers from the very beginning. In terms of the selection process, it was a multi-pronged approach. We worked with over 50 people to get us down to our final six. That ended with interviews both over the phone and in-person. Our creative executive mentors were part of the selection process as well providing valuable feedback. Also, participating in interviews as well as their managers, the studio heads weighed in.” – Mahin Ibrahim

Launchpad Season Two

Submissions for Season Two of Disney’s “LAUNCHPAD,” which is based around the theme of “Connection” and includes a writer’s track, are being accepted now through June 11.

“I don’t know a person over the past year and a half who hasn’t been really forced to meditate on the idea of connection – connection to your family, connection to the outside world of the means by which you are connected and you find yourself connected. The season two filmmakers have to crack that story in an unique and interesting way, and I have the utmost confidence that we’re going to see some really exciting stories. I’ve got ideas of what connection could mean, but it’s not for me to tell, it’s for the next generation of filmmakers. We really can’t wait.” – Phillip Domfeh

All Six Short Films Premiere Friday, May 28 on Disney+