Debbie Vu

A college student searches for his sister through a sinister city.

Two MMA fighters, both women of color, spar with one another while flashbacks haunt their every punch, every kick, every takedown. These moments illustrate their motivation behind why they took up the sport in the first place. One fighter deals with homophobia from her mother while the other suffers from her father’s constant psychological abuse. This is a story of redemption. Second chances reunite the fighters with their parents. No one is perfect and we cannot expect parents to do the right thing every time. They come with their own complexities from their unique perspectives. Family is permanent and it’s okay to have conflict, that is how we grow.

Ma’s Kitchen is a semi-autobiographical short film about Debbie Vu, her mother, their language barrier, and straddling between two very different cultures, Vietnamese and American.

Two MMA fighters, both women of color, spar with one another while flashbacks haunt their every punch, every kick, every takedown. These moments illustrate their motivation behind why they took up the sport in the first place. One fighter deals with homophobia from her mother while the other suffers from her father’s constant psychological abuse. This is a story of redemption. Second chances reunite the fighters with their parents. No one is perfect and we cannot expect parents to do the right thing every time. They come with their own complexities from their unique perspectives. Family is permanent and it’s okay to have conflict, that is how we grow.

Two MMA fighters, both women of color, spar with one another while flashbacks haunt their every punch, every kick, every takedown. These moments illustrate their motivation behind why they took up the sport in the first place. One fighter deals with homophobia from her mother while the other suffers from her father’s constant psychological abuse. This is a story of redemption. Second chances reunite the fighters with their parents. No one is perfect and we cannot expect parents to do the right thing every time. They come with their own complexities from their unique perspectives. Family is permanent and it’s okay to have conflict, that is how we grow.

Two MMA fighters, both women of color, spar with one another while flashbacks haunt their every punch, every kick, every takedown. These moments illustrate their motivation behind why they took up the sport in the first place. One fighter deals with homophobia from her mother while the other suffers from her father’s constant psychological abuse. This is a story of redemption. Second chances reunite the fighters with their parents. No one is perfect and we cannot expect parents to do the right thing every time. They come with their own complexities from their unique perspectives. Family is permanent and it’s okay to have conflict, that is how we grow.

Ma’s Kitchen is a semi-autobiographical short film about Debbie Vu, her mother, their language barrier, and straddling between two very different cultures, Vietnamese and American.