In this interview, the filmmaker behind Infinity!, Benjamin To, shares the journey of crafting a musical-inspired film that reimagines the lives of Toy & Wing, a 1930s Asian American dance duo. Blending history and fantasy, the film explores love, identity, and resilience under the shadow of Japanese American incarceration. From casting Olivia Cordell and Jonathan Tanigaki to collaborating with choreographer Marissa Osato and composer Caroline Ho, the filmmaker reflects on the challenges of self-funded filmmaking and the joy of returning to Viet Film Fest with a story close to their heart
The film is partly inspired by Toy & Wing, an Asian American dancing duo active during the 1930s-40s. How did you learn about them?
The bones of our story was inspired by my Asian American history courses in college. Flipping through my textbooks, I came across true-to-life accounts of these dancers who were passing as another ethnicity (even though one of them was actually of Japanese descent) to avoid discrimination. When World War II broke out, they ended up fleeing in order to avoid incarceration, and their short-lived performance careers were never the same since that fateful moment.
Their story stayed with me long after graduation.
I’ve always fantasized what their final performance would have looked like. Their entire lives, represented in a singular dance sequence — from the moment they first fell in love all the way until the war when their lives were unjustly upended.
Thus, Infinity! was born.
Executive Order 9066 (President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s action ordering the incarceration of Japanese Americans on the West Coast after the outbreak of World War II) looms large here. What was your thought process in incorporating this into a musical-inspired film?
When we watch musicals of yesteryear, we’d be hard pressed to find one that presented the Asian American experience through an authentically human lens. When we think of Asian American history, we often place too much emphasis on the events that happened to these people rather than the people themselves. We cast aside their agency and their humanity. I wanted to shift the focus away from this narrow, reductive view of nameless, faceless people simply getting caught in the middle of a tragedy, and re-center their narratives by putting a name, a face, and a personal history behind the people who were incarcerated. To portray them as human beings, first and foremost, with dreams and desires. Who were they as people before the war? They could have been your friends, your neighbors. They could have been you.
That’s the power of history (and how it connects us all).
Could you describe how you cast your two actors, Olivia Cordell and Jonathan Tanigaki, as June and Sunny?
We found our Sunny first in Jonathan Tanigaki. He responded to a casting call posted online and he sent in a self tape shortly right after. We knew right away he was the one. Not only did he have that special kind of presence that you search high and low for in a classical leading man, but he could also tap dance!
For our June, Olivia Cordell was one of the last actresses to audition when we did callbacks. She nailed that audition so effortlessly (her single tear game is unmatched!). She had the perfect combination of determination and vulnerability that we were looking for in June. Plus, her chemistry test with Jonathan was incredible.
The moment we saw those two together, it felt like they had known each other their entire lives.
Infinity! recalls, spiritually, the ballet sequences of The Red Shoes (1948), An American in Paris (1951), and others (particularly mid-century MGM musicals). What aspects did you draw from those films for Infinity! and how did you modify those same aspects to fit the scope of your film?
Our aim was to evoke the sensation of being teleported back to the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical — with dreamy, impressionistic, hand-painted backdrops paired with our classical, energetic, jazzy choreography.
We drew visual inspiration from all sorts of mediums and genres, ranging from 1940s Japanese American fashion, jazz, architecture, and films with fantastical dance sequences and larger-than-life set design like An American in Paris, Flower Drum Song (1961), and The Red Shoes.
Ultimately, we wanted to take what we loved about those musicals and re-purpose, recontextualize, and reclaim them for Asian diasporic storytelling in a way that is so undeniably visceral, historically rich, and above all, emotionally satisfying.
With little dialogue to speak of, much of the film’s emotional power is derived from its choreography and score. What was the collaboration like with choreographer Marissa Osato?
I’m a big believer in “show me, don’t tell me” in writing and in film. The visual cues, stage directions, and action descriptions in the script were specific, but I purposefully left plenty up to interpretation as I wanted to collaborate with a choreographer who wanted to explore how our actors’ movement and kineticism can further accentuate and illustrate each stage of our characters’ lives, how they would dance as they got older, and the emotional power that comes with physical expression.
It was an honor and a joy of a lifetime to collaborate with a true artist like Marissa Osato. I learned a lot from her by just watching her work and how she communicates her ideas and concepts to the actors with such grace and assuredness — especially since the actors were not trained professional dancers (but you wouldn’t be able to tell while watching the film). And she did all this whilst pregnant, mind you!
Being that Marissa is Japanese American as well, we talked a lot about the history and the importance of upholding that history in a meaningful way that wasn’t exploitative or overly theatrical.
… and composer Caroline Ho?
Much like the many wonderful collaborators on our team, working with Caroline was illuminating and effortless. I have been a lifelong lover of music, but I will also be the first to admit I have zero knowledge of the space.
With Caroline, I tried to provide her with more moods and emotions that I wanted to convey in specific sequences rather than direct musical instructions, especially with the centerpiece montage that illustrates Sunny & June’s rise and fall and rise again as their journey as a duo evolved. I frequently referenced the works of film composer, Michel Legrand, and jazz pianist, Toshiko Akiyoshi. We talked about creating a main theme that was timeless, grand, and sweepingly romantic.
She did so with flying colors in an incredibly short turnaround time, so we’re blessed to have her as our composer.
How have you grown as a filmmaker and as a person since your previous appearance at VFF?
The last time I attended Viet Film Fest, I was just a new grad with a lot left to prove. I thought to myself, “The next time I come back here, I would like to come back as an artist.”
Since that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to have made more short films, documentaries, and even worked on video games. I got to see the world, fall in love, and was just recently married this summer.
Life has thrown plenty of obstacles and obstructions for me to overcome over the last decade, but there was no greater test of character than the making of Infinity! in the summer of 2022.
I wrote the screenplay back in 2017. It went through various stages of pre-production until it fell through the cracks and was left to collect dust for years. I decided to self-fund and make it independently with friends and family during the pandemic. It was a risky proposition considering how much money was being poured into it, and at times, feeling like there was never going to be enough resources to complete my vision, but I couldn’t quit this story. I still believed in the power of it and I still believed that I was the only one who could make it. When we finally crossed that finish line after months of preparation, choreographing, rehearsing, building sets, and we finally got to the actual shoot — those were some of the best days of my life.
So, how have I changed as a filmmaker and as a person? I simply know that I belong here now. Not just at this festival, but as a filmmaker. There is no second guessing whether or not I was meant to be a writer/director. There is just pure joy and love in creation.
It is an honor to come back to the place where I came of age as this film festival is near and dear to my heart as I had the loveliest time living and finding community in Little Saigon right after I graduated college. This was the place where I first met like-minded Vietnamese American artists and made lifelong friends who continue to inspire me to this day. I can’t wait to showcase our film in front of a hometown crowd.
We are so back.
Infinity! will be shown on Viet Film Fest 2024’s virtual platform as part of the “Love, Actualized” short film set. That short film set will also be shown in-person at 4 PM on Friday, October 11 at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana.
Interview conducted by Eric Nong
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VIET FILM FEST 2024
October 5 to 20, 2024
Program Schedule and Tickets:
