Sujata Day’s “Definition Please” Wins Special Jury Award At #LAAPFF2021
Sujata Day’s debut movie “Definition Please” was awarded the Special Jury Award for Fresh Narrative Voice at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF). Cheers!
Day’s charming debut movie “Definition Please” tells the story of Monica Chowdry (played by Day herself) and her family in the Pennsylvanian suburbs. Monica spends her days taking care of her mother and struggling with the failure of living up to her potential since her big spelling bee win. She occasionally teaches a bunch of kids whose parents are hoping they’ll be able to emulate her win.
Monica has convinced herself that she’s happy with her comfortable life in the company of her best friend Krista (Lalaine, who makes her big-screen return), her students, and her mother. This is disrupted when her estranged older brother Sonny (Ritesh Rajan) arrives to help take care of their mother for the week. Sonny makes a wild impression at first, interrupting his sister’s hook-up and making light of the fiasco. It’s clear this isn’t new for Monica. The faux content feeling she’s trying to settle into is disrupted again, opening up the film’s deeper conflict.
The 37th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival focused on breaking down stereotypes. That seems especially important this year, as the country has faced a steep increase in hate incidents targeting Asian Americans.
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The festival celebrated the work of more than 150 filmmakers and includes both in-person and virtual programming.
With her infectious personality and unique sense of humor, Pittsburgh native Sujata Day has established herself as a performer, creator, writer, and director. She regularly performs in Upright Citizen Brigade’s hit Asian AF show. Day is known for her starring role as CeCe in Issa Rae’s “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.” She’s recurred for three seasons on HBO’s ‘Insecure.’ She is a Sundance Lab fellow, Sundance Film Festival influencer, and Sundance Collab advisor. Her short film, “Cowboy and Indian,” sold to a major studio for series development. She served as HBO Visionaries Ambassador in 2019. She directs ‘This Is My Story,’ a series in which beloved storyteller LeVar Burton narrates real-life personal experiences of everyday racism.
