Last year, during the 2012 FIGT conference, the ArborBridge team met a young filmmaker, Ema Ryan Yamazaki. Ema used her senior thesis project as a way to explore the realities of growing up global. We were interested in catching up with Ema to further discuss her film, "Neither Here Nor There", and her personal experiences as a Third Culture Kid.
About the documentary: "Neither Here Nor There" is a 35-minute documentary that explores cultural identity for people who have grown up in places other than their home culture, known as Third Culture Kids (TCK). Through the stories of six subjects, the film investigates the often overlooked effects on adults who had international upbringings, their struggles to fit in and an eternal search to belong. The film is also a self-exploratory journey for the filmmaker, a Japanese-British raised bi-culturally and in an international school system, who now lives in New York. In her last year of college, she attempts to figure out what she is in the context of the world.
AB: Who is this movie for? Will it help the TCK community reflect on itself, or will it introduce the TCK community to others?
ERY: I believe that anybody who watches "Neither Here Nor There" can take away something from the film. Whether you are an expert in the field, just discovering the TCK world or have never heard of the term before, there will be something that you can connect to in the film. "Neither Here Nor There" goes over the basics of what being a Third Culture Kid is about, but also dives deeper into certain topics, and even challenges the negative aspects of being a Third Culture Kid or being a part of the TCK community. The film is widely accessible since it tells the stories of seven people, including myself. If you are being introduced to the TCK world, the film dabs into an overview; if you are a TCK, chances are a couple of the stories will really hit home; and even if you are not a TCK by the strict definition of the term, I've found that many people can relate to the experience of searching for belonging or figuring out who they are. This film was also made for me - I had an identity crisis and needed to figure it out, and thought during the process I should make a film about it. I'm surprised the film has reached so many people, but I'm glad it's out there raising awareness and generating discussions about a rapidly growing community.
AB: What did you discover about TCK life in making this movie that you didn't already know?
ERY: I had only vaguely heard the term TCK until I came across David and Ruth's book as a junior in college. This was only a few weeks before I decided to make a film about Third Culture, so I pretty much discovered everything about TCKs during the making of my film. But I grew up being a Third Culture Kid, and being surrounded by a TCK community - so what I really mean here is that I discovered the language that went with my experience; how to put it in words and explain it to others. This may seem quite basic but it was a powerful discovery. As soon as I discovered that there were words to describe my experience, and many people around the world who shared the same language in describing their experiences, all of a sudden I didn't feel alone anymore. By learning that I was not the only one feeling a certain way about my identity and where I'm from, was a great relief.
AB: What big messages about the TCK experience should audiences take away from the film?
ERY: "Neither Here Nor There" is divided into chapters, each with a theme. These themes include "Foreign at Home", "In Search of Belonging" and "Us vs.Them". These were the topics that I was most interested in exploring. But perhaps the biggest message of the film is explored in the chapter "I"dentity. Eddie, one of the subjects in the film, comments on the irony of the word "identity" starting with the letter "I." He believes that each of us must have authority over who we are, since we will never be able to please everyone. I think what I learned through making this film is that, no matter what other people say, as long as we can figure out a way to be comfortable with who we think we are, the rest gets easier. I also wanted the film to show that it's okay to be multiple things, that we don't have to choose one thing we are at all times and stick with it - this is what I came away with from the TCK experience. The film is an effort to demonstrate that we live in a world where it is getting even harder to judge a person by the way they appear, since many TCKs don't look the way they feel inside. I hope my film gets people questioning how they categorize people.
AB: What sort of response have you gotten in the TCK community?
ERY: The response I have gotten from the TCK community has been overwhelming - I have had many people cry during the film, and have had many insightful Q&A discussions after film screenings that allows everyone to dive in further into the topic and expand our understanding of it. Since the film tracks the stories of 7 TCKs, it seems like everyone is able to relate to at least one of the characters or themes, and there's something anyone can take away from the film.
AB: What was the biggest challenge you faced in telling these stories?
ERY: Since I made "Neither Here Nor There" as a thesis project in film school, the biggest challenge I faced was to convince people who are not in the TCK community that the topic was importance enough to make a film about it. People at my film school questioned if the topic was "interesting enough for a thesis project." At the time, I was lost and confused about my identity so being challenged about Third Culture made me not confident, and I almost decided to change my thesis to do something else. The challenge was to convince myself that this topic IS important. Of course in hindsight this all seems obvious, but in the middle of an identity crisis, denial from others was the biggest obstacle in believing the film was worth making.
AB: What is your own background? What kind of TCK are you?
ERY: I grew up in Japan and England, and was educated in Japanese public school as well as an American international school where my classmates came from all around the world. My mother is Japanese and my father is English, so I was juggling my home cultures and also the nuances within those cultures, as I went back and forth between a traditional Japanese setting, a suburban English life, and an American/International world on a daily basis. My awareness that I was a TCK didn't surface until I went to college in New York, which is when I realized for the first time that not everyone grows up the way I did.
AB: What do you think about the place of the college application and transition process in the life of a TCK?
ERY: I barely knew what Third Culture was until I was a junior in college - coming to a US college is what made me seek answers to my questions of identity. For me, I think the hardest part was being a "hidden immigrant" - looking and speaking as though I grew in America, when in reality I had moved here from Japan just a few weeks before, not even knowing which coin was the dime and which one was the nickel. When it's clear the you need help, people seem to be more eager to help, but when you don't look like you need help, chances are you'll get less of that. Maybe it would have been easier if I knew I needed to ask for help, but I felt like I shouldn't need help because I went to an American international school, and so I didn't ask. I think this is what made the transition process the most difficult. If I'd known it was okay to not know everything American, things might have been a little easier. In terms of college application, I followed the guide of my high school guidance counselor. Neither of my parents knew how to apply to US college so the school's guidance was all I had. I'm glad I went to a school who guided me well!
About the Filmmaker:
Emma Ryan Yamazaki is a documentary filmmaker and film editor. She has recently finished directing a documentary MONK BY BLOOD, the story of a young Japanese man who has the destiny to take over his family's Buddhist temple in Kyoto, for Al Jazeera English scheduled to air in July 2013. Her film NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, a documentary about growing up in multiple cultures, has screened at venues and educational conferences around the world. Additionally, Ema has trained at the BBC, Ken Burns’ documentary film company, and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel. She has edited over 30 films ranging from dramatic narratives to commercial content including films that have screened on HBO, Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival and the Director's Guild of America. Raised in Japan and England, Ema has a particular interest in telling stories that lie in-between cultures. Currently residing in New York City, Ema is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She loves eating and traveling.
