100% Human Hair
(2002) color, TRT 17 mins., short musical
100% Human Hair is an action-packed musical extravaganza set in a Los Angeles wig shop. Threatened by eviction, Mr. Kim struggles to keep the business afloat for his motley crew of employees and customers while his yuppy daughter pressures him to retire. Can he keep the shop alive? Eureka! His streetwise granddaughter has a plan. 100% Human Hair ranges from country to opera, surprising with every song. . . .
This film features important fixtures of the local performance art scene including Erin O’Brien, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario and “Sexy DJ” Claudette Colbert. This colorful cast also includes Ken Takemoto, Suzanne Lee-Bustamante, Alem Brhan, Elizabeth Leibel, Cecily Miles Slater, and Yvonne Martin Regalado. Music was composed by Jonathan Segel, of cult-band Camper Van Beethoven fame, and choregraphy was by Cid Pearlman. Produced through the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women, 100% Human Hair was a festival favorite and screened at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, Feminale, the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
Credits
Producer, directer, writer . . . . . . . . . . . Ann Kaneko
Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pocha Peña, Moises Velez
Composer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan Segel
Director of Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . Patti Lee
Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Lim
Production Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kelly Deco
Costume Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Heléne Siebritz
Sound Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tammy Fearing
“Hilarious, refreshing, and creative! Who would have thought to tell the story of a Korean wig shop owner through a musical. And I can’t get the song out of my head!”
– Lee Ann Kim, Executive Director San Diego Asian Film Festival
“We’ve all heard the story before: an immigrant family struggles to keep their small business afloat while coping with the cultural gap between generations. At a time when Asian American cinema is looking towards a new generation of voices, these themes are beginning to feel like stale paradigms. Enter Ann Kaneko. Suddenly the Asian American tale is flipped on its head, painted over with loud colors, and flavored with a campy and irreverent humor that is refreshingly uncommon.”
– Miles Senzaki, IN FOCUS Visual Communications
“Zany, sharp and comical, Ann Kaneko’s 100% Human Hair offers an amusing and astute take on urban, inner-city life. The film draws attention to the social and economic forces that shape L.A. and its residents, doing so through song, dance and hilarity. In 100% Human Hair, the director, production team and cast grapple with new media and old issues–poverty, homophobia and the defunct American dream–in ways that make you laugh, pause and sing a song.”
– Darshan Elena Campos, Director of Women of Color Film Festival