Porcelain

From the Director, Cameron Mitchell: Porcelain’s story is one I hold very dear to me, as it originates from real life events that go all the way back to my family’s roots. The story of Porcelain and its protagonist Hanh, a 7-year-old Vietnamese refugee child, is loosely based on my mother’s childhood experiences, pulling from her personal anecdotes that explore the hard truths and confronting experiences that a refugee child must undergo. Escaping Vietnam and the communists in 1978 by boat when she was only 6 years old, this had undoubtedly made an enormous impact on her life and the way it has shaped her as a person and her overall outlook on life. Porcelain as a film is an amalgamation of the emotional effects of these confronting experiences, along with the notions of family support, childhood innocence and early maturity. The stories told by my mother as I’ve grown up, are reminiscent of a traumatic childhood that seems so foreign and drastically disparate to the one I had experienced and has never failed to shock me. Constant learning, listening, and picking her brain has been my main process and prime source of inspiration and research for ensuring an authentic and truthful story. Shot over 5 days at a variety of locations across Melbourne, it was an immense joy and privilege to work with such a talented team who gave their all to bring this story to life. I will forever be grateful for the effort and passion everyone put in and I can’t wait for you all to see the finished product.

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