Dear Ma

A first-generation Filipina American daughter returns home, driven by curiosity about the origins of her pain. She reaches out to her mother, seeking to understand her childhood and how her grandmother raised her. This sparks a deeper desire to uncover how her grandmother, in turn, was shaped by her own mother. Guided by this curiosity, the daughter confronts her mother, recognizing her anger as the root of her own pain and self-hatred. Through this journey, she begins to see the interconnected thread woven through her family’s generations. With a sympathetic lens toward both her mother and grandmother, she finally takes a step away from the pain that once defined her.