We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asiana Weddington a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Asiana, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I need to start from May 2024… I was on a plane to Guatemala when I hit it off with the man sitting next to me. Months later, a woman sat next to me in a coffee shop and slipped me a business card. It read: “Eva. Psychic Healer.” Then, without prompting, she told me that the man on the plane was my soulmate, and I needed to be with him.

This event obviously excited me. But it also brought up a lot of questions – Is she crazy? Is she right? Am I only willing to believe her because I want it to be true? – At the time, I had been quite unhappy with my artistic career as a filmmaker, and the thought of starting the international romance of my dreams seemed like a great distraction from my sorrow. As I contemplated buying a ticket to visit him, I had to ask myself: If I’m desperate enough to be happy, how much am I willing to believe? And willing to risk? So, as a storyteller, I wanted to explore this in a character.

Her name is Talia, and when a psychic tells her she will meet the love of her life in Puerto Rico, she hops on a plane, ready for some much needed good luck and love. However, the trip does not go as planned, and Talia must instead learn how to be content in the face of disappointment. This story, now titled The First Rain in May, has quickly become my favorite creative endeavor. Shooting this May 2025, the energetic rom-com style short film is an exploration of luck and happiness, and argues that one does not need to go to a psychic, fly to an island, meet their soulmate, or wish for better days to come, but that our greatest potential for contentment is available at any time, in any situation.

This project is a great creative and directorial challenge for me. While exploring how to solve Talia’s unhappiness, I was simultaneously learning to solve my own! So writing this script became both intrinsically very frustrating, but simultaneously very rewarding. As for my own story, I’m still with the man on the plane, and Talia too, gets a happy ending. But regardless of whether Talia and I get what we were promised by psychics, I really hope audiences walk out of the theatre putting less weight on future expectations to bring them joy, and rather, take a look at what is available to them in their present lives that is already worthy of great contentment. This, for me, has been far more rewarding than any prediction that could have been given to me in that coffee shop.

I’ve been truly overjoyed to watch this project grow. The culture of helping your neighbor isn’t one you see much of in the U.S. anymore, so it’s been immense to see both our communities in New York & Puerto Rico volunteer substantial time & resources to make this project happen. I’m surrounded by the best team, and I can’t wait to put this film into the world by next year.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began my film career in high school, as an actress in Bay Area indie projects. From there, I moved behind the camera at Santa Barbara City College’s film production program while working in Los Angeles as an Assistant Director. After three years and over 50 productions, I transferred to New York University’s film school to finish up my BFA.

I was really out of my comfort zone in New York. It’s a lonely city and I was quite scared of being alone. But it encouraged me to try something I was even more scared of – directing! I thought, I’m already so uncomfortable, what’s a little more! So I dove into a more personal approach to storytelling, as well as a myriad of technical skill sets I wasn’t confident in. It was a process of building my confidence from the ground up, and it truly changed the direction of my career drastically.

Now at twenty-two, I’m proud to be graduating this summer as a freelance colorist & director in commercial & narrative work. But it’s still really just the beginning. I love the work I do, but I really love seeing what it brings out of me – that’s the real payoff in the end.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I think in any networking based industry, there’s a real pressure to get ahead and prove yourself quickly. But this instinct of my ego to climb the ladder at all costs was important to unlearn for me, especially as a woman. It’s no secret that the film industry struggles with instances of sexism and manipulation. While it’s not every job, it’s also not uncommon to find that the makeup artist and I are the only women on set. After multiple offers of great jobs or contacts in exchange for dates or other services, it becomes difficult to refuse an opportunity offered to you, especially for women starting their careers who may not be given a fair chance against competing male counterparts.

Fortunately, it quickly became clear that earning a job through hard work and diligence was far more rewarding than being exchanged as a pretty face. Becoming an example of female leadership in the film industry has become a driving force for me. I hope any success I achieve moving forward will help other women to believe that it’s possible to be authentically rewarded for their talents and hard work.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I do a lot of reading on personal philosophy and spiritual approaches, recently I finished Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”, his sequel to “The Power of Now”. Though both books are marketed in the ‘self help’ genre, I found them to be more of a study on our thinking and ego, and the impact that has on our overall contentment and attention. That book informed a lot of the themes in this new film I’m directing, as well as how I approach my daily life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.asianaweddington.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asianaweddington/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiana-weddington/
• Other: https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/the-first-rain-in-may

Image Credits

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