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

Hi Kayla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I guess the moment I realized I wanted to pursue film professionally was when I was on this kid’s cooking competition show back in Malaysia. I was eleven and wanted nothing more than to be a chef. I know, completely different from what I’m doing now. Crazily enough, I auditioned for the show ‘Chef Cilik’ without realizing it. I didn’t even know it was going to be broadcasted on TV! But the moment I stepped onto the sound stage, surrounded by cameras and the crew, a part of me was more fascinated by everything happening behind the scenes than the actual competition. I’m pretty sure I was that annoying little kid who asked questions nonstop because everything fascinated me. I wanted to know more. I wanted to be a part of that world. And now, eleven years later and living in a whole new country on my own, I’m still in awe that I get to pursue my passion as a career.

Kayla, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hello, my name is Kayla, and I am a Chinese-Indian filmmaker born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am currently based in Los Angeles. After completing an internship at Double Vision, where I worked on Viu’s ‘Kopitiam: Double Shot’ and award-winning HBO Asia’s ‘The Bridge,’ I made the decision to broaden my horizons. At the age of eighteen, I moved to Los Angeles to continue my studies and pursue a career in filmmaking and screenwriting. Since then, I have been a part of and directed numerous short films, music videos, and commercials where I dabbled in numerous positions. Coming from Malaysia, my art has always been influenced by Southeast Asian culture.

My latest film, ‘Pontianak,’ is currently in the midst of its festival run. The story of ‘Pontianak’ comes from my wanting to express my love for horror and explore concepts from my culture that aren’t common in the Western world. The story came to me while I was dealing with my own experiences of past trauma and depression, and writing has been my coping method. Horror in the film isn’t just monsters and demons but a commentary on the horrors of everyday life. With this story, especially during a time like this where the law doesn’t protect victims of sexual assault, I hope I’m able to reflect on the problematic situation many women face in the world. I think this story matters in terms of representing my culture and its folklore. It showcases a world that perhaps not many people are familiar with and represents a story that deserves to be heard.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I had to unlearn, and to be frank, still unlearning, is to stop apologizing. I’m the kind of person to apologize nonstop, and it’s because I’ve always felt that I’m a nuisance to others, and by messing up, I’m wasting their time. I was on a feature shoot in April, and it was my first time working with a unionized cast and crew. They are people who’ve been doing this for years. And here comes me, a twenty-two-year-old whose only experience has been on non-union student short films. I was so nervous because everyone on that crew had worked on films that I loved and adored. And it wasn’t as if I couldn’t do my job. But every small screw-up or minor delay made me want to crawl into a hole and hide. So I did what I did best, which was apologize. My boss/DP, David Newbert, would affectionately scold me for apologizing. My other fellow ACs would assure me that I was doing well. And yet, the only words I could think of were another form of an apology. But as the shoot went on, and working on sets since that feature, I’ve found myself more confident in my work, and I apologize way less.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The number one thing that always comes to mind is representation. I usually write stories based on things I know and have experienced, which always leads back to my identity as an Asian immigrant. I feel that with any story, there’s that sense of authenticity and realism whenever the writer puts themselves into their work. And that always comes across in the final product. Those are always my favorite kind of story. My goal at the end of the day is always to write something that someone can always relate to, whether it’d be dealing with a loss, reliving childhood experiences, or anything that shows humanity and kindness. If someone, even if it’s just one person, watches my work and goes, “I can relate to this”, then I know that I’ve accomplished my mission.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayla_aalia/?hl=en&__coig_restricted=1
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13610120/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Image Credits
Diana Kuanysh and Lourdes Mendoza