Searching For Color

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In SEARCHING FOR COLOR, Megan, a young Asian adoptee, feels caught between her white mother’s world and a sense of self she can’t quite name. When she begins visiting Gina, a warm and perceptive nail technician, she finds an unexpected maternal figure who sees her fully. Through the quiet ritual of the nail salon and the symbolic weight of the color red, Gina nurtures a confidence in Megan that her mother never could. When Gina prepares to return to China, Megan must face the grief of another goodbye—and discover that the belonging she’s been searching for has already taken root inside her.

Mikayla Ashe is a Chinese-American director, producer, and stunt coordinator raised in Miami, based in Los Angeles. An adoptee, her work is driven by a lifelong search for belonging, identity, and home—committed to honest, emotionally grounded performance. A third-degree black belt, she approaches action as inseparable from character. Her work spans Warner Bros., 21 Laps, 87North, and CAPE, and her films have screened and won at Diversity in Cannes, TIFF, and beyond.

Producer: Venus Lordson

Writer: Venus Lordson

Cinematographer: Ihsan Zirih

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Celebrate the future of AANHPI filmmaking as they take you on a coming-of-age journey through the modern conditions of youth and young adulthood.