A film titled “Easter Sunday” made by Seattle comedian Jo Koy shines a light on Filipino culture, which he spoke out about on Friday, Yahoo reports.
The comedian was awarded the key to the city in Daly City, the city where his character in the movie is from. During the ceremony, Koy spoke out about the importance of representation in films.
“When my mom came to this country there was absolutely no representation. There was no Google, there was no Facebook, there was no Instagram – she had to find her community,” he said, according to Yahoo.
Councilman Juslyn Manalo of the Daly City city council attended the ceremony. She was the first Filipino American mayor of the city, KPIX5 said.
“For so long, I never saw a complete set of Filipino American actors on TV. I’m ecstatic,” she said to KPIX5.
Koy said the film shows the widespread Filipino community in Daly City including different aspects of the culture such as restaurants.
“Daly City is like responsible for letting me know that there’s Filipino restaurants, there’s a Filipino community, there’s things that I didn’t see in my childhood that happened here,” Koy, who first visited the city when he performed at a comedy club, said according to Yahoo News. “I was always like, ‘Yo, where are all these Filipinos coming from?’ And they’re like, ‘Daly City.’ I’m like, ‘What?!'”
The film shines a light on Bay Area Filipinos and Koy received help from Steven Spielberg in getting it made.
“I want this door to say open for everybody, I want this to be the blueprint for everybody, let’s hear everybody’s family story,” said Koy.
“Easter Sunday” will debut in theaters on Aug. 5.
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