Writer & Producer’s Statement
An Unexpected Call grew out of my own experience of accidentally coming out to my father. I wanted to capture the vulnerability of being drawn into a conversation before you are ready—especially when it concerns something deeply personal that you have not yet found a way to share with your family.
The film follows Ni as she travels to Boston to surprise her girlfriend for their first anniversary. While she is preparing to celebrate one relationship, an unexpected call forces her to confront another. Her father has learned about her girlfriend from her mother, leaving Ni little control over how or when to tell him. As a writer, I was interested in the emotions that collide in that moment: irritation, fear, defensiveness, and the desire to be understood by someone whose love matters to her.
I wanted the conversation to feel intimate and imperfect. Ni and her father do not arrive with the right words. They must work through questions, assumptions, and the discomfort of discovering how much has gone unspoken between them. Their reconciliation emerges through a willingness to keep listening, even when speaking is difficult.
As a producer, I approached the film as a contained, character-driven story, with the journey through public transit framing a deeply private exchange. Ni is physically moving toward her girlfriend while navigating an uncertain emotional distance from her father. Through this ordinary journey and unexpected conversation, I hope to make space for the complicated ways queer people and their families find their way toward each other.