"What you plant, you harvest." A narration from the documentary, Lolo. A short film created by choreographers Keone and Mari Madrid follows Keone's Lolo Arturo Madrid. Arturo Madrid is a a 76 year old Filipino-American man, who reminisces on the hardships, wonders and reality of migrating from the Philippines to the United States. Lolo is being rolled out publicly beginning with the trailer and the film release on August 23rd on Lolo Arturo's birthday. Follow Keone and Mari's channel to keep up on when to watch the short film.

Keone shares his grandfather's immigrant story and journey to a new country. The short film has won 15 awards and been recognized at various film festivals. What started as documenting family origin stores for his daughter turned into an important project appreciating "it's time we share our stories." Passing these experiences on to other generations are important to keep our culture alive and growing.

From Keone Madrid:
"Telling our grandfather's story of coming from a different life in the Philippines to an American one may be, at least to us, the most important thing we may ever document on film. Of course for personal reasons, but also to know there are 2+ million Filipino-Americans and 44+ million immigrant-Americans who will see a story they have similarly lived, on screen. Something very rare and often unseen in American cinema. Especially when Asian voices have often been limited to caricatures and a call to hearing our stories has been brought to the forefront."

Cover Photo Credit: FilmFreeway

Disney+ finally made available to stream the animated Disney short Us Again. From the start, the audience can feel that this short is special. There was a sense of hope and joy in this short that we've been missing for the past year. It's more than just about dance, it's about taking the time to do what you enjoy doing.

Keone Madrid, a Filipino choregrapher is responsible for the movement of the characters Art and Dot, an elderly couple who rediscover the joy of dance and that youth is only a state of mind. As we grow older, we get caught up in "adulting" and sometimes forget about what makes us happy. Keone chorographed the routine alongside his wife Mari Madrid which made it all feel so authentic. In this rehearsal footage, you see the beginnings of the choreo beside the final product.

Keone writes how he was in awe of the process: "Watching them [Art and Dot] dance our choreography fills me with so much joy, emotion, hope and inspiration (and some jealousy because the they do the moves way better than us). Then I’m simultaneously mind blown that the animators animated our choreography by hand..." He's reminded of all the times when dance was a normalized to a non-sensical career path, but believed that dance was more than just a hobby. Dance is a universal language that brings people together which Us Again reminded him.

Cover Photo Credit: Disney Animation Twitter