Aim (played by the filmmaker Artima Sakulkoo herself) has just returned to New York, after attending her mother’s funeral in her native Thailand. She is immediately ambushed by her ex-girlfriend Sandra (Linsy Segarra), who gushes about a role she has received as an actor. Our protagonist struggles with her immigrant identity, and has to address repressed feelings for a romance she seemingly buried quite some time ago.
It takes a brave person to act, direct and write her own film, but Artima Sakulkoo acquits so nicely to the environment, it shakes away any accusation of vanity. Inspired by Sakulkoo’s genuine grief at losing a mother, It Happened in August is cloaked from head to toe in sorrow: sadness for a lost life and lost love. As a story, it queries art from the perspective of an expat trying to immerse into a new culture. Lasting 15 minutes, Sakulkoo abundant information into the frames.
The girlfriend hardly takes a breath before bursting out with the news that her audition went brilliantly, ignoring Aim’s sad face. Rather than chastise the actor, Aim asks about the news, as if recognising her place as a subservient in this Caucasian culture.”I’m so excited, I got the role in the film,” the character presses on and on. Blind to the immediate surroundings, this stereotypical American gal feels her news outweighs the person of colour.
Family means everything to Aim. She shares a flat with her younger brother. The two indulge their father during a Zoom call. Clearly neither are bothered by this gesture, but do so in order to support their surviving guardian. In a nation that embodies the individual over the community, these little moments have added padding and weight. Like any sister, Aim would kill anyone who attacks her little sibling, and is conflicted when she discovers similar feelings towards a broken love with another woman.
Queer cinema like Honey Don’t (Ethan Coen, 2025) and Rafiki (Wanuri Kahiu, 2018) tends to focus on lovers of a similar racial background, whereas It Happened in August is a mixed-race tale. This is not rand0m, as the interactions between highlight the social differences. Opportunities for the American-borb woman come fast and easy, and a garbled audition works out just fine for her. Aim, by converse, lumbers along in life, a Zoom call the highlight of a day. Some people are unaware of their place in the world, and it is only when another opens their eyes up do they face it head on.
Aim and Sandra sit at a brightly lit table. The movie is wonderfully well-coloured, with yellow and blue t-shirts high up in the camera’s face. A photo album is whipped out, and the two women gleefully look over memories. Souvenirs of an emotional kind are always more powerful than the material equivalents. This is a film dotted with beautiful – if sorrowful – compositions. The story takes a sadder turn once clips of a funeral dot the screen.
It Happened in August premiered at Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival. An honest and relatable film.
Don’t forget to read our interview with Artima by clicking here.
