H.P. Mendoza
Encyclopedia
H. P. Mendoza is a Filipino American
writer-director, and singer-songwriter
based in San Francisco best known as the screenwriter and composer for the film Colma: The Musical, directed by Richard Wong. In 2006, he was listed as one of the Top 15 Creative Talents of 2006 by UCLA Asia Pacific Arts. His most recent work, Fruit Fly
, premiered on March 15, 2009 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
and is the winner of their Best Narrative Feature Audience Award. Fruit Fly is his directorial debut.
went on to win three Special Jury Prizes on the film festival circuit and was acquired by Roadside Attractions
and Lionsgate Entertainment.
. The film, heralded as "brave" by UCLA Asia Pacific Arts stars Mousa Kraish
and won a Technical Art Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
for Richard Wong and H.P. Mendoza.
"), he decided to create Bethesda, a character based on Renigen. Bethesda, like Renigen, is a performance artist who moves to San Francisco to workshop her latest performance piece dealing with finding her biological mother. Also like Renigen, Bethesda finds herself going to gay bars every night and getting labeled a "fag hag". The musical film, called "irresistible" by the San Francisco Chronicle
was funded by the Center for Asian American Media
and was awarded the Best Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 2009 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
.
takes place at a dinner table, where the sounds of conversation have been replaced by fragments of news reports from Iraq, scraps from the Army prayer manual, invented Arab folk tales, and a recurring State of Emergency pointing everywhere and leading nowhere. The sounds of the table itself struggle to bring this “conversation” into a confrontation with material reality.
The piece is a trio between the functions of music, noise, and semantic meaning, wherein each function can mingle with the others, lose itself in reveries (under fields of motive force that assert themselves with varying degrees of insistence), or, when necessary, take a solo.
Conversation Storm
sees three friends from three sides of the political spectrum unwillingly argue their way through a "ticking time bomb" scenario, dissecting, revising, and even brutalizing their own positions in the process — but time has either stopped or entered an ugly loop, and as the friends assign and reassign roles, the scenario begins to dissolve the boundaries between real and hypothetical, past and future, day and night.
In 2007, Mendoza was working for the San Francisco Fringe Festival and was able to see a performance of The Nonsense Company's Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
/Conversation Storm
and was determined to meet the troupe. In 2008, Mendoza gave his voice to Great Hymn playwright Rick Burkhardt for his award-winning composition "Calf", performed by the ensemble Ascolta
and decided to ask Burkhardt if he would be interested in making a film version of Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
/Conversation Storm
, called "a delicious two-course evening" by Time Out New York.
The film is currently in post-production.
As of 2010, he is producing the David Lewis comedy, Longhorns, as well as producing its soundtrack.
In 2011, Mendoza will go into production for three feature films, one of them a horror movie called I Am a Ghost.
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
writer-director, and singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
based in San Francisco best known as the screenwriter and composer for the film Colma: The Musical, directed by Richard Wong. In 2006, he was listed as one of the Top 15 Creative Talents of 2006 by UCLA Asia Pacific Arts. His most recent work, Fruit Fly
Fruit Fly (film)
Fruit Fly is a 2009 musical film with gay and Asian-American themes, directed by H.P. Mendoza, who wrote the screenplay for Colma The Musical . The film, made entirely in San Francisco, premiered on March 15, 2009 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival at the Castro Theatre...
, premiered on March 15, 2009 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...
and is the winner of their Best Narrative Feature Audience Award. Fruit Fly is his directorial debut.
Colma: The Musical
After writing a concept album called Colma: The Musical as a birthday present for his childhood friend, he reunited with film school classmate Richard Wong, who had just finished working on the television show, Arrested Development and was looking for a script to direct. When Wong listened to a track from Mendoza's concept album, he asked Mendoza how long it would take to turn it into a script. After seven days, a first draft was born, Mendoza flew from Philadelphia to San Francisco and the plans were set in motion. After 18 days of shooting and several months of editing, a feature film was made for a budget of roughly $15,000. The film, called "an itty-bitty movie with a great big heart" by The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
went on to win three Special Jury Prizes on the film festival circuit and was acquired by Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is a US film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2003, specializing largely in independent films.Lionsgate bought a partial stake in Roadside in 2007.-List of films released by Roadside Attractions:...
and Lionsgate Entertainment.
Option 3
After experiencing a horrible breakup, Richard Wong wanted to create an experimental genre-skipping film based on the turmoil he experienced subsequently. He hired Mendoza to write a preliminary screenplay and score. After Mendoza edited the film, it premiered at the San Francisco International Asian American Film FestivalSan Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...
. The film, heralded as "brave" by UCLA Asia Pacific Arts stars Mousa Kraish
Mousa Kraish
Mousa Kraish is an American actor and director, who has appeared in several Hollywood films including Steven Spielberg's 2005 film "Munich".Kraish was born in 1975 in Brooklyn, New York to Palestinian parents from the West Bank city of Jericho...
and won a Technical Art Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – formerly known as VC FilmFest – is an annual film festival presented by Visual Communications . It was established in 1983 as a vehicle to promote Asian Pacific American and Asian international cinema. The festival fulfills a unique mission in...
for Richard Wong and H.P. Mendoza.
Fruit Fly
During the festival life of Colma: The Musical, Mendoza and actress L.A. Renigen would jump back and forth from gay film festival to Asian film festival for about a year. After experiencing the strange treatment Renigen would receive from gay men (automatically labeling her as a "fag hagFag hag
Fag hag is a gay slang phrase referring to a woman who either associates mostly or exclusively with gay and bisexual men, or has gay and bisexual men as close friends. The phrase originated in gay male culture in the United States and was historically an insult. Some women who associate with gay...
"), he decided to create Bethesda, a character based on Renigen. Bethesda, like Renigen, is a performance artist who moves to San Francisco to workshop her latest performance piece dealing with finding her biological mother. Also like Renigen, Bethesda finds herself going to gay bars every night and getting labeled a "fag hag". The musical film, called "irresistible" by the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
was funded by the Center for Asian American Media
Center for Asian American Media
The Center for Asian American Media was founded in 1980. The San Francisco-based organization, formerly known the National Asian American Telecommunications Association , has grown into the largest organization dedicated to the advancement of Asian Americans in independent media, specifically the...
and was awarded the Best Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 2009 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...
.
Elsewhere
Like the original Colma: The Musical concept album, Elsewhere was written as a gift for Mendoza's partner, Mark Del Lima, known for his odd mixtapes and offbeat playlists. Mendoza tried to mimic the patterns, themes, and sounds of his mixtapes and playlists and wrote fourteen songs that follow the general arc of a Mark Del Lima mix. The album marks a temporary departure for Mendoza's music, having virtually no lyrics and sounding as if it were recorded in various eras to evoke a sense of nostalgia. Elsewhere is due for release in late 2009.Great Hymn of Thanksgiving/Conversation Storm
Great Hymn of ThanksgivingGreat Hymn of Thanksgiving
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving is a 2003 performance piece composed by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Conversation Storm, another piece written by Burkhardt.- Summary :...
takes place at a dinner table, where the sounds of conversation have been replaced by fragments of news reports from Iraq, scraps from the Army prayer manual, invented Arab folk tales, and a recurring State of Emergency pointing everywhere and leading nowhere. The sounds of the table itself struggle to bring this “conversation” into a confrontation with material reality.
The piece is a trio between the functions of music, noise, and semantic meaning, wherein each function can mingle with the others, lose itself in reveries (under fields of motive force that assert themselves with varying degrees of insistence), or, when necessary, take a solo.
Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm is a 2003 play written by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Great Hymn of Thanksgiving, another piece written by Burkhardt.-Summary:...
sees three friends from three sides of the political spectrum unwillingly argue their way through a "ticking time bomb" scenario, dissecting, revising, and even brutalizing their own positions in the process — but time has either stopped or entered an ugly loop, and as the friends assign and reassign roles, the scenario begins to dissolve the boundaries between real and hypothetical, past and future, day and night.
In 2007, Mendoza was working for the San Francisco Fringe Festival and was able to see a performance of The Nonsense Company's Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving is a 2003 performance piece composed by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Conversation Storm, another piece written by Burkhardt.- Summary :...
/Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm is a 2003 play written by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Great Hymn of Thanksgiving, another piece written by Burkhardt.-Summary:...
and was determined to meet the troupe. In 2008, Mendoza gave his voice to Great Hymn playwright Rick Burkhardt for his award-winning composition "Calf", performed by the ensemble Ascolta
Ascolta
- Early years :The orchestra was formed in 2003 by seven musicians. It is based in Stuttgart. They played their first public performance at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik music festival.- Current composition :...
and decided to ask Burkhardt if he would be interested in making a film version of Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving
Great Hymn of Thanksgiving is a 2003 performance piece composed by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Conversation Storm, another piece written by Burkhardt.- Summary :...
/Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm
Conversation Storm is a 2003 play written by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Great Hymn of Thanksgiving, another piece written by Burkhardt.-Summary:...
, called "a delicious two-course evening" by Time Out New York.
The film is currently in post-production.
Other projects
Mendoza has also contributed music to theater troupes like Precarious Theatre for their musical adaptation of a chapter in Don Quixote, I'm Yours! (or Deranged by Love). He also spent a lot of 2009 scoring the films Abuela and A Lower Power, directed by Paul Kolsanoff and Robert O'Geen, respectively.As of 2010, he is producing the David Lewis comedy, Longhorns, as well as producing its soundtrack.
In 2011, Mendoza will go into production for three feature films, one of them a horror movie called I Am a Ghost.
Personal life
Mendoza is openly gay and lives with his partner, designer/animator Mark Del Lima, with whom he started ersatzfilm, a division of ersatzdesign.Films
- 2006 - Colma: The Musical - screenwriter, lyricist, composer, actor
- 2007 - Option 3 - screenwriter, lyricist, composer, editor
- 2008 - Abuela - co-director, composer
- 2009 - Fruit FlyFruit Fly (film)Fruit Fly is a 2009 musical film with gay and Asian-American themes, directed by H.P. Mendoza, who wrote the screenplay for Colma The Musical . The film, made entirely in San Francisco, premiered on March 15, 2009 at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival at the Castro Theatre...
- director, screenwriter, lyricist, composer, editor, actor - 2009 - Great Hymn of ThanksgivingGreat Hymn of ThanksgivingGreat Hymn of Thanksgiving is a 2003 performance piece composed by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Conversation Storm, another piece written by Burkhardt.- Summary :...
/Conversation StormConversation StormConversation Storm is a 2003 play written by playwright and composer Rick Burkhardt and performed by The Nonsense Company.The performance is often paired with Great Hymn of Thanksgiving, another piece written by Burkhardt.-Summary:...
- co-director, cinematographer, editor - 2009 - A Lower Power - composer
- 2010 - Longhorns - producer, editor, soundtrack
- 2011 - Now and at The Hour - director, editor, cinematographer, soundtrack
- 2011 - Storm Still - director, editor, cinematographer
- 2011 - I Am a Ghost - director, editor, cinematographer
Television
- 2010 - Obscura (TV) - director, composer, editor
- 2009 - LALA (TV) - director, composer, editor (8 episodes)
Theater
- 2004 - Magic At - co-writer
- 2008 - I'm Yours! (or Deranged by Love) - lyricist, composer, musical director
Discography
- 2004 - Everything is Pop
- 2006 - Nomad
- 2007 - Colma: The Musical (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- 2008 - Fruit Fly (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- 2009 - Elsewhere