Disney+ is hoping to diversify your streaming queue with Launchpad, a collection of live-action shorts from an array of filmmakers who represent underrepresented backgrounds. Chosen for their undeniable raw talent and mentored by execs from the various studios, each of the program’s initial six directors created unique, moving mini-movies around the theme “Discover.”
“Launchpad, at its core, is about giving access and opportunity to those who have historically not had it before in Hollywood,” Mahin Ibrahim, director of Disney’s Diversity & Inclusion, tells ET. “And what we realized was that we really could leverage the power of a global platform like Disney+ to speak to the child within all of us who haven’t seen themselves onscreen growing up.”
Senior Manager Phillip Yaw Domfeh adds, “I’m really grateful that I have the opportunity to help create the future of the industry and the industry that I want to be in.” So, what does the future of Launchpad look like? “I’ve been saying, ‘Launchpad to the moon.’ We want it to go all the way!”
“We take it seriously and we say, ‘We really want to be lifting up the next generation of Disney storytellers,'” Domfeh explains. “But the hope for this program — the hope for empowering underrepresented filmmakers — at the end of the day is to change the industry at large. So, if we are setting an example for what’s possible, if we are uplifting voices that are going to be the storytellers of tomorrow, then our work isn’t done, but it’s in the right direction.”
Season 1’s shorts include American Eid from writer-director Aqsa Altaf, Dinner Is Served from Hao Zheng, Growing Fangs from Ann Marie Pace, Let’s Be Tigers from Stefanie Abel Horowitz, The Last of the Chupacabras from Jessica Mendez Siqueiros and The Little Prince(ss) by Moxie Peng. ET spoke with each filmmaker about the inspiration for their short and rewriting the future of Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and beyond.
American Eid
Ameena, a Muslim Pakistani immigrant, wakes up on Eid to find out that she has to go to school. Homesick and heartbroken, she goes on a mission to make Eid a public-school holiday, and in the process, reconnects with her older sister, and embraces her new home, while her new home embraces her.
What was the initial idea that became your short? And what was the most important thing for you to accomplish with it?
Aqsa Altaf: I immigrated here myself when I was around 22 and I immigrated alone — I didn’t have any family here — so I didn’t have a community when I first moved here. And every Eid that came along, because we didn’t get days off, I couldn’t go back home. I was all alone on a holiday that meant so much to me and nobody around me even knew what it was. I talked to a lot of immigrant children that have immigrated here at a young age and they all said the same thing: They wake up on Eid, they find out they have to go to school and all of a sudden this is their new home and you have to embrace it for what it is. I just wanted to tell a story where the new home embraces you for who you are as well, because I think an immigrant story goes two ways. It’s about you embracing a new home, but your new home embracing you.
Now that you’re in the Disney family, what is your dream Disney gig, whether it’s in the world of Marvel or Star Wars or Pixar or what have you?
So many! Star Wars, I would say. The universe of Star Wars is so flexible in terms of bringing in new voices. I just read the George Lucas biography, and he said that when he gave off Star Wars to the world, he hoped that when new filmmakers came on board, they brought something to it that was prevalent to their generation, like it was to his. And I hope that one of these days I can bring something to that universe that’s prevalent to our generation and add to the legacy that was created by George Lucas. That’s the dream!
American Eid may have the first Disney Universe’s first shout to Ms. Marvel. [Ameena has a Ms. Marvel poster hanging in her bedroom.] How did that come about?
I was so happy that I got the permission to use the poster. I was screaming right off the bat. It was important to me to include Ms. Marvel because when I read the comics, I just felt so seen. All of a sudden, I felt like, “Wow, my culture and religion is cool. It matters! It’s a Marvel superhero!” So, I wanted to include that poster because I believe my character, Ameena, would be a huge Ms. Marvel fan, and I also wanted to add that because I believe that we all have the superpower in us to do good and to bring about change. We just have to embrace it.
Ms. Marvel is getting her own series on Disney+ this year. What is your biggest hope for that series?
I’m going to, first of all, cry watching it. I don’t think I’m mentally and emotionally ready for it, but I think it’s going to be huge. Everything we have seen in Western media about Muslim women being oppressed and not being empowered is going to get broken. All of those stereotypes are going to get shattered, because if anything, our culture and our religion does empower women at every level. I think Ms. Marvel is going to show that, and I’m so happy for little Muslim girls to see themselves as superheroes on the big screen.
Dinner Is Served
A Chinese student at an elite U.S. boarding school realizes excellence is not enough when he tries out for a leadership position no international student has ever applied for.
What was the initial idea that became your short? And what was the most important thing for you to accomplish with it?
Hao Zheng: When I first came to the States when I was 15, I was a junior in a boarding high school in New York. And especially coming as a junior, everyone there already knew each other, and nobody understood me. To all of them, I’m a total stranger. So, I was desperately trying to find a way for them to recognize me, to see me. I applied for every position I could on campus, but then, I failed, like, one after and other, and the only thing left was this maître d role in the dining room. I thought that was a perfect position for me and people would see me. But I didn’t realize how hard that would. I practiced really hard, but still on my trial day, I was very nervous and I felt like I was going to fail again. At one point, I don’t know why, I was so desperate and I ran up to the front of the stage and then I started singing this Chinese song in Mandarin. It was so awkward. It’s one of the most awkward moments in my life.
But for some reason I felt really happy during that moment. I felt like I didn’t care about whether I got the position or not anymore. And obviously, everyone saw me now. That was the [story] behind this short film. I grew up always moving and I always felt lost. Especially when people ask me, “Where are you from? And where’s home?” For me, I really don’t know how to answer that question, because I was born in a place, I was raised in a place, and then I come to the States. I’m just hoping that I get to share my story and those other kids like me who are still figuring out our own identity, who are trying to fit in the world or trying to be seen, feel that they’re not alone. And they’re heard.
What would it have meant to you to see a Disney film like the one you made when you were young?
I grew up watching a lot of Disney movies, but they were all like Lion King or different princes and princesses and magical worlds — all those are very inspiring and are very magical and very happy — but I’ve never really seen myself as an international student coming from a foreign country being represented on the big screen in mainstream Hollywood. So, for me, if I were a kid seeing this film, I would feel like I’m seeing myself. I would feel that I’m not alone.
Now that you’re in the Disney family, what is your dream Disney gig?
I would love, love, love, love to do a superhero movie. Because as a kid, I always dreamt about myself becoming a superhero. It’s an escape but it’s also really empowering. I can imagine what that would be if I get to do one.
