Watch I Am a Ghost, remastered for its 10th Anniversary!

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Celebrating the legacy of I Am a Ghost

March 4, 2025 - H.P. Mendoza

We shot I Am a Ghost in 2011 with a skeleton crew and a production budget of $7500 and we premiered at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in 2012. Usually, after this year you focus on distribution but little did we know we were going to get so much attention in Europe, so 2013 was our overseas festival year which then led to interest from American buyers in 2014. This is the longest festival run I’d ever had and have yet to recreate that experience!

Ten years ago today, October 29, 2014, I Am a Ghost had its theatrical premiere at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, CA courtesy of Ersatz Film and Gravitas Ventures.

It was such a special night, the 1400 seat Castro Theater was packed, people showed up in costume - some as Emily, some as Star Trek characters because San Francisco. In the video below, you can see what Anna Ishida and I were up to, filming peoples’ reactions in the Castro Theatre while hiding in the balcony, like two giddy schoolkids.

By the time of our release, we’d made over a dozen top ten lists, four Best Picture awards, three Best Actress awards and three Best Director awards. And a crazy proud moment for us is when it tied for the Audience Award with Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity at La Samain du Cinema Fantastique.

Oh, these old things? 💅

Our FANGORIA spread!

To go from being ignored by the American festival circuit to being championed in Europe and Asia, coming full circle to being championed in America - this “little-film-that-could” has lived third and fourth lives as it started becoming more visible in horror circles, Asian-American festivals and queer spaces. And now, in 2024 as we start to make more announcements about our baby, I look forward to seeing the new life I Am a Ghost is about to lead.

H.P.