Off the Farm was my senior thesis project at Brooklyn College. I wanted to make a film that tells the story of the long process of becoming American. As a son of the Puyallup Valley and connected to the agricultural community through my father, a truck farmer, I wanted to tell this story through the lens of the Manong generation, and the farms they worked from their arrival and through much of the 20th century. I do expand the scope to farming up and down the west coast, but the Puyallup Valley stands as my template of other farms and the Filipino community. I wanted to touch upon some of the struggles they endured, but also celebrate their triumphs of finding success on their own, and how it fits into and enriches the story of America. One over arching theme I wanted to express was that this activity was only to last one generation, for the children of these “truck farmers” were not expected to become farmers, but rather to explore other opportunities through education or a vocation other than farming. To become American.