Backstory

Filmmaker (and my cousin) Jessica Yu is one of the funniest people I know. So it didn’t surprise me when she came up with the idea of filming a bunch of kids eating a Sour Death Ball, an excruciatingly sour Japanese candy, the kind only Jessica would have and actually like.

We shot it with my 16mm Bell and Howell hand wound camera using 100 rolls of B&W film. I was living in Echo Park and knew of a nursery school overlooking the Silverlake reservoir. Surprisingly, the school let us film any kid game enough to eat this candy (and there were many). I assume we had their parents’ permission, but I can’t be certain. The results were hilarious, if not tinged with a little guilt. The kids and later the adults we filmed (I make a cameo appearance) were terrific sports and everyone survived the ordeal.

The film played at all the BIG films fests including Telluride, Sundance, and Toronto - and travelled around the world. Jessica even got an appearance on the Jon Stewart Show, where the studio audience was treated to a Sour Death Ball. This quirky little film turned out to be a huge hit. I would love to shoot a sequel featuring these same kids as adults revisiting this very sour candy.