Film, famously cited by Frank Capra to be one of the universal languages, can have the eloquence to make a minority experience relevant to the mainstream, and to unite a diverse audience with a reminder of shared human qualities. The dramatic feature film MacKenzie’s Café, the current project of independent filmmaker Donna Tsufura, is one example of such a work. The story of MacKenzie Morimoto, a yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese-American) with what Chung Tsang of Teabag called “the heart, the guts, and the sheer foolishness to go after her dreams”, is an invitation to consider the specificities of the Asian American experience, as well as a challenge to confront our personal demons, the internal limitations that nearly all of us place on our lives.

When Tsufura was asked if she had always wanted to be a filmmaker, she surprisingly answered no. “I wasn’t even one of those people who grew up seeing lots of movies.” She was largely self-taught, never attending film school. “But I have always been drawn to telling stories.” Critics have acknowledged Tsufura’s work to exemplify the beauty of story-telling, the vital need to record, validate, and share human experiences. The Seattle Times called her full-length play, Origami, staged at the Northwest Asian American Theater Company, an “eloquent, beautifully crafted story of a young girl’s search for her place in the world.”

MacKenzie’s Café explores another aspect of that universal human quest—the impact that one individual’s search for meaning and fulfillment can have on a community. MacKenzie overcomes doubts and expectations (both those of others and, more formidably, her own) to start a café in her hometown. Her triumphs and struggles inspire others to remember and pursue their dreams, and it is hoped that the audience will be stirred to strive for their own.

One of Tsufura’s long-term plans is to develop MacKenzie’s Café into a television series as well as into a feature film. “Due to time constraints, I have to cut so many characters and so many stories,” she explained. “I can’t fit it all in under two hours. And of course, it would be great to have a main character role for an Asian American actor on mainstream TV.”

Her creative approach is an organic one. “I can take surprises, and veer off in new directions. I love the moments that you don’t expect, when things go off in a different direction that you hadn’t anticipated but really works.” Comparing it to theater, she remarked, “The interaction between the audience and what’s going on on-stage, the different dynamics between the actors and the audience on a given night, means that every performance can be a unique experience. There’s a little less immediacy in film, but magical, unexpected things can occur. And the beauty of film is that if you can capture that magic, it lasts forever.”

One of her favorite moments in her career involved a burst of natural light serendipitously illuminating a scene—unplanned, and perfect, and impossible without flexibility and an eye for unexpected magic.

To aspiring film-makers, Tsufura recommends the same flexibility and openness to new experiences and people. “Work on all different kinds of projects,” she advises. “And remember that it’s all about relationships—on every level.”

Paying attention to feedback is also important. On her re-writes of MacKenzie’s Café, she explained that it was important to her to “listen to all the feedback, because everyone has their own perspective and expectations. Of course I can’t accommodate everything, or I’ll lose my own sense of the story, but feedback is a valuable way to look again at the story that’s emerging.”

The heart of MacKenzie’s Café is this struggle to let a yet-unwritten life story unfold, to see a dream to fruition, and to be liberated by the realization that we, like MacKenzie, can be our most daunting obstacles. Tsufura ended the interview with the questions, “What can a dream for yourself mean for the world? What would the world look like if everyone could pursue their dreams?”

Tsufura herself has been involved in helping Asian American filmmakers pursue their dreams. She was a founding member of The WorkSHOP, an Asian American filmmakers’ collaborative, now known as the AAFilm Lab. A proposal of hers led to what is now called the 72 Hour Film Shoot-Out, a national film competition produced by AA Film Lab and co-sponsored by MTV World and Asian CineVision.

For updates on MacKenzie’s Café, please visit http://www.mackenziescafe.com.