How to feed a hungry Ghost – Erik Shirai | The Website of Tôn Thất An [Aaken]

It was editor Julie Béziau who suggested to ask Tôn Thất An to join the project and compose for How to feed a hungry Ghost, a documentary-fiction by New-York based Japanese director Erik Shirai. Julie Béziau and Tôn Thất An had previously worked together on a few critically acclaimed indie Vietnamese films: The third Wife, Between Shadow and Soul, Glorious Ashes. It was while they were completing work on Ash Mayfair’s latest opus, Skin of Youth, that Julie came up with that idea. She had been using An’s music to help her edit the first draft of the film, and it had become evident to her and director Erik Shirai that he was to be the one to compose the music. Things didn’t go as simply as they thought, as An already had his hands quite full with a string of new films: Eel, Hunter Brothers, Sammi, who can detach his Body Parts and the VR project Somewhere unknown in Indochina, no less!
However, Erik Shirai persisted and remained patient. Back in 2024, the project was chosen as one of the Far East Film Festival production initiatives, the Focus Asia’s “Far East in Progress” program. Shirai had been shooting for some time already. As Shirai explains it, How to Feed a Hungry Ghost follows the tale of a woman who builds a successful business in the United States. She had arrived from Vietnam with just $100 USD in her pocket.
“The film explores her complex memories of home and how food evokes these memories, aiding her in finding peace with herself and her family. Inspired by a true story, this film is more than entertainment. It aims to deliver profound meaning and emotional impact. For me, creating this film was vital as it provided the main subject an opportunity to confront her past traumas and see her life from a new perspective, which proved to be a powerful experience.”
Eventually, despite the heavy schedule and his family issues, Tôn Thất An accepted to join the project.
“When I watched the draft that was sent to me, I was astounded by the visual beauty of the film, the fact that it was quite difficult to tell whether it was a documentary of pure fiction”, he said.
From late 2024 to early 2025, he composed a dozen pieces, the recording session with guitarist Huang Yu-Tsang and Crisha Mejia taking place between Taipei and Cagayan de Oro, in the Philippines.
Now, a year and a half later, the film has reached its post-production stage. Shirai has been shooting more scenes in the meantime, as well as working on another documentary.
Editing as resumed earlier this year. Julie Béziau had to leave the project for personal reasons – unrelated to the film. It’s her assistant Hằng Thân who took over.
The final cut is about to be completed, recording sessions have also resumed, this time in Saigon with percussionist Long Đinh, and final sound mixing should take place in September.
More good news to come!