Egghead, Twinkie, and the Road to Finding Her Damn Self

Sarah Kambe Holland brings charm along with fresh visual and narrative invention to "Egghead & Twinkie," a movie about a 17-year-old lesbian chasing after a first romance while her straight best friend tries to remain supportive despite having been in love with her all his life. Equal parts coming-out story and road movie, Holland's mixture of comedy and heartbreak feels fresh, while her energetic visual sense – including animated embellishments à la "Heartstopper" – give the movie a youthful, rather than immature, sensibility.

It's the last summer for longtime besties Twinkie – her real name is Veronica, and it's best to leave the origin of her nickname unspoiled here – and Matthew... or, Egghead as he's known, because he's a whiz kid on his way to Stanford University. Twinkie has been messaging with out and proud DJ B.D. (short for "Big Dyke"), and after her attempt at coming out to her homophobic parents backfires, Twinkie decides the thing to do is to steal her dad's car and drive to Texas, where B.D. will be working a queer ladies' night. In a movie buzzing with ideas, true love is not at all impossible... but it might just come from someplace unexpected.

Holland has appeared as an actor in more than half a dozen short films (among them the intriguingly named "Gaydream," "The Secrets She Keeps," and "Killer Clown Car"), and as a director she has two shorts of her own, one of them the original brief version of "Egghead & Twinkie." This is her first feature, but expect more inventive, heartfelt work from her in the future, because Sarah Kambe Holland is a filmmaker to watch.

EDGE: You've said your own coming out inspired you to write a comedy. Was it anything as dramatic or comedic as what we see in the movie?

Sarah Kambe Holland: It was not quite as dramatic. I think the thing that stood out to me after coming out is that it's a really scary experience; you're admitting to the world who you are, and you're not always sure how people react. But I think that there's also an awkward humor that can sometimes happen from like those moments of discomfort. That's really what stuck with me: The moments that were awkward and weird. Looking back on it is kind of funny. That's what made me think about making a comedy about the coming out process.

EDGE: "Egghead & Twinkie" originated as a short, and I have the impression that the short might have been a first cut of the film, then there was more production that happened.

Sarah Kambe Holland: The short was kind of a proof of concept, and it was with the same lead actors that played Egghead & Twinkie. It was basically the inciting incident of the feature, so it was Twinkie's coming out. They decide they're going to go on this road trip, and that's basically the end of the short. It doesn't really cover all that much, but I think the intention with it was to leave people wanting to see more of these characters. We used that proof of concept to shop around the idea for the feature and help win some grants.

EDGE: Did you already have a script in hand for the feature when you made the short?

Sarah Kambe Holland: I wish! I did not think that far ahead. We were playing festivals with the short, and simultaneously I was writing this feature.

EDGE: You've said you've written Twinkie as a mixed Asian character, which reflects yourself. But what was the thinking behind Twinkie being adopted by Caucasian parents?

Sarah Kambe Holland: That is definitely different from my own experience, and it was something I wanted to be sensitive towards and make sure that I was portraying it in a respectful way. I think it came from the idea of being a Twinkie, of feeling like you're not Asian enough. As a mixed Asian person, growing up I definitely felt that, where you don't really feel enough in either space. You always feel like the odd person out. From my friends that are adoptees, and from stories that I've read from adoptees, I think that there's often a similar feeling of not really belonging. Twinkie having those compounded identities of being both mixed and adopted, I think, marks this journey for her, and she goes on this trip not just to find love, but because she's looking for a place to belong. That's one of the strong narrative threads – Twinkie's search for a sense of belonging. I think she finds that in herself. She finds that in Egghead, and she finds that in, maybe, some unexpected places.

EDGE: In addition to being Asian and adopted, Twinkie is queer. That's a lot to juggle.

Sarah Kambe Holland: It is, and it's interesting. When I was writing the script, I definitely had a few people come to me and say, "Hey, Twinkie has too much going on." Like, "We think she has too many identities, or issues," and I was like, "I don't think that's true, because intersectionality is just a fact of life." I mean, I'm queer, I'm mixed Asian. You can be various things at the same time. That was something I was passionate about. Obviously, we're telling a story that is very light-hearted, and about friendship, and about things a lot of people can relate to. At the same time, Twinkie's niche identity is just a part of her. It's just how she moves through life.

EDGE: I think I read that you had said you'd wanted to give some representation on the screen to Asian people in the queer community. There's not a lot out there, but from what does exist, was some of it an influence or an inspiration?

Sarah Kambe Holland: Oh, absolutely. I love "Saving Face," and then Alice Wu's second film, "The Half of It," came out partway through production for "Egghead & Twinkie." I have seen "Golden Delicious," and there have been a few other queer Asian movies that have come out more recently, so that's super exciting. There's a lot of different stories to tell within the queer Asian experience.

EDGE: What about something like the new version of "The Wedding Banquet," told from the Korean point of view versus the original Chinese angle? Is it very different between subsets of the Asian community?

Sarah Kambe Holland: Yes, and I think "The Wedding Banquet," in particular, is an interesting example. I know that they've made some changes; I think with the new one there's some lesbian-gay solidarity, which is nice to see. That wasn't in the original '90s film. There's definitely diversity within the queer Asian experience – a lot of different stories that need to be told.

EDGE: Would you want to explore that niche a bit more in future films?

Sarah Kambe Holland: Oh, boy, yeah. I have so many ideas for future projects I want to make, and some of them are queer and Asian, some of them are period pieces, and other ones are zany, over-the-top spoof-type things. It's not so much me being like, "I need to tell queer Asian stories" as it is that those stories kind of come to me naturally because that's how I see the world. I don't want to feel limited to that; it's just if that character pops into my brain, then that's what I'm gonna write.

EDGE: Is it the same sort of thing as an actor – you want a broad diversity of roles, but if there's a queer role available, you might be a little more interested in going for that?

Sarah Kambe Holland: Exactly. If you have a personal stake in something, or if it ties into your personal experience, that'll always be the thing that you're drawn to, because it's your own worldview. It's always special when I get to play a queer role.

EDGE: "Egghead & Twinkie" was a favorite at the film festivals. What were you hearing from audiences?

Sarah Kambe Holland: It's been amazing! Taking "Egghead & Twinkie" to film fests was such a rewarding experience, especially because it was such a long journey to get the film done. I was one of the editors on the film, so I was sitting in the edit suite watching the movie over and over again for months. At the end of that process, I just thought, "Oh my god, none of these jokes are funny. This is awful. I can see all of the little mistakes that nobody else is going to notice." To then experience the film with an audience for the first time was truly magical, and especially to hear stories from other queer people who would come up to me after the screening and say, "You know, this is the movie I needed when I was younger," or, "This movie made me cry," or, "I related to this part or that part, to this character" – that made it all worth it.

"Egghead & Twinkie" is streaming now on VOD.