Brief Explanation

This is a true story of a young girl named Mhew. She, like most Likay performers, comes from an impoverished background and started working at a tender age of 9 in order to help support her family. This documentary-style film brings light to the life of Likay performers behind the stage, and is a film with a positive outlook on how a little care can restore the beauties of life, no matter how destructive realities of life can be. The story begins with an introduction to Mhew and the struggles she has with her skin. The nightly reluctant application of heavy, thick makeup and her drive to do best by her mom. The story follows her as she begins on a journey to take better care of her skin, and ultimately banished her life tension and restored her beauty and confidence with a proper skin regimen.

We initially did not set out to find a Likay performer to tell our story, but we knew that we wanted to bolds the importance of makeup, where makeup is not just a thing of beauty, but a tool for survival. We dug deep in our cultural roots and it dawned on us that Likay, a traditional folk art where performers are known for their bad skin, had the elements that sets the stage for the kind of story we wanted to tell. We researched, traveled and interviewed to find the right Likay story, then after sifting through hundreds of stories of hardship, we finally found Mhew. She was not famous, and is one of the youngest Likay performers, but she had a drive, a sense of gratitude, and an exceptionally heart-breaking story; one that is worth it to tell.