Blair and Olivia are two Asian-American artists and directors living in New York. Blair wrote this story as a fictional reimagining of her own grandmother's experience living alone as an Asian elder in the US. Keep Warm focusses us on a section of the population who often feel invisible - elderly women. This film rids us of the taboo that elderly women can be sexual, too. Historically, the film industry has in contrast approached sexuality amongst middle-aged > elderly men as something often highlighted and/ or heralded.

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Olivia Leong Sulkowicz 'Early on I struggled with how much of my Asian identity I was comfortable exploring on film. I always wanted to tell stories that resonated with my experience, but for a long time I also feared being pigeonholed. I didn’t want to be written off as incapable of telling stories that resonated beyond the Asian community. I think a lot of this fear stems from the lack of mainstream Asian stories, which has slowly begun to change. Keep Warm was incredibly freeing for me as a filmmaker, I was given a license to embrace and revel in the Asianness of the story, and it’s been so gratifying to hear from people, Asian and not-Asian for whom it’s resonated.

Blair Cannon originated the idea to make a short based on her grandmother’s romantic awakening after her husband's death. The outline of the story came from Blair’s grandmother’s experiences and grew out of a desire to pay homage to both of our maternal grandmothers, with some stories from my own grandmother's life sprinkled in. It’s very personal for the two of us. It is a product of our love and gratitude for the women who came before us, but also something we hoped could be light-hearted and universally accessible.'

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