Jubilee Project‘s latest short film “The Master Chef” is based on a true story about pursuing your dreams no matter the odds. In 2003, Christine Ha was diagnosed with a disease that caused her blindness. She didn’t think that she could move on, and felt devastated and alone. But through her love for cooking and the people around her, she started to see her purpose in life. By picking herself up, Christine became the first blind contestant on the hit reality TV show, MasterChef. Here’s more about the short film:
The film begins in 1999 when Christine was in college at the University of Texas in August, and each sequence represents a year later as her vision gets worse. The doctors initially were confused what was happening, but she was eventually diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO), a rare disease that attacks her spinal cord and optic nerves, causing paralysis and blindness. There was a time in 2002 when she was working as a computer programmer, she became paralyzed from the neck down. It took 9 months for her to recover from that attack. The next several years were some dark years as she felt a sense of worthlessness, hopelessness, and depression. By 2007, her eyesight had decreased to where it is today.
We see a progression of Christine’s vision loss from her own point of view (POV), which shows not only the extent of her vision loss, but also symbolically how she used to be more self-centered. As an only child, Christine shared that she likes being in control. So when her vision disappeared, one of her greatest fears was losing a sense of independence. But simultaneously as her vision disappeared, she learned how to let go of her desire to control, how to see things from different perspectives, and how to empathize with other people’s struggles.
She learned all of this because she knew what it was like to go through pain. One of her most vivid memory during that time was struggling to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As she tried putting the sandwich together, she was making a huge mess, couldn’t spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread uniformly, and had trouble putting the slices of bread together. Although it may have been “just a sandwich,” she broke down in tears because that’s when it clicked that she wouldn’t be able to do the things she loved anymore.
Although John helps Christine a lot, Christine desires to pick herself up and reclaim her own life. She knows that she has to rely on others for certain things, but she also wants to live a normal life and doesn’t want others treating her differently just because she can’t see. Through the montage scene, she learns how to cook by relying more on her sense of taste, smell and touch. She learns how to use a computer through a software called Voiceover, and she starts blogging and writing by taking creative writing classes at a nearby University. Surprisingly after losing her vision, she’s more willing to take risks and goes skiing and skydiving for the first time in her life, which we were able to use actual footage of her doing that.
The last scene highlights her success both as a person and as a contestant on MasterChef. Because the show is aired after it’s filmed, John and Christine have it on TV in the background as they eat dinner, more focused on their love for each other. Ki Hong, the actor who plays John, does a Gordon Ramsey impersonation that was actually taken from one of the episodes when Ramsey describes Christine’s apple pie. We see how far Christine has come along when she reveals that she was able to make a PBJ sandwich all by herself.
Watch more videos from Jubilee Project: The Last Pick, Fireflies, An Incredible Bond, Dear Daniel, Back to Innocence, Picture Perfect, Generosity Day : What is Love?, Be the Change, Love Language, Top Chef, Picture This, Why I Sing, Waiting Game, Top Chef, Waiting Game, Letter of Hope, and Beautiful.
The Master Chef by Jubilee Project
Behind the scenes of The Master Chef by Jubilee Project
