Most of the footage used in LETTERS FROM ALASKA were not originally intended for public consumption.  They were images taken to record the moments from my time working in the fishing industry in Alaska as well as the times that I spent in my country of birth, the Philippines.  In fact, they were not even shot with a camera that produces quality images intended for projection on big screens. I only used a hand held JVC Digital Video Camera (GR-D72U). 

Years later, after randomly viewing my old videos, I realized that I could actually tell a story about the lives of migrant workers in Alaska based on my first-hand experiences and on the images that I have been keeping as mementos. To drive the narrative, I incorporated a fictional letter-writer.  The letter itself, however, is not entirely fictional.  It is the outpouring of thoughts and emotions by someone who actually lived the experience of a migrant worker in the fishing industry in the Pribilof and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska—that would be me.  Thus, this short film was born.

- Roberto Reyes Ang