On assignment with Mike Abela

Mike Abela, the 26-year-old filmmaker who graduated from the first video production program at Sonoma Valley High School and now works as a professional, has produced a series of touching short films while on engaged in a project in Vietnam. The first installment is now online at SonomaSun.com.

The piece observes an elderly woman who has spent her entire life living on the Mekong River, selling soup to market vendors from a boat. Additional installments examine the lives of other ordinary citizens trying to make a living and find their way in Vietnam’s quickly changing society.

Mike’s films reveal the common humanity we share in a world otherwise separated by expanses of time, space, politics and culture. The basic goodness and dignity of people, even those with very little in the way of possessions, money or power shines through in Mike’s work, and highlights his broad talents as a filmmaker and observer of people and society.

The Sun will release each of Mike’s short films during the summer, to include a segment documenting the lives of orphans and children in Nepal impacted by the recent earthquakes there. Upon his return home in September, Mike will continue to produce new short documentaries about the people and lives in our community. His previous work about the Community Health Center, produced for the Sun, can be seen, along with his newer productions, in the Video section of the Sun website.

The Sun is delighted to be working closely with Mike and looks forward to bringing his work to the attention of a wider audience right here in his hometown.