Amélie (2001)
I felt changed after watching Amélie for the first time. It was one of the first great “auteur” films I encountered that deeply resonated with me as a kid, and I remember feeling oh-so-grown-up adding it to my budding cinephile catalogue at the time. The film taught me the power of visual language, and I still often reference its styling, composition, and heightened sense of whimsy in my own work.
Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
It has always felt rare to find a film from this time centered on Asian characters and experiences. Its exploration of love and family through the vessel of food, with Asian-American stories at the forefront, reflects everything I’m drawn to in my own work. I remember watching it alone at the Metrograph on the Lower East Side while subletting an apartment for the summer, testing out what it might feel like to live in New York. That trip quickly solidified the decision for me.
Chef’s Table
From the moment the first season premiered, Chef’s Table quickly became one of my comfort shows. As I began developing my voice as a filmmaker and artist, with food emerging as a recurring throughline in my work, I realized how much the series had influenced me. From my feature film Family Style to my short documentary Cookie, Love, its striking cinematography (especially its treatment of tabletop food scenes) and personal approach to storytelling have served as influences in my work time and time again.
MELODRAMA – LORDE
Music is a major influence in my life. I’ve used Spotify as a kind of digital diary, making a playlist for every month of the year since I was sixteen. I also create a playlist for every project I write and every character I play.
Lorde’s Melodrama is easily one of my top ten albums. We’re around the same age, and the stories she tells often parallel the stages of life I’m experiencing, too. I was living in eastern France when the album came out, and to me, it captures the feeling of youth – when life feels grand and enormous, and you have no idea what’s coming next. I often write coming-of-age stories, and Lorde’s music, particularly this album, frequently finds its way onto those playlists.
Sorry, Baby (2025)
Probably the most recent work on this list.
I remember watching this movie and being like, wow, I wish I had made this. From its fly-on-the-wall cinematography, natural dialogue, and layered themes of womanhood, this was one of those movies that found me at the perfect time. It’s truly a stunning directorial debut by actor-writer-director Eva Victor. As an actor and filmmaker who brings multiple skill sets to projects (like with my first short A Reason To as actor/writer/director), this was an incredibly inspiring watch. As I start looking towards the future and making my first feature, this is a perfect showcase of what is possible for multi-hyphenates.
Cookie, Love (2026)
@sariarambulo come to the world premiere of COOKIE, LOVE at TRIBECA this sunday at 2:30pm @ spring studios c u there !!!!!! 🥹 #tribecafilmfestival
Cookie, Love is about exactly what it sounds like: cookies, and love. A love for Paris, a love for slow living, and most importantly, a love for Jean Hwang Carrant and her cookies.
As a self-proclaimed foodie filmmaker with food as the throughline in my work, I always find myself naturally gravitating to the kitchen and food spaces, no matter the city. From staging at a Filipino restaurant in LA to an Australian bakery in NYC, I’m consistently fascinated by food as a cultural touchstone and vehicle to explore themes of identity, multiculturalism, and interpersonal relationships. Food, to me, is an intrinsic mirror to society.
Cut to a move back to Paris during the writer’s strike, a chance encounter with Jean at a dinner with mutual friends, and I found myself as a stagiare at her shop Cookie Love in the heart of the city. I arrived knowing I wanted to make something new while abroad, and during my time there, it became very clear it had to be about Jean.
With her unwavering optimism, quirky “Frenglish” way of life, deep commitment to her Asian American identity, and an incredible five-year-long, sending-letters-back-and-forth, love story with her French husband that brought her to Paris in the first place – Jean’s life is love personified, all through the lens of cookies. Throughout this process, Jean has become not only a dear friend but one of my heroes, and I strive to live a life as full as hers. I wanted to make a portrait film that captured just that – her savoring of life, the tending to her garden, and her ability to find beauty in the everyday.
I made this short for no other reason than feeling called to tell her story, to make something completely my own that met me where I was as a Filmmaker, so the fact that it got to premiere at Tribeca was absolutely unexpected and a surreal experience. I’ve learned that you have to trust your creative gut, as you never know where it will take you. I hope Jean’s beaming spirit inspires audiences to fall a little bit more in love with their own life. And maybe, along the way, you’ll find yourself reaching for a cookie too.
Cookie, Love is out now. Sari Arambulo can be found on Instagram here.
Digital editor: Sonal Lad
