A Ride Around SOMA Pilipinas with TNT Traysikel

TNT Traysikel is a collaborative documentary project by Paolo Asuncion, Eric Pascual, and Mike Arcega. With a custom-made tricycle, the collaborators will offer rides around SOMA Pilipinas while interviewing participants. A metaphor for immigration, the tricycle opens dialogue around immigrant experiences, expectations, dreams, and the contribution and importance of the undocumented immigrant population.

Paolo Asuncion of Vargas Films has presented multiple films at the annual Motorcycle Film Festival. He and Eric Pascual of Handsome Asians Motorcycle Club are working with Mike Arcega, whose 2018 Individual Artist Commission grant funded the building of a custom-made tricycle that was unveiled at the 2019 Parol Lantern Festival. The project has already received funding from the Awesome Foundation, San Francisco State University, and SF Arts Commission.

TNT Traysikel is such an incredible project that invokes nostalgia for many Pilipinx diaspora! In interviewing with their team, they shared such incredible narratives of how even just seeing this tricycle in SoMa encouraged so many people to share stories about being undocumented, their immigration, and their hopes and dreams. This project has powerful potential to make visible the voices of our community, and we are excited to support them!

- Kim Arteche, Balay Kreative Program Manager