How “Happy Holidays” Redefined Sassy Mohen’s Ambition at Chapman University

Sassy Mohen, a bold and innovative voice in female-driven storytelling, has always approached filmmaking with a fearless resolve. Her first feature film, Happy Holidays, was a prime example of this determination. Labeled “too ambitious” by Chapman University in 2006, the film became a groundbreaking project that defined her early career and challenged the status quo in indie filmmaking. With the re-release of Happy Holidays – The Director’s Cut, now digitally remastered and packed with never-before-seen footage, Mohen reflects on her journey and how it shaped her storytelling voice.

“Challenge Accepted”: Pushing Past Obstacles

For Mohen, making Happy Holidays wasn’t just a choice—it was an urgent necessity. “In 2006, no woman had won an Oscar for Best Director yet,” she explains. “When I told people I wanted to be a director, the general response I got was, ‘Awww, that’s nice.’” This dismissive attitude only fueled her ambition.

A turning point came during her freshman year at Chapman when a professor told her class, “None of you are going to make it in the film industry.” While this could have been demoralizing, Mohen took it as a challenge. “I said, ‘Challenge accepted,’ because I had worked too hard to give up,” she recalls.

Faced with a lack of opportunities for women in film school, Mohen took matters into her own hands. “It became clear to me that I had no chance in hell to direct a junior or senior thesis,” she shares. “By the time Chapman University claimed making Happy Holidays was ‘too ambitious,’ we had already cast the film, pulled together a crew, and started location scouting.”

Embracing the MiniDV Era

Shooting on HD MiniDV in 2006 was another bold decision. While digital filmmaking was still in its infancy, Mohen saw it as a practical solution. “Do we want to make a film or do we just want to talk about making a film?” she says. The use of digital technology allowed her to focus on storytelling rather than the limitations of traditional film stock.

Criticism from peers and professors only solidified her resolve. “I remember people saying we weren’t actually making a ‘feature film’ because we weren’t shooting on film. But all of those people were sitting around ‘waiting’ to make their ‘big project.’ I thought, why would you do that? Just make something.”

Crowdfunding Before It Had a Name

The term “crowdfunding” didn’t even exist in 2006, but that didn’t stop Mohen and her team from leveraging early social media platforms like MySpace and YouTube. Co-producer Dillon Morris suggested documenting their process through video podcasts inspired by Four Eyed Monsters. “When I came to Dillon and said, ‘I want to make a feature film,’ he suggested we follow the same method, and it worked!”

Their innovative approach made the most of emerging tech. “Facebook launched the ‘mini-feed’ the week we had auditions, so suddenly everyone’s feed at Chapman was talking about the auditions. MySpace already had a vast network of indie kids eager for content, and I literally engaged with over 20,000 people,” Mohen recalls.

Revisiting and Reimagining the Film

The decision to remaster Happy Holidays came from a place of both pride and perfectionism. “I used to joke that if I came back as a ghost, my unfinished business would be re-mastering Happy Holidays,” Mohen says. “Not because I think it’s some film tour-de-force, but because so many people worked incredibly hard on it when so many others pushed us to give up.”

She embraced modern technology to enhance the film, even creating new scenes nearly 17 years later. “For two insert shots I didn’t have the raw footage for, we recreated them with a stand-in actress and VFX,” she shares. The remastered version features polished audio, color correction, and reimagined performances that bring the story to life in a way Mohen always envisioned.

Balancing Diverse Projects with a Unified Voice

From the comedy satire of How to Hack Birth Control to the dramedy of On the Hook, Mohen’s work spans a range of genres but always centers on bold, female-driven narratives. “It’s the only type of film I want to make,” she says. Reflecting on her early struggles to write strong female characters, she admits, “When I stopped caring about whether or not people would want to watch ‘women stories,’ the films got better and started earning bigger accolades.”

Advice for Ambitious Filmmakers

Mohen’s journey offers valuable lessons for aspiring directors. Her advice? “Fact: Your first film will be terrible, it will be embarrassing. But it’s what you do with that embarrassment that will define you as a filmmaker.”

She emphasizes the importance of persistence and learning from failure. “You can’t get obsessed with making a masterpiece. But if you’re lucky, with enough experience, failures, wins, and the right teammates, the films you make will turn out even better than you imagined.”

Where to Watch

Happy Holidays – The Director’s Cut is now streaming on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube TV, and Tubi. Featuring newly added performances and never-before-seen footage, it’s a testament to the power of persistence and the enduring spirit of indie filmmaking.

For more about Sassy Mohen and her projects, visit SassyMohen.com.