Chinese Filmmakers on the Pandemic

Join us for a screening of four short films created by USC and NYU Chinese filmmakers about the pandemic.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
7 pm Pacific time
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108, George Lucas Building
900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
RSVP required, but space is limited and seating is first come first served.
Click here to RSVP.

Theatrical Screening of four films:
Mother in the Mist (20 minutes)
Wuhan Driver (14 minutes)
The Story of This Life (18 minutes)
July 4th, 2020 (29 minutes)
 

About the Films

MOTHER IN THE MIST (20 min.)

Written, Directed, and Produced by SCA Alumna Kay Niuyue Zhang, Production MFA, Class of 2022
Produced by SCA Alumna Robin Wang, Production MFA, Class of 2022

Following Wuhan’s Coronavirus lockdown, a rural single mother, Zhao, embarks on a dangerous journey in search of her preemie newborn baby stranded in Wuhan City Hospital. Joining her path is a mysterious eight-year-old girl, who shares the same determination to reunite with her mother in the city.

Festivals:
The 27th Annual DGA Student Film Awards Best Women Student Filmmaker Grand Prize Award Winner
Award Winner Best Student Film 52th Annual USA Film Festival 2022
Jury Award Winner American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at 75th Cannes Film Festival Village International
Indie Short Fest 2022, Best Drama Short of the Year and Best Female Director.
Website: https://www.kayzhangniuyue.com/mother-in-the-mist

WUHAN DRIVER (14 min.)

Written & Directed by Tiger Ji (Current NYU Student)

A Chinese Uber driver in New York struggles to make ends meet as he picks up various passengers on a long and dreary night.

Festivals:
38th Rhode Island International Film Festival - Winner, Filmmaker of the Future Award
25th LA Shorts Festival
45th Asian American International Film Festival
20th San Diego International Film Festival
10th NY Shorts Festival
25th American Pavilion Emerging Filmmakers Showcase at Cannes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wuhandriverfilm/

THE STORY OF THIS LIFE (18 min.)

Directed by SCA Alum Alex Jiang, Production, Class of 2022
Produced by SCA Alum Xinyu Zhao, Class of 2022

After learning that his son has died in Los Angeles during the pandemic, Chang Dong decides to fly over from China to collect his remnants. Not knowing how to speak English, he hires a Chinese college girl Janice as his translator. Despite a rocky start, the two strangers gradually develop a mutual understanding for each other as Janice bears witness to Chang Dong’s silent grief.

Official Selection: Palm Springs ShortFest 2023
Website: https://www.thestoryofthislife.com/

JULY 4TH, 2020 (29 min.)

Directed by SCA Alum Joe Juanyao Zheng, Production MFA, Class of 2015
Produced by SCA Alum Yaxing Lin, Production MFA, Class of 2022

July 2020, at the peak of the pandemic in the city of Los Angeles, misunderstandings and conflicts between a Chinese immigrant father, a white restaurant owner, and a young black man escalate into a tumultuous climax….

Festivals:
27th LA Shorts International Film Festival
38th Rhode Island International Film Festival - Semi-Finalist
10th March on Washington Film Festival - Emerging Filmmaker Shorts
Website: https://www.july4th2020film.com/

About the Directors

Kay Niuyue Zhang is a Filmmaker, Singer, and Poet born in Wuhan, China. Her short film Mother in the Mist, now distributed by Amazon Prime Video for VOD, and aired at PBS for Broadcast, was awarded the DGA student Award Grand Jury Prize for Best Women Filmmaker, the Jury Prize at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 75th Festival de Cannes, and Best Narrative Film at KCET’s 23rd Fine Cut Festival of Films. Her films were supported in the past by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FOX Fellowship Endowment Fund, Lisa Lu Foundation, and several other generous funds. She also produces extensively, her past work winning the Gold Medalist of the 47th Student Academy Awards, and Special Jury Prize at the BAFTA Student Film Awards 2021. Kay works in the space of nuanced emotions and struggles of diasporic children and women.

Tiger Ji is a writer/director from Hong Kong. Tiger graduated from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he majored in philosophy and read a bunch of Russian literature. He has also studied under acclaimed filmmakers like Ruben Ostlund (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, THE SQUARE), and Lucrecia Martel (LA CIÉNEGA), and is an alumnus of the 2022 Short to Feature Lab led by Jim Cummings (THUNDER ROAD). Inspired by Hong Kong cinema, his films fuse Eastern and Western sensibilities, and blend the absurd with the serious. He first gained recognition at age 19 with his award-winning short, WUHAN DRIVER, which caught the attention of EP Jonathan Sanger (VANILLA SKY, ELEPHANT MAN). His subsequent short film, DEATH & RAMEN, stars comedian Bobby Lee and actor Matt Jones from BREAKING BAD, and premiered at the Palm Springs Shortfest. It was picked up by Ouat Media for distribution, and is currently in the festival circuit.

Born and raised in China, Alex Jiang is a freelancing writer/director/producer. She gained her BFA degree from USC School of Cinematic Arts and is now pursuing her MFA degree in NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Alex’s short films have gone to multiple domestic and international festivals such as Palm Springs International ShortFest, LA Shorts, Taiwan Queer International Film Festival, etc. She is eager to tell stories that center around the topics of identity, gender, and culture.

Joe Zheng, film producer and director based in Los Angeles. He grew up alongside the Yangtze River in Hupei, China, and got his first master’s degree in film studies at Beijing Film Academy. He then came to the United States to study film production at USC, during which he directed, produced and edited many short narrative films including Drone, which was nominated for Student Oscar Award in 2015. After graduation, Joe produced and directed a series of documentaries for the prestigious Center for Visual Anthropology of USC on East Asia, and served as the director of development and production at Vantage Entertainment, a LA-based production and film financing company. In 2021, Joe founded Lightseeking Pictures Inc., an indie film production company focusing on producing content and projects from the Asian American perspective.

Hosted by the USC School of Cinematic Arts "Outside the Box (Office)" program.