‘Paper UFOs’ lands on immigrant family struggles

When Joyce Ni was 15, she went on a train ride with her dad. During the three-day long ride from Los Angeles to Chicago, she finally got the chance to talk to her dad and she began to view him differently. Ni learned more about his passions and his dreams. 

In a class where pitching a movie was the final assignment, Ni (a junior majoring in business administration with an emphasis in cinematic arts) who worked as a production assistant for the film, presented an idea that was essentially, at its core, “girl goes on a trip with her dad. They realize they’re more similar than they ever thought they were.” 

In “Paper UFOs, Li Wei, the father, was an artist who gave up his dream to move to the U.S. This decision affected how he raised Jennie, his daughter, a student interested in the arts, said Stanley Lin, the film’s director of photography, co-screenwriter and executive producer.

When Jennie studied film against her father’s wishes, it created a rift between the pair. The film intends to reconcile the desires of both and start a conversation between the two generations, said Lin.  

“Paper UFOs” is an independent short film that is “a character exploration between a second-generation Asian American daughter and her first-generation Chinese father,” Lin said, and a senior majoring in cinema and media studies and business administration.   

Although “Paper UFOs” is a fictional narrative, it is overarchingly based on universal sentiments experienced by many immigrant parents and their children.

 “For a lot of second-generation Asian children, a lot of our parents had to give up an, arguably, more comfortable and more familiar life in their home country… to secure a higher potential for financial security,” Lin said. “When you’re in an environment in which you have to fight all the time just for the basics… you start having to sacrifice some of your passions.” 

Ni didn’t have much hope for her story to immediately manifest into anything more significant. However, the Chinese American Student Association requested to write a play based on her narrative, which then transformed into a screenplay written by Lin and Sharon Park, which helped bring the story to life. 

Juliette Lin, a 2017 alumna who majored in business cinematic arts, said she left the entertainment industry in college after feeling burnt out because of a lack of Asian American representation both in front of and behind the camera. But, with the rise in content that isn’t pigeon-holed for just Asian American consumption, Lin said she has more hope and wears the label with pride.

The intention of the film is to connect with a broader audience, but to the crew members the production process was also somewhat of a cathartic, healing process for many who were initially drawn to the story because of their own relatable experiences. 

“It was also really beautiful to see how everyone came together onto this project because of their own personal passion and because they’ve related so much,” said Michele Chung, one of the film’s producers. 

Chung, a junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, related her own connection to the project as a reconciliation. 

“The reconciliation that happened for me was realizing that I’m not the only one who has faced all these different troubles that the character goes through – it’s more so of a general story, ” said Chung. “It’s not just an Asian American story, but it’s for anyone who has immigrant parents or anyone who has parents who have sacrificed things for them.”

Although peppered with tangible narrative inspirations from films such as “Ladybird” or “The Half of It” and cinematographic inspirations such as “The Farewell,” the creatives behind the film intend for it to be cemented as something of its own. Fitting into the coming-of-age narrative arc, the film also differs from the familiar tropes that audiences know and love. Unlike the typical coming-of-age story that concentrates on the story of the child, “Paper UFOs” also highlights the growth that Li Wei goes through.

“You can almost see her dad almost come of age,” Ni said. “He realizes that he has his inner child and creativity, and they help each other through this experience.”

Although “Paper UFOs” looks to provide more representation for Asian Amerians, the film also looks to move beyond labels. 

“There will be a point in the future where we just call it a great film without labels,” Park said. “Right now is the opportunity to promote our story, and I think we can take advantage of this wave to get to that future sooner.” 

“Paper UFOs” does not have a finalized release date; it will be screened during CASA’s Chinese American Cultural Night, estimated to take place in late April. Park, who is taking the lead on the majority of the distribution plans, said they hope to have a film festival run where public screenings will be an option to gain a larger audience and more attention.