This past Wednesday night, the Stark Family Theatre showed a pack of short films, the central theme of which showed how Chinese people, both in the United States and China, experienced the coronavirus pandemic. Attendees eagerly anticipated each film, produced and directed by USC alumni.

The panel after the screening was moderated by Jeremy Kagan, a professor of cinematic film and television production. Joe Zheng, a USC alum and director, said organizing the screening came to him naturally.

“I was so proud to watch these Asian and Asian American filmmakers make it to the big screen,” Zheng said. “I realized a lot of film festivals have limited slots. Even though these are excellent films, they just didn’t have enough showtime. I felt like this was important and we wanted to have our voices heard. So [we decided to] join forces and make a collection that will construct an official length program.”

Zheng wrote and directed the last film that was shown, “July 4th, 2020.” The gut-wrenching film spotlighted the lives of a Chinese father and son surviving during the coronavirus pandemic and a man whose mother died from COVID-19. The film’s progress and emotional climax hinged on how these two separate experiences collide.

Along with “July 4th, 2020,” three other short films were shown. The first was “Wuhan Driver” (2021) by Tiger Ji, which followed a day in the life of a Chinese Uber driver as he struggles to maintain his job. Ji scattered microaggressions across the driver’s experience: ride cancellations, snide remarks and offenses born out of ignorance. While Ji was not present for the panel, Zheng recalled that Ji’s inspiration for “Wuhan Driver” was from a singular idea of an Uber driver in New York City.

The second film was “Mother in the Mist” (2021), directed, written, produced and composed by Kay Niuyue Zhang and co-produced by Robin Zhongyu Wang. “Mother in the Mist” is a story about a mother searching for her daughter and a daughter wishing to see her mother during the midst of the Wuhan lockdown. When asked about her main objective for the film, Zhang said she wanted to show that love between a mother and her daughter is universal.

The third film, “The Story of This Life” (2022), directed by Alex Jiang and produced by Xinyu Zhao and Val Tan, was about a Chinese man flying to America for his son’s death. The journey the man undergoes with his translator as he learns about his dead son reveals more and more, both about the father’s character and what life must have been like for his son.

“It’s a story inspired by a true tragic incident,” Zhao said. “It’s about telling a story about someone’s father and someone’s daughter and trying to reconstruct a fraction of one of the many stories that happened during one of the worst times that we may have lived through, and trying to preserve those feelings and convey that to people who are open to seeing them.”

When asked how their films played into the broader APIDA portrayal in film, each speaker acknowledged a personal and unique shift.

“When we only talk about political leaders, I just feel like we are lacking the portrait of normal, everyday Chinese people,” Zheng said. “I think we need to look over not only what is watched for political discourse, but also really see people as humans like us. Film is portraying people as human beings. We are all the same.”

Zhang spoke to the audience about the expansion of APIDA representation in film.

“I feel [representation] is getting more nuanced, getting more diverse and complicated,” he said. “We finally see ‘Asian’ as Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and North Korean. We start to see it as a complex place with complex culture. We see everything everywhere.”

Zhao said she believes society is going through a phase of seeing and celebrating Asian representation.

“Now, we’re allowed to see more diverse images of what we can be as people. I like it when a story is just a good story and it happens to have an Asian in front and center,” Zhao said. “It doesn’t have to be solely another Asian identity. I think we’re starting to see that more and more often and that’s something I hope to contribute.”

Val Tan agreed with her co-producer about showing all sides of APIDA identities in order to truly have representation.

“Just doing an honest, genuine representation that’s three-dimensional. It doesn’t matter if it’s positive or negative,” Tan said. “We exist across the board. There are bad Asians and good Asians and it’s alright that they are on screen.”

Zheng spoke directly to aspiring student filmmakers in the audience.

“If you keep your true passion … keep creating, keep telling stories, keep doing what you are taught to do — one day you will make it.” Zheng said.

Tan emphasized her gratitude to the USC community, and her excitement to give back through creativity.

“It’s fun to come back to meet students and give advice,” Tan said.  “When you go to these screenings and talk to people who have just recently graduated, the things they tell you are more useful.”

Zhao echoed Tan’s words, also reflecting on how the advice of USC’s community helped them gain insight and knowledge.

“We learned a lot by talking to people one to two years older than us,” Zhao said. “Now, when you get the opportunity and you want to screen what you have accomplished coming out of film school, it’s amazing.”