A second-generation Chinese American woman connects to her roots by piecing together the memory of her mother's last days, when the Alzheimer's disease stripped away their common language.

Mother Tongue is a student film from NYU Tisch Grad Film.

*Some Chinese dialogue does not have English subtitles for artistic purpose.

Director Biography - Eris Qian

Eris Qian is based in New York City and considers herself a global nomad. Born and raised in China, she lived and studied in 5 continents to explore her passion and creativity. During the process, she directed and produced a number of documentary shorts in Virginia, Athens, Hong Kong, Tibet and Shanghai.

With the diverse cultural background, Eris is drawn to tell stories of global cultural heritage and diaspora, and especially the pan-Asian experience. Her documentary work was rated the first in non-scripted category on prime time national TV, and she was also featured TEDx as an opinion leader. Having decided to focus on fictional films, she is now pursuing MBA/MFA dual degrees at NYU’s prestigious schools of Stern and Tisch.

Prior to filmmaking, Eris graduated from University of Virginia with a degree in Media Studies, and spent one year at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum as a video producer.