Siyi, a Chinese student in an American theater school, has been putting in more effort than her American peers to practice for the first role she gets in college. Yet her professor is rescinding the offer because of her accent. To win back the opportunity for the closing night, Siyi determines to rid her accent by speaking English only from now on, even when she video chats with her mom. As she grows obsessed with the accent practices, Siyi’s attempt to better her craft has shifted into the faltering of her identity.
Director Biography - Shicong Zhu
Shicong Zhu is a Chinese filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA and Beijing, China. Her works have been selected to screen at LA Short Fest, International Foyle Film Festival, Fantasia Film Festival, Bolton Film Festival, the 44th Asian American International Film Festival and so forth. She graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she was an honoree and recipient of the 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant.
Director Statement
When Ella Rouwen Chen (Siyi) presented me with the story inspired by her experience as one of the few ESL (English as a Second Language) students in a prestigious theater school in LA, I immediately felt a personal connection to it. Soon after, I found out that I was not alone. Along the way of making de closin night, every step we took, we encountered people from all kinds of diaspora telling us how they resonate with the protagonist Siyi’s experience. The immigrant experience in the U.S. is so vast yet so specific. It can be so intense, yet so subtly overlooked as merely “minor feelings.” And I feel honored to direct Ella’s story, to present a razor-focused moment in Siyi’s life that has a significant, universal resonance.
At its core, de closin night is about a first-generation immigrant in America who tries very hard to assimilate into the culture, to the point that she risks eliminating her own history. It is also about an actor determined to improve her techniques at the expense of her personal relations. Finally, it is about an invisible bond through shared culture and family history, grounding Siyi through loss and grief and reminding her of her origins.
Siyi, a Chinese student in an American theater school, has been putting in more effort than her American peers to practice for the first role she gets in college. Yet her professor is rescinding the offer because of her accent. To win back the opportunity for the closing night, Siyi determines to rid her accent by speaking English only from now on, even when she video chats with her mom. As she grows obsessed with the accent practices, Siyi’s attempt to better her craft has shifted into the faltering of her identity.
Director Biography - Shicong Zhu
Shicong Zhu is a Chinese filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA and Beijing, China. Her works have been selected to screen at LA Short Fest, International Foyle Film Festival, Fantasia Film Festival, Bolton Film Festival, the 44th Asian American International Film Festival and so forth. She graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she was an honoree and recipient of the 2020 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant.
Director Statement
When Ella Rouwen Chen (Siyi) presented me with the story inspired by her experience as one of the few ESL (English as a Second Language) students in a prestigious theater school in LA, I immediately felt a personal connection to it. Soon after, I found out that I was not alone. Along the way of making de closin night, every step we took, we encountered people from all kinds of diaspora telling us how they resonate with the protagonist Siyi’s experience. The immigrant experience in the U.S. is so vast yet so specific. It can be so intense, yet so subtly overlooked as merely “minor feelings.” And I feel honored to direct Ella’s story, to present a razor-focused moment in Siyi’s life that has a significant, universal resonance.
At its core, de closin night is about a first-generation immigrant in America who tries very hard to assimilate into the culture, to the point that she risks eliminating her own history. It is also about an actor determined to improve her techniques at the expense of her personal relations. Finally, it is about an invisible bond through shared culture and family history, grounding Siyi through loss and grief and reminding her of her origins.