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Logline

A tough goodbye on the border.

Synopsis

28 years old Chinese-American girl Ash, a rebellious artist wannabe, flees her family’s expectation of taking a stable job to Calexico, a border town in California. She has bonded with Lo, a Mexican transborder college senior who crosses regularly to school and helps to deliver flowers to her uncle’s shop in the US as both are stuck in limbo. After the on-and-off sweet days seeing each other, Ash and Lo have what could have been their last day to say goodbye before Lo’s border crossing visa expires. Both drifters in a land that is foreign to them, the two must confront societal pressures of family, identity, and immigration status and come to terms with their relationship on what could have been their last day together amidst the half-desert half-green land between US and Mexico.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Jingwen Felix Qiang – Writer/Director/Producer
Jingwen Felix Qiang (she/they) is a made-in-China, LA-based technologist and multi-media artist who mainly practices in still and moving images, and now…narrative filmmaking! Felix’s work explores the universal complication and nuances in human emotions and relationships regardless of culture and language.

Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally, including UCCA Beijing, AIPAD NYC, VICE Media, Artium Gallery, Goldilocks Gallery, Cerulean Gallery in Philadelphia, and many more. She received an honorable mention from International Photography Awards at the age of 19. Outside of art, she wears many hats! She is a Software Engineering Lead at IMDbPro/Amazon, and a former investment banker. Her background in art and science well-armed her to lead and work with teams from different backgrounds. She earned her B.A. in Photography and Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College and an M.S. in Computer Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed several Film Directing Workshops from Sundance.

Jennie Lew Tugend – Executive Producer
Jennie Lew Tugend has produced some of the industry’s most memorable franchises: The Free Willy trilogy, Lethal Weapon 1,2,3 and HBO’s Tales From The Crypt. As former Co-President of Kadokawa Pictures USA, Tugend was a producer on One Missed Call , a WB release and two episodes of Showtime’s Masters of Horror. Producing credits include Local Boys starring Mark Harmon and Star Kid, which received an Award of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board; and for MGM, the romantic comedy, Return To Me starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver; Radio Flyer for Columbia Pictures and Scrooged for Paramount Pictures starring Bill Murray, and was instrumental in the development and production of The Goonies and The Lost Boys.

Currently, Tugend and her partners are developing the feature film adaptations of: NY Times best selling novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet with Oscar and Emmy nominated director Bing Liu. Tugend also Executive Produced the independent feature film Albatross released in 2021, which was directed by award-winner writer/director Myles Yaksich, with whom she had previously collaborated on two award-winning short films, Poppies and Erin.

Tugend is an active member of the Producer’s Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America. Tugend was a mentor in the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC and has taught film production at UCLAx. She is currently a Senior Creative Thesis Mentor at the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI).

Kadri Koop – Director of Photography
Kadri Koop is an Estonian director of photography who lives between Echo Park, Los Angeles and Europe. Kadri holds a graduate degree from Stanford University in documentary film and from the American Film Institute in cinematography. She has experience teaching various film-related subjects from documentary film to cinematography at San Francisco Art Institute, UCLA Extensions & Stanford University.

Kadri is a nominee of the 2022 Student Emmy’s & ASC Student Heritage Award for her narrative cinematography work on Spaceship which won the Gotham Award and subsequently gained distribution by Focus Features. Her recently lensed feature documentary project about the legendary tennis father and coach of Venus and Serena Williams, On the Line: The Richard Williams Story premiered at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and is distributed globally by Fremantle. Her most recently lensed work, documentary mini-series The House of Kardashian, is available on Peacock in the US and internationally on Sky Network. When not filming, she is taking photos. Her work has been published in Vogue, Elle, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, to name a few.

Carlo Francisco Manatad – Editor
Carlo Francisco Manatad is a Filipino director and editor. Whether the Weather is Fine, his first feature film premiered at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival (TIFF CWC,2021) and won the Cinema e Gioventu Prize. As an editor, he has edited award-winning films such as Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu (Semaine Dela Critique Cannes 2023, Grand Prix Winner, Autobiography by Makbul Mubarak (Venice Film Festival 2022, Orrizonti – FIPRESCI Award), Arnold is A Model Student by Sorayos Prapapan (Locarno Film Festival, 2022, Cineasti del Presente), Some Rain Must Fall by Qiu Yang ( Berlinale, Encounters Section, Special Jury Prize 2024), Ruined Heart by Khavn (Tokyo International Film Festival) and Tale of the Land by Loeloe Hendra (Busan International Film Festival, FIPRESCI Award) to name a few.

He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Film Institute. His short films have screened at numerous local and international film festivals Junilyn Has, his first short film, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival under the Pardi di Domani Section in 2015. Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, was selected in competition at the 56th Semaine de la Critique – Cannes. Baga’t Diri Tuhay Tat Pamahungpahung (The Imminent Immanent) premiered in competition at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Carlo is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy, Berlinale Talents, Tokyo Talents, Locarno Filmmakers Academy and the TIFF Filmmakers lab. He is currently developing his second feature film, Brilliant Melody.

Danning Ma- Director of Photography
Danning Ma graduated from Columbia University’s film department and has served as the creative executive for Hong Kong director Peter Ho-sun Chan(陈可辛), one of the most successful Hong Kong filmmakers since 2017. She previously worked at CAA. She actively participated in the development of multiple projects under Chan’s direction and most recently worked as assistant director on Tale of the Night, a film produced by Chan.

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Contact

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