Workshop Doors 6:00p
Workshop 6:15p

Screening Doors 7:30p
Screening 8:00p

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

In an increasingly digital world, how do our hands continue to shape art and life? And in a visually driven era, what role does physical creating play in shaping our stories?

UnionDocs and Nooks & Crannies犄角旮旯 are thrilled to invite Chinese filmmakers Yehui Zhao, Charlene Xu & Tianlin Xu to explore these questions while examining both the beauty and significance of human touch and handmade craft.

Before the screening, join a Needle Felting Workshop hosted by Moor, designed to explore the themes of connection, touch, and memory which are examined by the presented films, through the lens of art-making. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn foundational needle felting techniques and be invited to recreate an object from memory; something that brings warmth, comfort, and a sense of belonging to the maker. Space for this workshop is limited–only 20 spots are available–so make sure to grab tickets while you can!

Program

To You 给你的信 by Yehui Zhao赵晔晖

9 mins, 2021, USA

A letter written by a daughter to her mom about their diasporic womanhood and daughtership. Using drawings, cyanotype, old photographs, live action, and stop-motion animation, the film provides a lens through which home can feel both close and foreign.

How Small! 小孩 by Charlene Xu徐夏琳

7 mins, 2022, USA/China

A young woman reminisces about her deceased grandmother, whose volatile personality troubled and confused her as a child.

The Thing with Feathers有羽毛的东西 by Tianlin Xu徐天琳

20 mins, 2022, Germany

A young woman reminisces about her deceased grandmother, whose volatile personality troubled and confused her as a child.

Program Duration: 36 mins

Bios

Yehui Zhao赵晔晖 is a multi-media artist whose work explores migration, decolonization, heritage, and regeneration. As an immigrant born in China and living in the US, Yehui thinks of film as her third language. Her work takes root in the feminist legacies of the global south, drawing inspiration from revolutionary history, womanhood and daughtership, and the community’s undocumented collective memory. Yehui’s films have been featured at UnionDocs, DOC NYC, Prismatic Ground, Microscope Gallery, Asian American International Film Festival, Spain Moving Images Festival, Timeless Awards, Festival of Animated Objects, and other programs. Yehui has published paintings, prints, and writing at Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn Review and Action, and Spectacle. She is a recipient of the IDA Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts grant, and the York Women in Film and Television Scholarship. Yehui holds an MFA in Integrated Media Arts from Hunter College and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University. Yehui currently serves as the Art Director of 128 Lit, an award-winning international art and literature magazine.

Charlene Xu徐夏琳 is an award-winning animation filmmaker and artist based in Los Angeles. She works across independent animation, illustration, and design. Her work often explores the unnamed layers of emotions in meandering dreamscapes. She holds a BFA in Film & TV from New York University and an MFA in Animation from the University of Southern California.

Tianlin Xu徐天琳 is a Chinese filmmaker and media educator based in Hattingen, Germany, and Hangzhou, China. She has an academic background in German studies and Journalism. After making documentaries for a decade, she directed her debut narrative short FEDERDING (THE THING WITH FEATHERS). She is also engaged in film education and is the co-founder of the Studio Klasse Story Lab in Yunnan, dedicated to running youth film workshops in China.

Jess嘉嘉, the founder of Moor, is a feminist thinker dedicated to creating inclusive spaces for gatherings and expressions.