Jiayi Li feels a connection to the sights, sounds and smells of Chinatown. The 29-year-old moved to New York two years ago, to get her graduate degree in filmmaking.
What You Need To Know
- The Tribeca Film Festival is featuring six short films that touch on Asian heritage and culture in this year’s festival starting in June
- Among them is “Ayi,” a 13-minute short about a Chinese woman who comes to the city, lives in a crowded dorm in Flushing and works as a housekeeper. She navigates challenges like getting bullied by housemates and learning to speak English while trying to create a better life for herself
- Jiayi Li, 29, is the young Chinese director and screenwriter of “Ayi.” Li, who moved to New York two years ago, is now set to have her first film premiere on the world stage
“Living in New York, I can always find my community, find my people here. I see all the Chinese here play Chinese chess, it’s really like at home,” Li said.
Li has already made a film, and she scored a big festival premiere. The Tribeca Film Festival selected her short film to debut in this year’s festival. “Ayi” means “aunt” in Mandarin.
“It’s such a big city. It’s actually a bit different for me, especially have to making film here. Making film is someways hard. You have to find a cast, you have to find the crew, have to find the locations,” she said.
It’s about a Chinese woman who comes to the city, lives in a crowded dorm in Flushing, and works as a housekeeper, navigating challenges like getting bullied by housemates and learning to speak English while trying to create a better life for herself.
“I really find Ayi, just as a housekeeper, me as a filmmaker. We’re [the] same. We are just trying to do the job. I believe I can do it, so that’s what I tell myself,” she said.
The 13-minute short was filmed by a mostly-Asian production team. Li says she’s learning to be a New Yorker — a working Chinese New Yorker.
“I was raised by the Chinese culture. I feel like it’s really proud of that. You can understand something from the different perspective, and when you live in New York, when you see something different, you feel like, okay, actually I’m a Chinese, and that’s my identity,” she said.
Now, Li is excited for the chance to share her heritage and the struggle to assimilate so many people like her experience.
“We can let more people to know what is the Chinese culture looks like, what does Chinese people truly look like. I can use this as chance to have more people to know the story about us,” she said.
The Tribeca Film Festival runs from June 4 until June 15 this year.
The first screening of “Ayi” at the festival is on Sunday, June 8, at 5:30 p.m. There will be two more showings on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14.