My Dear
This collection of films spans performance, essay, and something akin to confession to capture the ever-shifting nature of personal identity.
PROGRAM DETAILS
Sat, Apr 23 at 6:00 PM
Roxie Theater
Short Film 1: Blue Veil
Short Film 2: cosboi
Mid-Length Film: My Dear
Blue Veil
Amina asserts her Muslim American identity as she reflects on post-9/11 Islamophobia and her parents’ migration story.
(Shireen Alihaji, USA 2021, 5 min)
cosboi
Through TikTok videos and a series of encounters with different drivers, a Gen Z teenager experiments with their own identity.
(Gosha Shapiro, USA 2021, 15 min)
Description
My Dear
A quiet sense of impending change threads together scenes from director Aragon Yao’s own life. Calls from his parents in China inquiring after his marital status blend with calls from his boyfriend asking about his job prospects, each underscoring the reality that the student visa that brought him to Europe will soon end. With time running out, Yao faces tough questions about his relationship with his family, culture, and his sense of self. Seeking release, he turns to drag. Shifting between observational footage, paper puppetry, and poetic symbolism, Yao explores expressions of sexual identity in this essay about queerness, immigration, and performance.
A Shanghai Film Academy graduate in Film & TV Art and Technology, Aragon Yao began his career as a cinematographer, colorist, and editor. After crewing on Mauro Andrizzi’s A Shanghai Bride (2016), he left China to pursue a DOC NOMADS Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Documentary Filmmaking. My Dear is his first film.
Film Details
LanguageChinese, English, Hungarian
Year2022
PremiereWorld Premiere
Runtime59
CountryPortugal
DirectorAragon Yao
ProducerMário Gajo de Carvalho
Executive ProducerMário Gajo de Carvalho
WriterAragon Yao
EditorMário Gajo de Carvalho, Aragon Yao, Agnes Meng, Kopal Joshy
CinematographerAragon Yao, Yimeng Zhang, Holo Wang, Audy Er. Zandri, Anantha Krishnan, Oktay Namazov, Lukas Berger, Mário Gajo de Carvalho
MusicBálint Magyar
Print SourceFilmes do Gajofilmesdogajo@gmail.com https://filmesdogajo.pt/my_dear_en
Closed CaptionsClosed captions are not available for this screening.
Audio DescriptionAudio description is not available for this screening.
American Sign Language (ASL) InterpretationAmerican Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is not currently scheduled for this event. For more information about ASL interpretation at our events, e-mail ADA@SFFilm.org.