Wish

NARRATIVE SHORT

JANUARY 1, 2021

USA | 5 minutes | 2020

Drama short film directed by Evelyn Lee
Starring Shirley Lee, Evelyn Lee

Watch the Trailer
To watch the full film, rent/buy on Gumroad.

Chinese title: 願望

A woman makes a phone call to check in with her mom.

Interview

CineAsian Films (CAF): What inspired you to make this film?
Evelyn Lee: I’ve always loved exploring interpersonal relationships, and I find exploring mother-daughter relationships to be especially interesting. Relationships with mothers are so complex and everyone has such a different relationship with their mom. For this film, especially, I wanted to juxtapose two very different relationships between mothers and daughters. How one person’s own relationship with her mother can be vastly different from her relationship as a mother to her own daughter.

CAF: What were some challenges you faced during production? Was it hard to make a film entirely in Chinese?
Lee: Definitely needing to be in front of the camera while also being on camera without a crew. Finding a way to creatively set up the camera for the best take knowing there won’t be anyone around to control the camera is a challenge in and of itself.
And surprisingly, no! I actually really liked the process of directing in Chinese. As someone who’s fluent in both English and Mandarin, it was actually kind of fun to be able to make a film entirely in a language that wasn’t English. The hardest part about that was making sure the translations were as accurate as possible in post-production and subtitling. Thankfully, I can read and write Chinese, too, but it can be quite a task.

CAF: What is it like to work with your own mom? Is it awkward?
Lee: It’s actually pretty fun! My mom’s a great sport, is very professional, and has been such a big supporter of me and my work. We work very well together as a team, both on screen and behind the camera. She and I both know where to draw the line between personal and professional. I’m very grateful.

CAF: Are you working on anything new?
Lee: Doing a lot of writing, as I have the past year. Working on a lot of different small things on the side, making some music, and taking things slow overall. I do have a feature in the works that I can’t really talk about much yet, but I’m very excited about it.

To watch Wish, rent/buy on Gumroad.

Wish is one of the many great projects shared with CineAsian Films through our submissions process. If you’d like to join them, submit your film.

Credits

Director, Writer, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer: Evelyn Lee
Producer: Shirley Lee

More from Evelyn Lee: recapture, Nox, Mother Daughter