HollyShorts Film Festival entry Where Are You Really From? by filmmaker Steven Lee is a powerful meditation on culture and identity, specifically from an Asian-American perspective. In lieu of a linear narrative, the CG-animated film stitches together abstract vignettes that underscore the tension that often coincides with trying grapple two different cultural identities. In our interview below, Lee, who is queer and Taiwanese-American, talks about his own identificatory journey that ultimately inspired the film, his reluctance to label himself a filmmaker, and the eye-opening process of creating this film.
What’s most remarkable about Where Are You Really From? is the absurdity of the elements within each vignette, a notion, in fact, that Lee ascribes to the grander idea of identity itself. “What’s absurd about it is you never really know. There’s never a perfect answer on how to embrace your identity.” It’s a powerful perspective to have, particularly at a time within the film industry where representation are often at the forefront of cinematic discourse and major studios too often mistake visibility for visibility’s sake with nuanced and diverse storytelling. “It really comes from drawing from actual Asian people’s stories, rather than just putting Asian people [in the movie].”
Indeed, the constant grappling with a dual identity is a common experience for Asian-Americans. And Lee is right: it isn’t a cleanly cut process—it’s absurd. The inconclusiveness of Where Are You Really From? may irk some viewers, but perhaps that’s the idea. “The whole point [of making this film] was to express the confusion about it because, throughout my life, I’ve never really had that conclusive endpoint about my identity.”
Before we get into Where Are You Really From?, I wonder if you might tell us about your own filmmaking journey? Where did it all start for you? And how did you come into this space of experimental animation?
I was always an illustrator, so I started out drawing. And then, I went to Chapman [University] for an animation and VFX major. I went my whole life thinking I was going to do something in illustration or visual development, but in sophomore year, I took a very quick turn to photography. Now, it is my actually my primary profession. There was a period of college where I was abandoning animation and illustration as a dream, so I’ve never really considered myself a filmmaker.
And then senior thesis came around and I [wanted] to make a film. I didn’t want to make a regular Pixar short even though I love those. It just didn’t feel like me to make a full-circle, happy ending, short. I knew that if I wanted to make something, it would be meaningful to me. When I was making it, I realized I wanted to do something experimental. Something that felt like my photography, but was actually CG.
And that’s how I landed on this type of style, where it’s not really a story. It’s more like vignettes of different visuals tied together by a concept. I think that’s more how my brain works—more conceptual. This is my first actual film, so it’s weird to call myself a filmmaker.
The film is a visual exploration of what it’s like to live in a double culture, particularly through an Asian-American lens. You’ve previously described living in a double culture as having a degree of absurdity and inconclusiveness. Can you talk more about what you mean?
I think that description became more clear as I received more opposition towards the idea of the short. When I was making it, I felt pressured to create some sort of conclusion about the Asian-American experience. I was asked: Well, do you feel harmonious about it? Or do you feel in conflict with it—choose one. Or I was told: I don’t understand what this specific vignette is telling me about your experience.
The whole point for me was to just express the confusion about it because, throughout all my life, I’ve never really had that conclusive endpoint about my identity. It comes in waves of sometimes feeling good about it and sometimes not. What’s absurd about it is you never really know. There’s never a perfect answer on how to embrace your identity. I think it’s one, big journey throughout your life. And also: we’re all so different. We cope in art, we cope with our identity in different ways. So, yeah, the point was really just to have multiple answers and [at the same time] no answer.
What I found most interesting was how you positioned yourself and your own identity as the subject of the film. Would it be fair to say that the film was inspired by your own journey of figuring out how you fit?
When I was building the film, I didn’t start with thinking about being Asian-American. I wanted my film to be abstract and experimental, something different, something where I could play around with the CG elements and do something surreal. So, I asked myself: what’s the weirdest part about me that I can express visually, and being Asian-American came up, which was perfect because I can play with duality. And I can play with things intermixing and things separating.
The last handful of years have seen a significant shift in the film industry in terms of Asian-American representation and opportunity. There’s obviously still a lot of work to be done, but how do you, as an Asian filmmaker, interpret what feels like a small turning point?
I think representation comes with frequency. Whenever we have a breakthrough Asian-American film, there’s obviously a lot of reason to celebrate. But I think people have this unrealistic expectation of any breakthrough Asian movie to solve all the [representation] problems. That’s not how representation works. I think representation is a long-term dedication and it comes with frequency. It comes with more diverse representation of different kinds of because the whole point is to undo the idea that one group of people are all the same. It really comes from drawing from actual Asian people’s stories, rather than just putting Asian people in there.
HollyShorts is an incredible platform for indie filmmakers. What does it mean for you to have your film screen here? How will you be celebrating?
I’m so curious how people are going to respond because the first time I had a screening was at my senior thesis night. And [everyone in my class] had basically already seen it and heard my ideas as it was growing. So, I haven’t heard a live audience react to it. I’m very curious. I can anticipate some confusion, right? Like, from people who aren’t Asian. I think [the film] will come across a little bit more confusing and they’ll be confused. If you don’t know what a moon cake is, then that dessert that just comes out of nowhere [in one vignette] is going to be strange.
What’s next for you? And where can viewers follow you and your work?
I am a freelance photographer for fashion and product, and a CG Artist at Frame 48. My Photography Instagram is: @stevenoclock. I also have a CG-focused account: @artist.syl. My website stevenoclock.com
