Experiencing Interruptions?

BORDER

A medical examiner in Arizona finds and processes dead bodies of illegal border-crossers trapped in the desert. As observing a day of her work that is repetitively haunting, we begin to be exposed with uncountable cases of unidentified bodies of border-crossers, the death of migrants and the American dream.

  • Ino Yang Popper
    Cinematographer
    A Call Above the Clouds, Use me, Fly away, Pod, Blink, Realty Quest, Jump!
  • Shu Zhu
    Director
    Moth, Use me, Fly Away, Fever, The Man who Fell from the Sky
  • Ino Yang Popper
    Director
    A Call Above the Clouds, Use me, Fly away, Pod, Blink, Realty Quest, Jump!
  • Shu Zhu
    Writer
    Moth, Use me, Fly Away, Fever, The Man who Fell from the Sky
  • Ino Yang Popper
    Writer
    A Call Above the Clouds, Use me, Fly away, Pod, Blink, Realty Quest, Jump!
  • Daniel Short
    Producer
    Headlock, Entreaty of the Damned
  • Ino Yang Popper
    Producer
    A Call Above the Clouds, Use me, Fly away, Pod, Blink, Realty Quest, Jump!
  • Shu Zhu
    Producer
    Moth, Use me, Fly Away, Fever, The Man who Fell from the Sky
  • Nina Seul
    Key Cast
    "Laura"
    Blood Money, Magic, Gimme Shelter, Gecky
  • Scott Gabelein
    Key Cast
    "Bill"
    Deuterostomes, Great Girl, IGNORance, Leftovers, Paradox Alice
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, experimental
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 2 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 13, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    6,750 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    35mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.40:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - American Film Institute
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Shu Zhu, Ino Yang Popper

Shu Zhu -

Shu Zhu is a recent graduate from American Film Institute’s Directing Program and holds a BFA from NYU in Film and TV Production. After a period of assistant work for Martin Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions and Chinese artist He Xiangyu, Shu co-founded a boutique production company, Noface Productions while freelancing as a producer and cinematographer for independent projects in New York. The films Shu’s directed/produced have been showcased at festivals around the world, such as New York City Independent Film Festival, NewFilmmaker New York, China Independent Film Festival, Asian American International Film Festival, among others.

Ino Yang Popper -

Ino Yang Popper is a Director of Photography based in Los Angeles. Her cinematography approach is committed to portraying the inner lives of the characters. She’s drawn to characters that suffer from lingering in their past experiences, struggling to find their true identities and the meaning of life. Through photographing these characters, her work tends to have a fair dose of desolation, disassociation, and self-recognition.

Ino is a Cinematography Fellow in the class of 2020 at the American Film Institute. She holds a BA in Directing & Editing from Beijing Film Academy and an MFA in Directing & Screenwriting from the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where her feature screenplay A Summer with Taylor won the Outstanding Screenplay Award in a national writing competition. She previously worked as an editor for 12 years in China.

After moving to Los Angeles, Ino transitioned into cinematography. She integrated her past experience in directing, editing and screenwriting into advancing the craft of cinematography with a unique voice in visual storytelling.

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Director Statement

As an Asian filmmaker in the U.S., I have observed many cases of xenophobia and inequity judging from color and nationality. I believe that any human body should be treated as equal regardless of nationality. However, countless Mexican American families have not been able to grieve because they don't know whether their loved ones are still alive due to the lack of data collection over the dead bodies because they are not U.S. citizens, which is constant torture for them to be stocked in the “unknown”. I hope this film could strike attention among people regarding equality in human rights on a universal level.