Private Project

In the Spotlight

Haunted by a failed audition and her own imperfections, a young Asian actress goes down a dangerous path of no return.

  • Jessica Qinyue Luo
    Director
  • Jessica Qinyue Luo
    Writer
  • Jessica Qinyue Luo
    Producer
  • Qin Qin
    Producer
  • Mai Yang
    Key Cast
    "Natalie"
  • Steven Morana
    Key Cast
    "Shawn Morana"
  • Allie Dever
    Key Cast
    "Girl"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Psychological Thriller
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 4 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 25, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Loyola Marymount University
Director Biography - Jessica Qinyue Luo

Jessica Qinyue Luo is a student filmmaker, writer, producer, and editor currently based in Los Angeles. She was born and raised in China and received her B.A. in Film Production from The Pennsylvania State University in 2020. During her time at Penn State, ‘GETAWAY’ (assistant camera/editor) was officially selected by the Blue & White Film Festival.

Following her passion for film, she started to attend the M.F.A. program at Loyola Marymount University. However, due to the pandemic in 2021, Jessica took one year of leave of absence and worked as an art-based creative and assistant director in Accent Advertisement Inc., a commercial production house in Shenzhen, China. She participated in commercial projects of realme (smartphone brand), WeCom (Tencent), an SLG game of Tencent, and vivo as the main creative and assistant director on-set.

Besides working, Jessica has also produced ‘ONE AFTERNOON’, a 15-minute student short film. It has won the Best Fiction Short Film award of the American Golden Picture International Film Festival 2021; was nominated for Narrative Short Film of the Cannes World Film Festival 2021; official selection for Best Student Film of the Asian Film Festival, Los Angeles Hollywood 2021, and 10 more awards.

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Director Statement

The idea of ‘IN THE SPOTLIGHT’ first came up to me when I was suffering from appearance anxiety in my senior year of college.

After knowing many people around me were dealing with the same pain, I decided to confront it by writing it down instead of holding it back and hating my face in the mirror.

Natalie, the protagonist, is a talented young actress, who fails to get any roles that she auditions for. She is convinced that her imperfect appearance is the cause and eventually decides to have plastic surgery. Tragically, after the surgery is done, she gets the leading role with her old face.

I hope the audience can realize the importance of one’s uniqueness and authenticity after experiencing Natalie’s story.

This is not just a letter to myself, but also to everyone who is undergoing this torturing social appearance anxiety and being stressed out by social standards.