Lucky Fish

This film is a coming of age romance between two Asian-American teenagers who bond over the shared experience of feeling like outsiders in their own families. During this unexpected encounter they discover a temporary escape from the outside world and form a brief but lasting moment of connection. It’s a simple, highly contained story, where a lot happens in small but meaningful ways. This story was inspired by my experience growing up as a mixed-race Asian American and the sense of disconnect I felt with the Chinese side of my family and my memories of these long, never-ending dinners that I’m sure many Chinese-Americans have probably experienced, where the adults would gossip and play mahjong, while all the kids would play gameboy and hangout together by the fish tanks.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve discovered this sense of generational disconnect is extremely common among many Asian Americans and queer people in my generation. Rather than focusing on the darker sides of this experience, I really wanted to revisit this period of my life with a sense of humor and optimism by exploring these feelings of isolation while offering a small, if temporary, sense of relief from it. I’m mostly excited about getting to tell a modern-day story about two queer Asian-American women that isn’t a coming out story, but mostly just about two young individuals existing and connecting in the world.