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Our Precious Autumn

Our Precious Autumn is a short film that follows Ami, a manga artist who is burnt out and overworked at the manga studio that she works at. After a few sleep deprived nights, she stumbles back home, inadvertently passing out and ending up in a "dreamscape". Here, she encounters three situations that help her realize that she needs to make a change in her life.

The film is an emotional dive into the struggles of a creative artist and was written by a team of artists of all varieties including other filmmakers, writers, artists, and even musicians. The production used over a dozen body actors and production team members, and was filmed in Virtual Reality using motion capture/animation technology.

  • Khang Lu
    Director
  • Katie Caruso
    Key Cast
    "Ami"
    Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, Darker Than Black, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Strike Witches the Movie
  • Melissa White
    Key Cast
    "Robin"
    Genshin Impact, Fortnite, AFK Arena
  • Lexi Torres
    Key Cast
    "Ellie"
  • Gage Triolo
    Key Body Acting Cast
  • Edwin Han
    Key Body Acting Cast
  • Donavan Garza
    Key Body Acting Cast
  • Jennifer Chan
    Key Body Acting Cast
  • Quinn Heptig
    Cinematographer
  • Khang Lu
    Cinematographer
  • Shelly M. Meshulam
    Sound Design
  • Dymond Billins
    Writer
  • Jennifer Chan
    Writer
  • Khang Lu
    Writer
  • Quinn Heptig
    Writer
  • Resul Jabbarli
    Artists
  • Spencer Liang
    Artists
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 12 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 17, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Raindance Immersive Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    June 14, 2025
    Public Premire
    Award: Best Short Film of VR
  • Jersey Shore Film Festival
    Deal Park, NJ
    United States
    June 28, 2025
    Selection: Shorts Program: Rising Stars
Director Biography - Khang Lu

I'm Khang, a filmmaker in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing on VR animated/motion-capture films!

I view my filmmaking passion as a hobby and work on my films in my free time outside of my full-time profession as a Mechanical Engineer. I've always had an interest in films, though it was only recently that I was able to pursue it.

As VR technology began to expand and become more consumer friendly, I was able to use it to make films that are produced mainly in VR. Consumer tracking pucks and VR headsets allow us to capture character avatar movements in 3D environments, with the avatar's facial expressions being controlled with face tracking and animations. This medium is quite new, which is why we find that many people are unaware it exists!

I am currently the studio lead of my small indie film studio, Studio Penrose. We are comprised of filmmakers, musicians, sound engineers, and developers across the world, working together to create these films entirely for fun.

If you have any questions at all about me or our unique method of storytelling, feel free to reach out to me. I love talking about this!

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I wrote "Our Precious Autumn" as a way to express my struggles of overwork and self doubt as a creative. Having colleagues in many creative fields, I've known about how common it is for us to overwork ourselves to finish our work. Even with passion driving us to complete these projects, we often find ourselves forgetting about basic necessities needed to take care of our health. With a seemingly growing industry pressure on creatives to produce more content more quickly, I have seen many people burn themselves out in order to meet a deadline.

Instead of focusing on the complex problems of multiple creative industries, I wanted to put a focus on a single individual's perspective as they realize that the joy of their art was beginning to be lost. All scenes in the film were written based on my own experience being an amateur filmmaker.