Private Project

Cardboard Hero

An amateur boxer/high-school dropout desperate to find a purpose adopts a superhero identity as a way of coping with his mundane reality.

  • Wes Tian
    Director
  • Wes Tian
    Writer
  • DragonMaster Films
    Producer
  • Frederico Segall
    Key Cast
    "Mark / Fuck Up"
  • Lilly Kumral
    Key Cast
    "Maddie"
  • Judah Goldman
    Key Cast
    "Fuck With Me"
  • Leo Elfving
    Key Cast
    "Sean"
  • Marcello Farago
    Key Cast
    "Aaron"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller, Action
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 23, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Filming:
    Czechia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Prague Film School
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Wes Tian

Wes Tian is a 17-year-old artist from Chicago, Illinois. From a very young age, Wes has had a passion for writing, directing, and acting. Tian has starred on Disney+ TV series “Doogie Kamealoha M.D.” (2021-2023) as "Brian Patrick Kamealoha", as well as creating dozens of his own award winning films.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I produced Cardboard Hero at Prague Film School's summer workshop the summer before my senior year in high school. I wrote it as an attempt to study the character of a man who's so afraid of his "mundane" life that he becomes obsessed with the idea that he has a "greater purpose". His ego is so fragile that his identity becomes reliant on his DIY vigilante alter ego, and it leads to collision between his fantasy and his real tangible life. His girlfriend is a hardworking broke med student, who represents stability. The collision between these two opposing forces is what drives the film. I wanted people to enter his psyche and understand the danger of unhealthy obsession and show the realistic consequences of such ideology -- while also giving it a touch of absurdism.

Plastic Heart is also, in a way, a proof-of-concept for a full feature screenplay that I wrote which delves into Mark and Piper's daily lives as Mark's descent spirals toward fatal reality.