Private Project

WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS

With the NYPD closing in on Asian massage parlors, a determined Chinese sex worker defies all odds to pursue her American dream.

  • Ningyi Sun
    Writer
    Eat Bitter (director/co-producer/co-writer)
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Genres:
    Drama, Crime, Truestory
  • Number of Pages:
    87
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Mandarin Chinese
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • DOX:AWARD at CPH:DOX
    Copenhagen
    March 23, 2023
    Nomination
  • Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival
    Cape Town
    July 2, 2023
    Special Mention for the Adiaha Award
  • International Documentary Festival Visioni dal Mondo
    Milan, Italy
    September 19, 2023
    The Best Documentary Feature
  • SIMA Awards
    United States
    February 8, 2024
    Best Cinematography
Writer Biography - Ningyi Sun

Ningyi Sun is the writer/director of Worlds Within Worlds.

A film director, writer, and actor, Ningyi Sun is a grantee of Sundance, Hot Docs Blue Ice, Ford Foundation, IDFA Bertha Fund, and Chicken
Egg Pictures With fluency in five languages and experience living
among different communities and cultures on three continents, Ningyi dreams of telling stories filled with tension and resolved through human connection, inspired by her experiences, through filmmaking.
Her first foray into filmmaking was the documentary feature 'Eat
Bitter,' which explores the pursuit of happiness amidst civil war in the Central African Republic, following the journey of a Chinese construction manager and a local sand laborer 'Eat Bitter' premiered at CPH DOX in 2023 and has been selected for over 40 world film festivals, among them Oscar qualified ones.
Before diving into the filmmaking world, she worked for the United Nations peace operation in the Central African Republic.
Ningyi holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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Writer Statement

Throughout my 20s to early 30s, I chose to live a mobile life and never stayed in one country for more than two consecutive years. Mobility kept me excited, but recently I’ve grappled with a sense of uprootedness and wondered: if I had made a different choice earlier, how would my life be now?

When I first encountered Si Si’s story in the New York Times, written by Jeffrey E. Singer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, I was engrossed by her - a strong woman who believed in her own ability to make her mark in a foreign land. Yet, what caused her tragedy? Was it the series of life choices she made or the American justice system that discriminates against women like her?

To understand Si Si’s journey, I have cultivated a friendly relationship with Song Hai, who entrusted me to create a fiction film based on his sister’s life. Subsequently, my extensive research and interviews with current and former sex workers in downtown Flushing, community activists, former NYPD officers, and journalists who reported Si Si's death, have provided me with unique access to different perspectives on Si Si’s case and made me realize the urgency of this film.

The police have targeted Asian massage parlors for both prostitution and unlicensed massage. According to a report from the Urban Institute, the number of Asian-identifying individuals charged with prostitution and practicing massage without a license surged by 2,700%, from 12 to 336 (2012-2016) in America. The deadly shootings at three massage parlors in Atlanta in 2021, killing six Asian women, serve as tragic proof of the ongoing fetishization and marginalization of Asian immigrant women who provide healing services.

In New York, where I live, Bill S.4396, which decriminalizes sex work and stops police raids, has remained pending in the Senate's Codes Committee since February 8, 2023. With this project, I envision a robust impact campaign during the film’s release, fostering dialogue and awareness about the rights of immigrant sex workers and massage workers, and advocating for their protection nationwide.

The proof of concept short film portrays Si Si’s world before and after the first police raid at her workplace, whereas the feature film embarks on Si Si’s life journey, delving deep into her psyche as she transitions from a clear, hopeful state to one of confusion, paranoia, and despair.