Rocking the Boat: The Story of Lily Lee Chen

A Chinese woman, an "All-American" city, the first Chinese American female mayor, and a battle from 40 years ago

  • Nox Yang
    Director
  • Jiarui Guo
    Producer
  • Lily Lee Chen
    Key Cast
    "Lily Lee Chen"
  • Teddy Zee
    Key Cast
    "Teddy Zee"
    The Pursuit of Happyness, Hitch, Saving Face
  • Eric Garcetti
    Key Cast
    "Eric Garcetti"
  • Lisa Lu
    Key Cast
    "Lisa Lu"
    Crazy Rich Asians, The Joy Luck Club
  • Judy Chu
    Key Cast
    "Judy Chu"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short, Student
  • Completion Date:
    February 20, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    3,900 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of California, Los Angeles
  • International New York Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    Award winner
  • Women X Film Festival

    Honorable Mention
  • World Distribution Award

    Honorable Mention
  • Toronto Documentary Feature & Short Film Festival

    Official Selection
  • Toronto International Women Film Festival

    Official Selection
Director Biography - Nox Yang

Nox Yang is an LA-based filmmaker, a graduate from UCLA's sociology and film departments. Growing up in China and having received higher education in the US, she has a focus on racial, gender, sexual, and social justice issues, and has participated in making documentaries that featured Japanese American WWII internment camp survivors, formerly incarcerated African American women, sexual trafficking survivors in Hollywood #Metoo movement, etc.

This current film Rocking The Boat: The Story of Lily Lee Chen, a story about a minority woman breaking into American mainstream politics in the early 1980s, is her directorial debut. Her goal is to use storytelling to amplify the voice of the minority, empower the marginalized, promote justice and a greater understanding across different cultures and communities.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In early 2020, I started a campaign to run for International Student Representative at UCLA as the first Chinese international student candidate in the school's history.

As you can see, I came to the United States in 2018 dreaming to live in "the land of the free" but only found myself, a young Asian female, become the minority here, along with many other people who have also been disappointed and alienated in this land - especially with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the exacerbated anti-Asian sentiment, racism, and xenophobia.

Driven by the urge to speak for my community, I decided to run for the International Student Representative position. But it was not easy for someone who's new to this American game. Crippled by my lack of campaign knowledge and experience, I lost.

A few weeks after my failed attempt, I was introduced to Lily Lee Chen through a mutual friend and was dumbfounded to hear about her story - another foreign student, woman of color, who came to this country almost 60 years ahead of me, worked hard to become a US citizen, ran for office, and actually WON.

However, despite having achieved incredible success as a minority woman, she experienced racial and gender prejudice no differently than I did, and fought relentlessly to combat it.

It was then I knew I wanted to tell Lily's story.

I want her story to be a reminder: what America used to be, how it has attracted countless people like Lily and me with its promises, how much the generations before us have done to get closer to those ideals, and how it is our responsibility, as the younger generation, not to let them down.