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From the director’s statement: “Before the Winter” was part of the 2023 Producer-Initiated Thesis projects, an unseen initiative at Chapman University that consisted on selecting the three best scripts of a pool of more than 30 projects submitting to be produced. Writer-Producer Flora, sent me her script before being selected for the initiative, and when I read it not only did I know that it was going to be selected but I also knew I had to be the one to direct it. As a 2nd year student at the time, it was unheard of for a student to direct a thesis before the actual thesis year (3rd one), but knowing this story had to be told by me drove me to do anything to make this happened, and after meeting with Flora and sharing with her my vision of the story she didn’t hesitate to team up with me on this journey.

The language barrier, particularly when added to the generational gap between parents and children, can be significantly high to overcome, while creating a number of issues. Kelsy Lua explores the issue by placing it in a relationship between an American-born teenage daughter and a Chinese immigrant single mother, adding a few other levels in her 6 minutes short.

“Please Translate” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

The film begins during a breakfast the two share, where the aforementioned problems are presented in all their glory, since the differences between the two women are revealed not just from their language but also from the way they look. Frustrated daughter Mei cannot handle the fact that her mother, Wang Yu does not have enough money, and actually accuses her for not learning the language in order to get a better job than the florist’s she works at. Wang Yu...