Alan Cheng + Atlas Woods-Smith
Computer Science and Math Major, Film & Television Minor
Spring 2020 Graduate
Atlas and I were lucky in that our short film was shot just before everything was suddenly shut down. Because of this, our semester went on relatively normally as we could continue to create the short we wanted to at the beginning of the semester. However, the ways in which we were able to continue became incredibly limited. Collaboration was difficult and I had to take up a lot of roles I wasn’t expecting to. Nonetheless, we were able to create something similar to what we set out to make and we are deeply grateful and fortunate to be able to say that.
Stupid American is a short film that reflects my feelings and experiences about chasing dreams from the perspective of a child of immigrants. Parents are important figures in our lives and defying them and their expectations is terrifying. I hope I was able to capture that.
BFA – Film & Television
Junior
My film partner Alan and I were the only ones who were able to finish the film we had spent our semester planning to make. I am incredibly impressed by everyone’s creations – they set aside the crushing disappointment of not being able to make their original film to make wonderful projects for which they should be very proud.
Alan and I are presenting a film that we hope will resonate with a lot of people who come from immigrant families and/or have ever pursued a dream without parental support.