Jiaying: A Voice Between Worlds

“Visibility is not enough—what matters is the authenticity of the voices we bring to the screen.”

Filmmaker Jiaying is redefining the landscape of independent cinema. With roots in rural China and a career shaped in the bold, experimental world of American filmmaking, she brings a rare duality to her craft—one that thrives on complexity, emotional truth, and a deep commitment to social change.

“Cinema isn’t just a medium for storytelling,” Jiaying says. “It’s a bridge between emotions and ideas, capable of amplifying unheard voices and sparking real-world impact.”

Stories that transform lives

Her breakthrough began with an unplanned moment—documenting a left-behind child in her hometown with nothing but a scenery camera. That documentary not only raised crucial funds for the child’s school, but sparked her lifelong mission: telling stories that matter.

“I’ve witnessed its power firsthand,” she recalls. “That experience opened my eyes to what cinema can truly do.”

Jiaying’s short film LIMINAL, a Ffilmic and Independent Shorts Awards selection, is a haunting meditation on existential crisis. It invites viewers into a surreal space where its protagonist, Adam, must grapple with meaninglessness, death, and self-reflection.

Awakening through strange realities

“Liminality is a state I often find myself in,” Jiaying explains. “Culturally, emotionally, and psychologically, I’ve always felt suspended between two worlds.”

In one unforgettable scene, Adam rows a boat across a desert—a poetic image that defies realism but captures the absurd persistence of human existence.

“It was a risk,” she admits. “But that ambiguity became one of the most resonant elements of the film.”

Hidden depths await discovery

Where LIMINAL is abstract and philosophical, her film fragile employs a slow-burning suspense to explore hidden misogyny. Its power lies in silence, glances, and moments that feel too familiar for comfort.

“The tension doesn’t come from overt violence,” she says. “It comes from the unsettling feeling that something is wrong beneath the surface.”

Jiaying’s filmmaking thrives in contradiction. Her Chinese upbringing taught her to value nuance, restraint, and collective identity. Her American education gave her freedom, boldness, and experimentation. This dynamic tension fuels every story she tells.

Layers of untold echoes

“I don’t try to generalize my stories to make them more accessible. I trust that specificity invites empathy.”

Her characters live in-between—between cultures, roles, and selves. Gender, power, and perception are central themes, and Jiaying makes space for vulnerability without offering easy answers.

“I’ve often felt both seen and unseen, empowered and silenced,” she says. “These contradictions naturally find their way into my work.”

Bold narratives unfold here

Jiaying doesn’t shy away from sensitive issues. “What might be progressive in one culture can be controversial in another,” she explains. “And as a young Asian woman in the industry, there’s always pressure to make stories more ‘palatable.’ But I push back.”

Her work challenges cinematic conventions without alienating audiences. “Even if the structure is experimental or the themes are abstract, the core always comes from something real—an experience I’ve lived or a question I’m still wrestling with.”

For Jiaying, layered symbolism and experimental form are not aesthetics—they are essential tools.

Reflective echoes of self

“I use fragmented narratives and surreal imagery to mirror the internal states of my characters—confusion, longing, fear, isolation. It’s a way of making the invisible tangible.”

And audiences respond. “When someone tells me, ‘I saw myself in that,’ that’s when I know the work has made a real impact.”

Looking ahead, Jiaying is developing Masterpiece, a feature film about human-AI romance and the narcissism of falling for our own reflection. “Connection today feels both easier and emptier,” she muses. “I want to explore that.”

Emotion meets cultural insight

Yet no matter how futuristic her subject matter, Jiaying’s storytelling remains grounded in emotion and cultural truth.

“Your personal and cultural experiences are not limitations—they are your power.”

Through stories shaped by discipline and daring, silence and confrontation, Jiaying reminds us that film is more than spectacle. It is soul work.

Quiet truths reveal power

“I’m drawn to the gray areas, the contradictions, the liminal spaces where meaning often hides. That’s where the most compelling stories wait to be told.”

In every frame, Jiaying weaves a quiet but powerful rebellion—against erasure, against simplicity, against silence. And in doing so, she gives us something rare: films that linger, provoke, and heal.

“Change doesn’t always happen instantly,” she says. “But planting those seeds—through empathy, confrontation, or recognition—is how storytelling shifts the world.”