IT'S NOT ABOUT THE CAR, 16min., USA, Drama/Comedy
Directed by Yingjie Jin
A mother/daughter conflict.

Director Statement
Through my short yet long time spent alive I have always been fascinated by the idea of storytelling and what it can represent and bring out from inside of us. And the reason I want to tell this story is that it is reflection of myself and what family means to me.
Growing up like Lucy, my mom is a proud and confident independent career woman. And I too have a unique relationship with her. It’s difficult to describe how it feels with words right now but when I wrote out this script, I feel like this yearning for family is something everyone can relate to. The way Lucy wants to be both independent and close to her mom is a something precious and I hope through this story everyone can see a little reflection of them as I have myself.
And now a grown up, I feel like I can understand my mom a lot more then I could have when I was a “Lucy”. Though I am not yet a “Full Dana”, I can understand and appreciate the value of cars a lot more than when I was a teenager. The sparkling desire to own a car and have it represented freedom slowly fades away as you grow older, and the car just becomes an extension of yourself. It comes to represent responsibility and safety for oneself, and at times when I don’t feel like going home, I could stay in my car. In the small, confined space I can feel safe, and I can let out my emotions. I can crank up the music and scream all I want, and the car would protect my feelings from the outside.
But the car also represents family for me as well. In a car when the mother and daughter are driving, even if they fight or yell at each other. the car is still moving forward. Even if they are in the tiny space where they sit side by side, they are seeing the world differently, and yet they are still going to the same place. To me that is family. Sticking together through it all and ending up at the same place no matter what.
Yet through that journey, expressing yourself can be difficult even if you committed yourself to telling them how you feel, which is why I have also loved and chosen to be a stage actress as a young age as well. When you write and play a role you can be liberated from yourself and show your real feelings as they are. The stage is the perfect place where you can be truthful with yourself but also hide behind the mask of a character.
For me this film is not only about a family but it’s also about who I am as a filmmaker, I shifted away from news and documentary filmmaking because I wanted to tell stories about my life and the people in it. But that’s only a part of who I can become, and at this quarter turning point of my life I hope I can share this warm story about myself with you, and I hope through it you can feel and find that warmth in yourself too.