This personal essay documents a queer Chinese, a “resident alien” in the U.S., trying to reconnect with her parents after coming out with her trans partner. Through intimate conversations, the film unfolds around migration, acceptance, and the search for what makes a life. Half-animated and half-live-action, it blurs memory and reality.
Through livestream Motion Capture (MoCap) and 3D Gaussian Splatting, the artist restages herself as an alien revisiting different places that she calls home, grieving and reimagining her body within these familiar yet uncanny environments. Using “alien” as a cultural and identity metaphor, the work explores the tender space between belonging and estrangement.
The project now exists as a 19-min short film. I am currently working on expanding it into an interactive game experience.