Caught Between Cultures: The Asian American Beauty Dilemma
Caught Between Cultures: the Asian American Beauty Dilemma is a documentary film directed, edited, and produced by Karis. The film explores the tensions that East Asian American women face as they navigate conflicting beauty standards, featuring peer interviews, expert insights, and autobiographical stop motion. It features an original score by Wendy Liu.
This film has been selected for 5 festivals and was a semifinalist for the Miranda Corta Short Film Festival. It has a permanent digital exhibition in the Houston Asian American Archive.
Four Seasons of Aging: The Lived Experiences of Chinese American Women
“Four Seasons of Aging” is a multimedia piece blending oral history, creative nonfiction writing, and photography. This piece features the stories of four HAAA interviewees: Francine Di, Faye Chin, Rogene Gee Calvert, and Lily Chan Foster and uses the seasons as an interpretive framework to understand the complexities of aging in a fresh light. "Four Seasons of Aging" juxtaposes the universal and philosophical aspects of aging with four real stories which highlight the parts of aging that are often missed: the subtle pains, the small inconveniences, and the surprising joys.
The Beauty Conversation
The Beauty Conversation is an interview/documentary style film that explores the effect of the "American Standard of Beauty" on teenage girls and investigates how one's perception of beauty influences their worldview and life. It also brings to light the enormity of societal, racial, and familial pressure teenage girls face on a day to day basis. Filmed, produced, directed, and edited by me my junior year of high school. I hope “The Beauty Conversation” is challenging, enlightening, and enjoyable and that this conversation opens up doors for more!