Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists.

Logline

Facing social and political instability in the US, and also in some of their home countries, four foreign university students from four different countries struggle internally and externally with their own versions of the American Dream as they pursue their degrees in Utah—can they forge a life here?

Synopsis

Carrying his luggage at the airport lobby, Nouman (Mali) checks in at the kiosk. Chang (Taiwan) walks towards the airport entrance. Mahmoud (Egypt) and his wife Nesma put their baggage in a car trunk. Tamanna (Bangladesh) and her husband, Kishan, get out of a taxi at the airport curbside drop off. They all have masks on. The four international students are on the move, landing in the U.S. and striving towards their goals. Being far away from home during the pandemic and facing the precarious social and political situation in the US, they rethink what The American Dream means to them: Can they survive the pandemic and make a life here?

The heart of the film is Nouman, 22, student body president at Southern Utah University. His present circumstances are the culmination of a life of hardship: leaving his family at age 7 to attend school in a city in Mali, living on the streets and scraping by. His life turned around after meeting the mayor of that city and soon, at age 14, he was on his way to a school in Utah on scholarship. Nouman is on a trajectory: getting into an Ivy League school for his Masters and then moving onto politics.

Tamanna graduated right before the pandemic and needs to find a company to sponsor her work VISA within 90 days, Mahmoud met Nesma, who is also from Egypt, when she is stuck in the U.S. because of the travel ban due to COVID, Chang starts his graduate program, landing in the US mid-pandemic.

Each student is dealing with internal and external issues of migration. As the pandemic rolls on, the students navigate anti-migration and racist sentiments. As we finish, we’ll discover how each student has battled the pandemic to achieve their dream.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Ya-Chi Yang – Director/Producer
Ya-Chi Yang is an independent filmmaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her animated documentary short, All the things I can remember (2018), was selected by festivals including Mammoth Lake Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, and Taichung International Animation Festival. She was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to the US when she was 23. Yang holds a master’s degree from University of Utah majoring in Film and Media Arts. Yang uses a variety of media to tell compelling stories. Her work often features emotional struggles like being trapped inside one’s own body as an Alzheimer patient. Her experience of being an international student and immigrating to the US has led her to making a documentary about people like her: “I became a permanent resident of the US in January 2020. It marked the end of a long journey which started in 2008 when I arrived in the US to pursue a graduate degree. I know the anxiety and panic that comes with looking for work that would allow me to stay, to find a path towards legal permanent residency and also, to create a space in this big country for myself, to find a home that is another home. I am fortunate but I do know the emotional toll it takes to strive for this—my American Dream. This film is a tribute to all those who have come before me and all those who come after.”

Mengxu Pan – Producer
Mengxu Pan is a director and producer based in Shanghai, China. MFA in film production, University of Utah. She made her first documentary Once Upon A Time In The Old City in 2010, recording the life and struggle of urban families in the background of China’s vast demolition of neighborhoods and painful transition into urbanization. Since then, she has made three narrative short films including The Man From Slaughterhouse (2016). Her work has been exhibited in China and the US. She currently works in China as a creative producer. She had an active role in several international projects including the A&E- China documentary co-production Scars of Nanking (2017) and a Finland-China interactive entertainment show co-production Forest Challenge (2019). She has also successfully distributed Chinese dramas to Netflix, Hulu and many other markets globally.

Sonia and Miriam Albert-Sobrin – Writers & Co-Producers
Sonia and Miriam Albert-Sobrino are storytellers from Galicia, Spain. They moved to the United States, where they earned their MFAs in Film Production. Their films have been screened at Raindance, Edinburgh, IFFLA, Festival de Cans, and Cinespaña, among many others. They were selected as the jurors of the short-films category at Slamdance.

Stan Clawson – Editor
Stan Clawson’s production company, T9-10 Productions, has over 20 years of experience producing a wide range of media content. His credits include films for the Utah Arts Alliance, Weber State University, Element 11, and The Utah Museum of Fine Arts. His films have been featured in Palm Springs Film Festival, Ogden Film Festival, and many others.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.