Alisa Yang
Best Short Film Jury 2022
Alisa Yang is an antidisciplinary artist and independent filmmaker with a research based practice exploring alternative ways art can be a currency for care. Centering the body as a site of geopolitical and social conditionings, she works across video, installation, and situational specific projects in orienting oneself towards social change. Her films focus on the experiences of Asian women navigating cultural identity and generational trauma, mining personal narratives with humor and vulnerability.
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Yang earned her BFA from Art Center of Design in 2009 and MFA at the University of Michigan in 2016. Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally in places like MoMAPS1, Aesthetica Art Prize, New Mexico Museum of Art, and Beijing’s Art Nova 100 with reviews in LA Times, Hyperallergic, and Huffington Post. Recipient of fellowships like Yaddo, Uniondoc Summer Lab, Artpace San Antonio, and Vermont Studios. Her awards include the 2018 Special Arte Laguna Prize, Best Regional Filmmaker at 2017 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Golden Reel Awards for Short Documentary.
Best Short Film 2022 Winner
CHICKEN SKIN
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With no instructions, the audience is thrown into the midst of chaos following a funeral reception interrupted by a blackout. Narrative tension is masterfully built through the frantic energy of relentless chores and an escalating mother-daughter argument. In one long take, Chicken Skin depicts the intense moment when family secrets finally burst from years of suppression, unexpectedly.