WAITING FOR THE LIGHT TO CHANGE
DIRECTOR: LINH TRAN
89 minutes. usa. 2023. Languages: ENGLISH and Mandarin. Colour.
Preceded by the short film, INTROSPECTION (2023, 1’ 40”) directed by Ying Qi Tang, a third year student on the Visual Communication programme at TU Dublin School of Art and Design.
The screening will be introduced by Vietnamese photographer, Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng. You can read Trà My’s introduction on our BLOG page.
You can watch In-Conversation director Linh Tràn, Trà My Nguyễn Hoàng (photographer) and Marie-Pierre Richard (Programme Curator, EAFFI Discoveries)
Best friends since high school, Kim and Amy, who haven’t seen each other since Amy moved to the West Coast for graduate school, get together for a few days vacation at a house on Lake Michigan, joined by friends and Kim’s boyfriend, Jay.
Born and raised in Vietnam director Linh Tran studied and is based in the United States. Her debut feature is a generational character study of young adulthood focusing on the dynamics and relationships between them, with natural and intimate dialogue in long, fluid takes. The late winter setting accentuates feelings of unease, regret, anxiety and transition.
Winner of the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize at the 29th Slamdance Film Festival 2023 (a companion to Sundance which offers films with a smaller budget), Waiting for the Light to Change was described by the festival jury as ‘a remarkably honest portrait of vulnerability that breaks open the heart of its audience, demanding sincerity and drawing deep reflection of the fractured nature of ourselves and the complex, human spaces between each of us. An exceptional act of patience, restrain, courage and authenticity’.
Made by a small team of graduate and undergraduate students, it was produced as part of the Indie Studio Programme at the university DePaul School of Cinematic Arts in Chicago which gives recent graduates the opportunity to choose from a variety of available scripts, to direct and produce films on a limited budget, and to work with the school’s material resources.
Initially scheduled for early 2020, filming was pushed back a year due to the Covid pandemic, and this allowed Tran to develop the story, incorporating real-life events, holidays spent with friends and entourage in NYC, as well as her reading at the time of Elena Ferrante’s novels which revolve around a very complex life-long friendship between two women.
MARIE-PIERRE RICHARD