JESS X. SNOW photo by Pedro Motta
“ON YOUR RADAR” IS A WEEKLY GRAD FILM NEWS SEGMENT THAT FEATURES A STUDENT PICKED AT RANDOM.
JESS IS CURRENTLY A 3RD YEAR STUDENT AT GRAD FILM. WE ASKED THEM A FEW QUESTIONS, AND HERE’S WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY:
Where do you consider home and what is it like there?
I once thought home was a place, but being someone in diaspora, not yet a citizen of this country, who has had to constantly move homes all throughout my life, I’ve realized that home is wherever my community is. As someone who isn’t that close to my blood family, my community is my chosen family. During a pandemic, where so much violence is targeting BIPOC communities, when I can no longer believe in a future, my chosen family shows it to me. They point me in the direction of home. They show me that home is a place inside my body, that borders and nations cannot touch. A sanctuary I can always return to if I choose to take care of it like a dear friend.
What is currently inspiring you as a filmmaker?
Artists, activists, healers and organizers and their stories as they work fearlessly toward an abolitionist future for our collective liberation. I believe that none of us are free until all of us are free. My liberation as a queer migrant asian person on stolen indigenous land, is intwined with the fight toward Black liberation and indigenous sovereignty, abolition and migrant rights globally. I hope to show up to those communities as I’ve experienced them show up for me. Currently I’m working on a mural project in NY Chinatown that will become a physical and virtual healing space for the asian community to imagine a future where we keep eachother safe. It was envisioned in collaboration with Chinatown elders and youth. As I’ve been painting this mural, so many people in my community came out to support, many who are not asian, but see their liberation as bound to mine. In my lifetime, this deep solidarity has been the most inspiring thing to give and receive.
What has been your most rewarding experience at NYU Tisch Grad Film so far?
My 2nd year film: I was telling a story that was very personal to me. I witnessed so many people of different years at NYU show up for me, as crew, as extras or just moral support. There was a late evening shoot where the whole set witnessed a moment of pure magic from the actors, and I realized these moments where we create space for each other to be vulnerable and fully seen in all our complexity is why I make movies.
That same year, I produced my dear friend Ishkwaazhe’s film and flew to his hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, Anishinaabe land. Right after, I flew to Hai’An China, to Yumeng’s hometown to crew & costume design on his film. Being alongside my friends during these incredibly formative moments as they directed their films, with their old friends, in their hometowns, was a deep gift. And I will take these friendships with me for the rest of my life as a filmmaker.
Looking back at it all, I feel like I always had stories to tell, but I really did learn how to tell them through the language of cinema here.
Visit their website and Instagram, and learn more about Care Package and their film Little Sky.
