Starring Jerry as Himself
A family document how their immigrant father Jerry, a recently retired Florida man, was recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent, only to discover a darker truth.
Interview with Director Law Chen and Producer Jon Hsu
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
A year and a half ago, I received a call from my producer Jon Hsu who I had been working with for the past decade. Jon said something crazy had just happened to his father Jerry, who was an ordinary immigrant Dad retired in Florida. After hearing a stranger than fiction story about Chinese police, undercover spy work, and an international money laundering investigation, we decided to go down to Orlando to try to uncover the truth.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Starring Jerry as Himself is a genre-bending docufiction feature about an ordinary immigrant Dad retired in Florida, who was recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent. If you like docs, spy films, true crime, and immigrant stories, you need to watch this film.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
This is a deeply personal story for us, and centers around an Asian American family in search of the American Dream. Starring Jerry as Himself touches upon many themes, including immigration, cultural differences, fatherhood, and how to care for our aging parents.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We set out to make a documentary, but realized that everything had already happened so had to rely on recreation. But rather than make a traditional doc, we decided to make a creative choice and asked Jerry if he would play himself in the retelling of his story. Jerry said yes, only if it's a spy film, because he felt like James Bond and Jason Bourne wanted the audience to feel the same way. So what began as a doc, became a spy film, but is ultimately about an immigrant's search for the American Dream.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We premiered at Slamdance and the experience was unforgettable. Jerry himself was fortunate to receive standing ovations at our two sold-out screenings. The reception was beyond anything we could have ever imagined and we're so happy to be able to share this story with the world.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Having in-person screenings in a theater really gave us a sense of how the audience was reacting to our film. There was laughter, gasps, and tears in places we didn't expect. There were also moments when we didn't get the reaction we were anticipating. So being able to feel the room live was so valuable to us as filmmakers.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We would love to share our story with a wider audience because Jerry and the team feel like the film has an urgent and important message that reveals itself at the end.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
We would love to get Starring Jerry as Himself out to producers, buyers/distributors, and journalists who otherwise may not have heard of this film. A high-profile producer that connects with our message may give this powerful personal story the support and visibility it needs. We are working with our sales agents, Visit Films, on reaching out to buyers and distributors, but any journalists who see this may also find an important message worth spreading.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
An immediate impact we'd love to have is for the viewer to simply stop what they are doing at the end of the film and call their mom or dad. It's a story about family, and Jerry represents everyone's hardworking father, so we hope his story can move the audience to take that extra time to care for their parents.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What is the American Dream to so many immigrant families out there?
How do we navigate the care for our aging parents?
Interview: February 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Starring Jerry as Himself
A family document how their immigrant father Jerry, a recently retired Florida man, was recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent, only to discover a darker truth.
Length: 1:15:10
Director: Law Chen
Producer: Jon Hsu & Law Chen
Writer: Jerry Hsu & Law Chen
About the writer, director and producer:
LAW CHEN is an award-winning director based in Brooklyn. His narrative, documentary, and commercial films have earned 19 Cannes Lions, as well as multiple Webby Awards, Vimeo Staff Picks, and screened at film festivals around the world. His first feature Starring Jerry as Himself premiered at Slamdance, and tells a personal story about an immigrant’s pursuit of the American Dream.
JERRY HSU came to America in the 70's and was a civil engineer in Tampa for 40 years. This is his first film.
JON HSU has been making films ever since his father gave him the family’s Digi8 Camcorder to document their family travels. Since then he has produced multiple award-winning commercials, music videos, and films. He founded his commercial production services company HsuBox Productions Inc. with the mission to share and produce content that is as diverse as his crew and clients. Jon is an alumni of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He recently Executive Produced the horror movie A Wounded Fawn for Tribeca 2022’s Midnight Program and also the short film Closing Dynasty for the inaugural Netflix x Gold House x Tribeca 2022 Future Gold Fellowship. He is also thankful to be a part of Film Independent Fast Track 2022.
Key cast: Jerry Hsu, Kathy Hsu, Joshua Hsu, Jesse Hsu, Jonathan Hsu, Haosong Yang, Fang Du, Nick Bailey
Looking for: distributors and buyers
Instagram: @starringjerryashimself
Hashtags used: #starringjerry
Website: www.starringjerry.com, www.thelawchen.com
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Slamdance / Treasure Mountain Inn, Park City, Utah - Saturday January 21st 7:30pm & Monday January 23rd 2:45pm