An aging matriarch resists her family's care.

Interview with Writer/Director/Editor Jennifer Ru Zhou

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

I was witnessing my family—mostly my mother—perform care for my grandmother more and more frequently. It was a bit funny to me, but also a sign of my grandmother's aging, when she would call me (1,000 miles away) to fix a problem she had caused, so that my parents (10 miles away) wouldn't have to know.

My grandmother is beloved in our family. Lan's Garden began with a question: how do we make it hard for the people who love us, to love us?

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

This film is about Lan, in a new stage of life, but the story is told by me. My perspective is similar to Nico's, the 7-year-old boy. There's a good deal of intergenerational exchanges in Lan's Garden; we see Lan through everyone else's eyes. Ultimately though, only Lan knows the private transformation of her own aging.

I'm interested in hearing from people who have elderly people in their lives, or who are elderly, about their insights after watching Lan's Garden. You should watch this film if you have grandparents, parents, or old friends—or if you are old, or expect to one day be.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

Lan's Garden is a work of fiction. Yet while I was making the film, I started to see similar stories, of aging, agency, and care, appear in the world again and again. This story is all around us even if we don't always know how to tell it.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

The script didn't undergo drastic changes. I always wanted the story to be set in two separate worlds: a house that Lan can no longer control, and her garden, which responds to her care, gloriously. I always wanted to show three generations. And I always wanted every character to be a sympathetic one.

A notable evolution of the film occurred in pre-production. I wanted to work with non-professional actors, but I was unsure of how to build the cast. For a while, I was trying to frankenstein variations of a family based on people I knew, and I couldn't get anything to work quite right. Then I decided to specify that this was a story about a Chinese family living in North Carolina. Sherly Fan, my casting and assistant director, helped me connect with Chinese seniors and families in the area. For a couple of weeks, we had no luck; I loved some of the people I met, but the fictional family still wasn't working. I gave myself one more day before I'd quit and head back to NYC. That afternoon, Sherly, Steve Milligan, my cinematographer and co-producer, and I drove an hour and a half into the country, past farms and enormous lawns, to meet with one more family. It was immediately clear that Lan, Kathy, Ning, and Ryan were the perfect family for this film. It was like magic, meeting them.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

The film has so far screened at Slamdance and Indie Memphis. At both festivals, I felt gratified that the emotional beats played well for the audience. I've seen this film thousands of times by myself. It's insightful to watch it alongside strangers.

Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?

I'm surprised when some people tell me a unique interpretation of the film. It certainly informs my thinking for my next film, hearing what people connect with. Ultimately though, I haven't heard an interpretation that reduces the emotional core of Lan's Garden. I don't think I could ever replicate what we made—there was an alchemy between the people we were and the place we were in at the time. It's a very dear film to me and I wouldn't change anything about it.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

I hope like-minded filmmakers and film-lovers find and connect with the film.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

I hope festival programmers and journalists might help this film be seen by more audiences, especially by Asian American and international audiences, and by audiences in the American South.

I'm looking for a producer to team up with for my next project, and the next after that.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

I hope that anything I make builds empathy and connection between people. I hope this film makes people hug their grandmas.

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

How do we process aging? What is the experience of gradually losing your agency and abilities like? How do we tell stories about this rich, complicated time of life, which we can only truly know when we ourselves get there?

Would you like to add anything else?

That's all—thank you!

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

I have a short film script about a church repairman. It's about what it means to be a bad man who is ultimately powerless in society.

I am also developing a feature where human time stops—except for one person. It's about capitalism and progress, the natural world, and the decision to continue. And there's a love story.

Interview: March 2024

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

Lan's Garden

An aging matriarch resists her family's care.

Length: 10:39

Director: Jennifer Ru Zhou

Producer: Jennifer Ru Zhou and Steve Milligan

Writer: Jennifer Ru Zhou

About the writer, director and producer:

STEVE MILLIGAN is a cinematographer and producer based in North Carolina. He was the cinematographer for Josh Gibson's feature film Pig Film (2018), which had its international premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival. As a documentary cinematographer, he has worked with Lucy Walker, Kirby Dick, Gary Hawkins, and Brian McGinn, with results that have screened at festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, and SXSW.

Key cast: Lan Miao (Lan), Kathy Wu (Cici), Ning Jiang (Dad), Ryan Jiang (Nico)

Looking for: journalists, film festival directors, producers, distributors

Instagram: @lansgardenfilm

Hashtags used: #lansgardenfilm

Website: jenruzhou.com/lans-garden

Other: IMDb