A Grieving Heart (Short)
Saturday, 7 november, 9 pm
Wendy Cong Zhao, USA | 2025 | 12m 18s | Black&White Animated, Drama with English Subtitles
An immigrant woman examines her past in the wake of her American ex-boyfriend’s death.
The narrator reflects on her Chinese-American upbringing, her past relationship, and her
current grief. The film explores how love and loss impact the ways she confronts her immigrant
identity, memories, insecurities, and regrets.
Wendy Cong Zhao is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She have been working and teaching in the independent animation field since 2011.
Her first animated short “Pangs” was under 2 minutes long, and premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2016. In 2020, her animated documentary “My First Sessions” was published by The New Yorker. She have directed three music videos for Verve Label Group and Decca Records, including “Cheek to Cheek” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, and “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Christopher Tin. She is a two-time recipient of the National Board of Review student grant and a 2023 winner of the Princess Grace Award in Film and Animation.
