Sunflower Girl

Rosie, a 13-year-old Chinese-American girl, embarks on a skateboarding escapade through the streets of New York with her crush and his best friend - at the cost of abandoning her little sister and never delivering a forgotten lunchbox.

Innocence, young love, complicated beliefs about oneself, and relationships with family are all budding issues that tend to feel larger than life growing up. When writing SUNFLOWER GIRL, I drew inspiration by tapping into my past, as a child growing up in New York City and my family history as immigrants from Hong Kong who owned a Chinese laundry storefront in Brooklyn in the 1970s. Many years later, when I was revisiting my old stomping grounds, faded memories began to emerge reminding me of the wonder I experienced as a child - when the island of Manhattan was my playground and the possibilities for fun felt infinite. The push and pull between engaging in the pulsating environment of New York City as an adolescent versus the need to attend to duties to my family was an internal conflict that was deeply ingrained in me. When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country, American news became inundated with stories of discrimination and violence against Asians. Wanting to steer clear of showcasing hate and suffering, I felt moved to tell an uplifting and personal coming-of-age story that explored the universal experience of growing pains from the perspective of a young Chinese-American girl in New York City. Americanism coming in contact with the Asian American experience is the greater theme that I’m exploring. Where Americanism seeks to devour the other, SUNFLOWER GIRL offers a tender, complex slice of Asian American life through the lens of the female gaze.