Director: Ran Jing | 100-mins. | China

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Drama. Lu is a young architect struggling to make ends meet in New York, far from her estranged father, who lives in their native China with his new wife and Lu’s 6-year-old half-brother, Cody. Lu receives a dream internship offer from a prestigious architecture firm called Grayson, but is dismayed to discover the firm won’t sponsor her visa, putting her at risk of being removed from the U.S. When Lu’s father unexpectedly arrives in the U.S. with Cody, who suffers from Hepatitis C and needs American medical care, Lu realizes that establishing guardianship of her half-brother will allow her to obtain a temporary visa and pursue her internship at Grayson.

Resentful of Cody and the love he’s received from a father (whom Lu feels abandoned her), Lu half-heartedly cares for her half-brother while pouring all her energy into impressing her bosses at Grayson. But soon she begins to fail in her duties both at work and at home. Concerned that the opportunity to continue working at Grayson is slipping through her fingers, and believing she has nobody to turn to for help, Lu doubles down on her internship work, begrudging Cody’s presence more and more with every passing day.

Eventually, Lu cracks under the pressure, and confesses to Cody that she only agreed to care for him in the U.S. in order to obtain her visa. Cody runs away from her apartment, and Lu’s furious father flies in from China. Together with the father she’s tried so hard to prove her independence from, Lu must set out to find Cody as the police and Child Protective Services begin to investigate, knowing she is at risk of losing both her job at Grayson and her visa to remain in the United States. Chinese with English subtitles.

ABOUT the Director: Born and raised in Beijing, Ran Jing is an award-winning writer/director. She holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and began her professional career as a story artist in the feature animation industry. Her credits include Peanuts, The Book of Life and the Rio franchise, and she has worked closely with award-winning directors including Jorge R. Gutierrez, Aron Warner, and Carlos Saldanha. Her 2017 live action short film Fish Stew was selected by multiple international film festivals. She has taught as a guest lecturer at NYU as well as the School of Visual Arts, and has served as a judge for the Emmys, Northwest Animation Festival and ASIFA East. MODEL is Ran’s first feature film. It has premiered at The 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival.