Céline Roustan

One of the very few things that make me appreciate being older, and slightly wiser, is having honest conversations with my parents. In Tough, Jennifer Zheng sits down with her mother and finally has a grown-up talk about her origins. Shedding light on cultural identity and raising a child as an emigrant, Zheng’s animated documentary tackles its subject in the most heartfelt and touching way: a mother/daughter one on one.

Growing up in Northern Ireland as a first generation Brit, Jennifer always felt “white”, with her cultural heritage only showing “on her face”. As she matured, she realized that her Chinese parents grew up during the cultural revolution and this revelation prompted the animator to explore her origins in her Kingston University London grad film. In the conversation she has with her mother in her film, Zheng not only learns where she comes from, but also gets a better understanding of her mother’s ‘tough’ approach and discovers strength in her parenting decisions.

Full and genuine access to a documentary subject almost always provides better material for the filmmaker. In the case of Tough, the mother/daughter relationship means Zheng gets her interviewee to bare all, with no restraint, making for a nuanced narrative that more people can relate to.

Tough has done very well on the festival circuit from Sundance, SXSW to being BAFTA nominated. Impressive achievement for a student film. Jennifer Zheng is now a junior animator at the previously Short of the Week featured Moth Collective (Matter Fisher, My Mother’s Coat & A Kiss, Deferred). We are all awaiting her next project.