Lidong Zhu

My name is Lidong Xu, which means “standing in the east” in Chinese. I was born in November 1994 in Huainan City, Anhui Province, China. Even though I grew up in a big family and had a lot of playmates, I still find myself lonely sometimes. I think that might add a little melancholy to the base of my character and affects my style in terms of filmmaking.
I identify as non-binary. As an Asian LGBT+ filmmaker, I experience American
culture as a minority. I always wanted to tell stories about minorities–that is my perspective as a storyteller. I came to Academy of Art University’s MFA program in Motion Pictures & Television to pursue my filmmaking dream.
I had a great childhood and a wonderful school life back in China. Maybe because of the positive part of my personality, when I look back, I always see the good part even if there were also bad parts. I was bullied a few times during elementary school because I was not masculine enough. After entering junior high, I got very popular. I attribute this partially to the financial success of my father. I attribute the other part to my fun nature. After I became the “rich” kid of my class, I also did well in school and got good grades. I came to the US when I was 22. Life in the US life was brand new to me. I went to Northeastern University for my first master's degree. I was studying data science, which was difficult and boring. I needed an outlet for my stress. Then weed came into my life. I said no to it first. But eventually, I did give it a try. Even though they say it’s not addictive, I got addicted to it. I struggled with it for a few years. However, the weed also gave me artistic inspiration. Story ideas come to me easily. And when I see something that
connects with me, I form a cinematic frame in my mind and think “this would look beautiful”.