I'm always on the lookout for original filmmaking to highlight, so if you just look at the objective facts of my guest Yiru Deng's film, TUNNEL VISION (2026), which premiered at LA Shorts International Film Festival on August 4th, 2026, you'll be impressed:

4 minute run time.

Animation with just killer transitions that we find out were painful to draw.

An excitingly original topic that is made to be shown on a screen.

By itself, those are amazing. But then when you hear Yiru speak about what it meant for her mother. who is affected by vision loss, it takes the work so much higher, into the best possible use of what we call filmmaking. I feel so lucky to talk with her about her incredible journey.

In this episode, Yiru and I talk about:

what she wants people to know about the film;
what kind of stories are best told through animation;
how she got involved in filmmaking;
what led her to apply for UCLA's MFA program and who she recommends for the program;
the quick runtime and the unique choices she made for the film;
why the LA Shorts Film Festival and Los Angeles for this film;
what she's looking for in an animated film;
what's next for her;
the amazing transitions in this film and how she drew them.

Yiru's Indie Film Highlight: DON JOSE (2023) dir. by Moshe Ben-Avraham; PILLOWZZZ (2025) dir. by Moshe Ben-Avraham

Memorable Quotes:

"The film TUNNEL VISION is about womens' struggles under the expectations and the oppressive love in families."

" I feel like if you have a strong passion in the thing that you wanna do and you feel like you have a clear story that you want to talk about, a clear message that you want to express, of course, go for it."

" It was stunning to watch, but it was painful to draw."

Links:

Follow Yiru On Instagram

Yiru Deng's Website