Meet Yuhan Wang

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yuhan Wang. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yuhan below.

Yuhan, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

It’s a very long journey to train myself with strong resilience and I’m still working on it every day.

I got sick easily when I was a child. For as long as I can remember, I was either catching a cold or having allergic reactions to something. It seemed that I was very sensitive to my surroundings. Instead of taking me to the hospital or giving me medicine, my parents chose to let my immune system work on its own. They believed it was a more sustainable and effective way to build my health.
At the same time, we tried our best to eat healthy food, spend time in nature, and learn the rhythm of my body. Gradually, my resilience to illness and the environment grew stronger day by day. After middle school, I rarely got sick. Through this experience, I began to understand the pattern of my life: there are stages of pain that I cannot resist, but after enduring them, I become better—and stronger.

Growing up reading many fairy tales, I used to believe that life follows a logical, linear path. However, life turned out to be much more complicated—and not something I could control, especially at a young age. After countless frustrations, both big and small, I sank into a long period of depression. I didn’t want to leave my room—my “safe space.” I didn’t want to see anyone or speak at all. I even thought about pretending to be mute, like the boy in The Catcher in the Rye. But things only got worse.

In 2021, when the world was gripped by the panic of the pandemic, my college was suspended and I returned home. One rainy afternoon, while riding my bike, I didn’t notice a car turning at the next corner. I fell and broke my left elbow, and had to undergo major surgery immediately. The pain was stronger than anything I had felt before. It forced me to stop my anxious pace and face all the pain I had been trying so hard to avoid.

Yet, thanks to that time, I cleared away the noise in my mind and asked myself what kind of person I wanted to be. The answer was clear: I want to be a resilient woman who fights for her passions and ideals. I believe in the strength within my body—the same strength that helped me overcome illness as a child. For all of this, I tell myself to be stronger, more patient, and above all, resilient.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a Chinese filmmaker born and raised in Hefei, China. I studied and worked in Beijing and currently live in Los Angeles. My films often explore political allegory, feminism, female subjectivity, experimental narratives, and looping structures—interweaving surreal and symbolic elements to examine themes of power, control, and identity.
My practice centers on the tension between sound, image, and performance, seeking to reveal the contradictions and poetics embedded in both social and personal experience. My short films have been screened at international film festivals and art platforms such as REDCAT and UC San Diego, among others. Through my work, I continue to investigate the intersection between narrative storytelling and artistic experimentation.
In addition to directing, I also work as a writer, actor, and producer, with a strong interest in cross-cultural and multilingual collaborations—aiming to create new dialogues between cinema and contemporary art.

My most recent short film, Olm’s House (2026), is an experimental short set in a fantastical world where people bend under the weight of a rigid system. In this film, a girl flees to a secluded house to seek asylum. To earn trust and gain entry, she becomes entangled in an absurd game that challenges her understanding of fear, deception, weakness, and control—ultimately revealing their intrinsic ties to power. As the game unfolds, she discovers that the death of her inner humanity is the ultimate cost of power consumption. When she finally tastes power and faces a moral choice, she must decide whether to perpetuate the cycle and become the enforcer of the next loop in this hierarchical order.

The impulse to make this film came from my own reflections on childhood. My parents often told me “kind” lies to shield me from harsh realities—a means for them to escape their own suffering under systems of oppression. As I experienced different cultures, I came to realize that the pain beneath such truths is universal: the vulnerable are exploited for the same reasons, and systems are constructed to preserve the same power. There is no wonderland unless we confront darkness fearlessly. With this in mind, I created this absurdist political satire that reflects on cyclical violence and submission. Without radical justice and revolt, history’s bloodshed will inevitably repeat itself.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First, I believe empathy is what brought me to the world of art. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, but I deeply understand how privileged I am—to be safe and free to pursue what I love. At the same time, it’s impossible for me to turn a blind eye to what’s happening around me. Whether it’s my friends, my family, or strangers I see in the news, their stories touch my heart. Human emotions are universal; even across vastly different cultures, our feelings and moods can resonate with one another.

Second, hard work is essential. I have a deep passion for what I do, but progress is never easy. To move forward, we must constantly face the unknown and keep learning without pause. It’s easy to become self-satisfied and stop growing—or to burn out completely. Yet I believe we must have faith that, through persistence, we can continue to discover more and learn how to work sustainably. Hard work doesn’t always guarantee success, but it gives us a chance—and that chance is everything.

Third, patience is vital. Nothing meaningful happens overnight, yet waiting often brings anxiety and frustration. When we grow impatient, we lose our sense of judgment and become vulnerable to confusion or exploitation. “Take things easier”—that’s what my mother always tells me, especially after I left home to chase my dreams in a foreign country. I think the least we can do is to keep faith in ourselves.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

After graduating from film school, it feels as though my career has reached a plateau. I’ve been rejected by countless film festivals, jobs, and applications—almost every day. I know this is part of an artist’s life, but it still brings me to tears. I’ve lost count of how many nights I cried myself to sleep, wondering how much longer I could keep going. So far, I’m still hanging in there.

There have been so many moments when I hated myself—for spending all my savings and still being unemployed; for losing friends along the way when I was trapped in my emotions; for feeling insecure about every piece of work I’ve made. But in other moments, I remind myself that the path toward something truly beautiful is often narrow and lonely.

Now, what I need are grounded, concrete solutions instead of vague, illusory dreams. I still apply to film festivals every day, but I try to let go of the results. I’m learning to connect with people—and to get used to rejection. I value and cherish every opportunity I have now, doing my best with whatever is in front of me before dream big. I have faith in myself, and I have faith in God.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yuhanwang.me
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1pieceofscale/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081531015149
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuhan-wang-5530992a7/

Image Credits

Wenxin Zhou, Marykate Glenn, Joe Zhang, Julie Fackler, Lety Vargas, Nicola Li