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“Children and Animals Have a Natural Intuition and Liveliness”: Xinying Lao on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Xiaohui and His Cows
Unlike the rest of her cohort, Xinying Lao has the distinction of being a Short Film Student Showcase winner as an underclassman. Made during her sophomore year at NYU, Xiaohui and His Cows sheds light on the widespread separation of families in rural China as parents migrate to cities for work, leaving their children behind with relatives.
The film also bowed at the 2023 Berlinale in the festival’s Generation Kplus section, which is reserved for stories that explore children’s perspective. Certainly a shoo-in for the category, Lao’s short centers on the titular Xiaohui (Jinhao Wei), a nine-year-old boy living with his grandfather (Yuanmo Wei) amid lush green mountains in a remote village. His mother (Yamiao Tang) is typically only present on sparse FaceTime calls, as she works at a factory in a faraway city and cannot afford to travel back home for holiday festivities due to the pandemic. When Xiaohui gets wind of his grandfather’s plan to separate their dairy cow from her calf to turn a profit, the boy takes it upon himself to guard them from a fate that feels painfully similar to his own.
Xiaohui and His Cows is one of five winners of the 2024 Student Short Film Showcase, a collaborative program from The Gotham, Focus Features and JetBlue that is available to stream via Focus Features’s YouTube channel and offered in the air as part of JetBlue’s in-flight entertainment selection.
Lao answered my questions via email while embarking on her next shoot in China. She discusses a specific NYU alumnus she admires, how COVID impacted her short’s narrative and the China-set project she’s currently working on.
Read the rest of the interviews with the fifth annual Student Short Film Showcase winners here.
Filmmaker: What factors led to you pursuing an MFA in film production at NYU?
Lao: I studied journalism during my undergraduate years. The experience of working on documentaries sparked my interest in different people across society and ignited my passion for storytelling. However, the process of making documentaries for me is somewhat boring. I wanted to unleash my imagination, which led me to choose fictional narrative filmmaking instead.
NYU is an excellent film school—very prestigious, with a strong network of alumni and faculty. One of my favorite directors, Ang Lee, graduated from there. NYU emphasizes helping students discover and develop their own personal voice. The professors are very dedicated, guiding me through every step of the process, from writing to editing.
Filmmaker: How did you prepare for production in this remote mountain village? How long did you ultimately spend in China working on your thesis film?
Lao: It is my second year film instead of a thesis film. I shot the film in January 2022. The project actually began in the summer of 2021, when I started doing preliminary research for the script. I went to my father’s village and talked to relatives who raised cattle. Later, I volunteered as a short-term teacher in the mountains for about two weeks. I taught classes, chatted with the kids, and also helped out with some farm work at their homes. Through these experiences, I developed a deeper understanding of the inner worlds of these children and their relationships with their families.
In the fall, I returned to New York. I polished the script based on feedback from my classmates and professors during workshops. In November, I went back to China. After completing a 21-day quarantine, I headed into the mountains. My producer and I did location scouts every day. We drove between villages, looking for the right actors, docile cows, beautiful and story-appropriate locations, that could support production needs. Eventually, I decided to shoot in my aunt’s village. I lived there for over a month, continuing to revise the script, scouting locations, adjusting the shot list, rehearsing with actors, and preparing for production. The pre-production phase lasted for about a month and a half.
Filmmaker: The general consensus is that emerging filmmakers should avoid working with children and animals, as they can be difficult to direct. Can you speak to your experience working with the young Jinhao Wei and his bovine co-stars?
Lao: After finishing this film, I still tell everyone: “Don’t work with animals or children on set—it’s just too hard.” But somehow, my few projects that followed, ended up involving either animals or kids again. Maybe I’m my own biggest liar. Deep down, I’m a kid who’s always tried to avoid growing up, which is probably why I love telling stories from a child’s perspective.
Both children and animals have a natural intuition and liveliness. Their unpredictability is what makes working with them so challenging—but it’s also what makes them amazing, because they bring genuine surprises.
The cows turned out to be wonderful actors. We found the most obedient and lovely cow-and-calf pair in the village. I specifically wanted a mother and her calf to mirror the emotional bond between Xiaohui and his mother in the story. The cows were gentle and would follow whoever led them. The only tricky part was that sometimes they would end up with their backsides facing the camera. Crew members had to nudge them back into position.
Initially, I auditioned children living in the city who had acting experience, but they lacked the natural temperament I was looking for. Their energy just didn’t feel right for the story. So I decided to cast non-actors—real local people from the village—whose authenticity brought the characters to life. The kids were incredibly cooperative, enthusiastic and willing to work hard. They were all passionate about making the film, even though most of them had never even been to a movie theater before. I rehearsed with them and kept adjusting the script to better match their natural personalities and unique traits. For example, during rehearsals, I discovered that Jinhao is good at climbing trees—so the very first shot of the film ended up being him up on a tree. When we shot the scenes where the kids interact by the giant rock, the adults all looked anxious, brows furrowed, because the kids just kept bursting into laughter in the takes.
At first, Jinhao was a little scared of the cows because they were so big, but on the last day of shooting, he wasn’t afraid anymore. All the performances felt natural and authentic because the actors were simply living out their everyday lives on screen.
Filmmaker: I appreciate that your film incorporates the reality of COVID into the storyline. Was there ever any doubt of including this era-specific element in the narrative?
Lao: The COVID-19 element wasn’t originally part of the script—it just happened naturally during the shoot. In the village where we filmed, there are many left-behind children like Xiaohui. Normally, the Chinese New Year would be the only time in the year when these children could reunite with their parents. But in 2022, due to COVID-19 and strict quarantine policies, many parents were unable to return home, and the children lost that precious moment with their parents. I wanted the film to stay close to reality, so I decided to weave that element into the story.
Filmmaker: Will your future film projects see you working in China, the U.S., or between both countries?
Lao: I’m currently working as a freelancer based in L.A. In the future, I hope to continue developing my career in both countries. I’m writing a feature script, once again from a child’s perspective. It follows a 12-year-old girl who embarks on a journey in the forest that her biological mother once traveled, accompanied by her stepmother. Throughout the journey, she begins to gain a new understanding of her two mothers, as well as her growing perceptions of womanhood and family. The story is set in China.
