Grieving the death of his parents, Siwei attends Chinese classes to translate recipes from an old family cookbook.

Director Biography - Zulian Tjuatja

Zulian Tjuatja is an American filmmaker based in Washington D.C. Born and raised in Texas to Chinese Indonesian parents, Zulian’s experiences living in various cities across Europe, Latin America, and East Asia have informed a diverse and humanist worldview. Zulian is passionate about showcasing the unique undercurrents of the Asian American experience, in particular the impacts of cultural, social, and generational transiency. He favors using real life experiences, especially his own, his friends', and his family's, to inspire and inform the stories he tells.

The Dumpling Club is his third narrative short.

Director Statement

Siwei, the film's protagonist, provided both the literal and spiritual inspiration for this film. We used his real name, we used (with his consent) his real story (his parents have passed), and we filmed in his real childhood home.

For many of us Asian Americans, the past is not just a catalogue of previous lived experience. It is also a window to things that are often difficult to access: our parents' culture, our parents' language, our parents' lives. Attempts to obtain these things are usually met with great difficulty, if not failure. And yet, to not attempt is to abandon vital parts of ourselves.

I created The Dumpling Club to showcase one example of this kind of attempt, and the kind of surprises that can emerge from it. Siwei's grasp of Chinese is subpar, his ability to replicate Chinese recipes equally so. But through these attempts, his childhood home, the object of his grief, transforms from a relic of the past to a carrier of his present and future life. I believe that to be a fitting metaphor for the Asian American condition.