Some things can only be understood with maturity.

New light is shed on childhood cultural misunderstandings when a Chinese mother and her British born daughter speak as adults for the first time.

With an original score by K. Preston Merkley

oceancitydefender.com/

Awards :

BAFTA Nominated Animated Short Film 2017

Best Animated Documentary at KLIK Amsterdam 2016

Audience choice for Best Animated Documentary at LIAF 2016

Jury Award for Best Short Film at 10th British Shorts Film Festival, Berlin 2017

RTS London Student Awards, Best Undergraduate Animation 2017

RTS National Award for best Undergraduate Animation 2017

FANtastische Award at ITFS 2017

Best Director in the Short Documentary category at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival 2017

Screenings :

Tough premiere at Encounters 22nd Short Film and Animation Festival 21st Sept 2016

FAFF factual animation film festival London, 30th sept- 1st October 2016

Primanima, budapest, 19th-22nd October 2016

KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival 25th-30th October 2016

Crystal Palace international FF Sat 29th Oct- 19th Nov 2016

Manchester animation festival 15th-17th November 2016

Grafixx 25-27th Nov 2016

Two Short Nights Film Festival 2016

LIAF 2nd-11th December 2016

Animated Dreams 16-20th Nov 2016

Animateka 5-11th Dec 2016

With the Late Night Work Club + Friends Sceenings

LSFF 6-15th Jan 2017

’British Shorts’ FF Berlin 12-18th Jan 2017

North American Premiere at SUNDANCE 19-29th Jan 2017

Void international FF Copenhagen 26th Jan- 4th Feb 2017

Anima 25th Feb - 5th March 2017

GLAS Animation Festival 2-5th March 2017

SXSW 10- 19th March 2017

Tricky Women 15-19th March 2017

Monstra 16-26th March 2017

Holland Animation Film Festival 22nd-26th March 2017

Ciné Court Anime 20-26th March 2017

DIFF, 30th March- 9th April 2017

LA Asian Pacific FF, 27th April- 4th May 2017

Anifilm, Czech Republic 2nd-7th May 2017

ITFS, 2-7th May 2017

Pictoplasma, 10-14th May 2017

The Chicago critics FF, 12th-18th May 2017

Cardiff Animation Nights 25th May 2017

Telluride Mountainfilm 26th-29th May 2017

Kortfilm Festivalen, Norway, 14th-18th June 2017

VIS, Vienna Shorts, 1-6th June 2017

SUNDANCE London 1st- 4th June 2017

Animafest Zagreb, 5th-10th June 2017

Sheffield Doc Fest, 8th-14th June 2017

Annecy, 12th-17th June 2017

Short Sighted Cinema : Shortest Nights screening 18th June 2017

Edinburgh International Film Festival, 21st June- 2nd July 2017

La Guarimba International FF 7th-11th August 2017

My 2016 graduation film from Kingston University London.

Original score by K. Preston Merkley

For more gifs showing the process behind making the film look at my website here :

jenniferzheng.co.uk/Selected-Work/Tough-1

With an original score by K. Preston Merkley

oceancitydefender.com/

Cast : Jennifer Zheng

Tags : Tough , cultural revolution , China , geometric , animated documentary , documentary , personal , docufiction , red army , 2d animation , red guard , cel animation , pencil animation , pencil on paper , pencil texture , primary colours , Kingston university , Jennifer Zheng and BAFTA