Our Grand Prize Winner for the 2025 Spring Season Short Film Fund is PAPER DAUGHTER, written and directed by Cameron Kwan. The story follows a young Chinese woman grappling with the guilt of using the identity of a deceased girl to immigrate to the United States via Angel Island in 1926.
Tell us a little about your short. What is it about and what inspired you to write it?
PAPER DAUGHTER is a gothic, stop motion animated, Chinese-American fairytale about a young woman grappling with the guilt of using the identity of a deceased girl to immigrate to the US via Angel Island in 1926. It explores the universal experience of accepting sacrifices we never asked for but were nevertheless made on our behalf by examining the historical Chinese immigration experience of assuming the identities of the deceased in order to obtain a better life. PAPER DAUGHTER is partially based on my own great-grandmother’s experiences when she immigrated to the US through Angel Island, and I suppose it’s my own way of trying to make sense of the life I have received from her, and an attempt to thank and memorialize her. Next year will actually mark the 100-year anniversary of her immigration, so it feels like a full circle moment, of sorts!
 Joy Dep Chan in 1926 |
 Joy and Cami in 2003 |
What motivated you to enter the Short Film Fund? How did you feel when you found out that you won?
I wrote this film in 2024, and I knew I wanted to begin production in some way this year. I’m pretty connected to indie filmmaking communities on social media, so of course Shore Scripts popped up every now and then. When I was seriously on the lookout for support for my own film, I happened to come across the Shore Scripts Short Film Fund. I really liked the overall tone of Shore Scripts, their mission and the way they share educational resources, so I decided to apply! I honestly don’t consider myself a writer – I’m primarily a director/animator, and writing is more a means to an end to make the films I want to make – so I didn’t really think I had a chance, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.
When I found out I had won the Short Film Fund, I was floored. Like I said, I didn’t consider myself much of a writer, so getting this huge vote of confidence from Shore Scripts was really incredible. I feel so much more confident in my writing abilities now, and it’s really encouraged me to start thinking about more writing-related paths for my future. Like, before this I didn’t really consider it possible to write my own feature, but now I really do see that path opening for me, and a lot of that newfound vision has to do with my experience with Shore Scripts.
This is our first time supporting an animated film and we are thrilled! Can you tell us about your plans for the animation style, format, aesthetic, etc. and about your background as an animator?
I’ve been working in stop motion animation since 2016. My whole career has been devoted to children’s animation, which is one of my huge passions. I’ve worked on educational pre-school shows like Tumble Leaf, and directed series for Mattel properties like American Girl, and even made like…five music videos for Monster High! I even started a studio with my two business partners, Max Lopez and Sean Malony, called Apartment D where we’re making a classic Saturday morning cartoon in stop motion, called Ruff Ruff Danger Dogs! I love working in kids animation, and bringing stop motion into that brighter, more energetic space!
However, as much as I adore that, it’s been the only thing I’ve gotten to do for the last 8 or 9 years. So when I began writing PAPER DAUGHTER, I was really connecting with my untapped love for more gothic stories, and more thoughtful, emotional magical realism. I was first inspired to go into animation because of directors like Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Hayao Miyazaki and even Guillermo Del Toro. Pan’s Labyrinth and Howl’s Moving Castle were the nails in the coffin for me – there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life after seeing those. So, as the first film I’ve had full artistic control over in nearly a decade, PAPER DAUGHTER will be drawing on those darker themes and aesthetics that I’ve been craving. Think the historical gothic fantasy of Pan’s Labyrinth meets the stylized stop motion of James and the Giant Peach, all with the emotional layers of Spirited Away.
It was also very important to me to tell this story from the perspective of Chinese immigrants, and to center their history. As far as we’ve come, representation-wise, there are still major gaps in the stop motion landscape. It’s rare to see female-led films with non-white leads, and it means a lot to be able to place Asian faces and stories front and center.
Do you want to develop the script further? If so, what will you look to change?
Absolutely! I would love to carry this forward into a full feature film. There is so much I had to cut out to make this script executable within the parameters available to me right now. There’s so much more to explore about Angel Island, and about the actual relationship between the main characters, Joy and Mae. We don’t really touch on the families waiting for Joy outside of the Island, which is a huge part of her motivation, so I would love to spend more time with this character and this world to help expand the historical and emotional context of Joy’s story.
PAPER DAUGHTER character lineup by Mayumi Nose, Sophia Du, Stephanie Rizo
Do you think about the practicalities of filming (or animating) when you write? If so, how has that changed your writing process, or have you always thought that way?
I definitely do. Part of my job as a director is to ensure that the project I’m making actually gets made. It’s all well and good if you write a huge, beautiful script, but if you can’t make it, what good is it to anyone?
When I write the first draft or two, I keep all my options open, find the ideal story beats and such. Then, once I feel like I have a solid handle on the core of the story, I do a pass purely considering the practicalities. It’s a delicate balance, but I have a lot of practice from directing client projects with strict timelines and budgets at Apartment D. I don’t really think of the practical boundaries as limitations anymore – I see them more like a haiku. You have a limited playing field, but within those limitations (and often because of them), you can find so much creativity and expression. I think having those creative limitations forced this script to be sparse in a way that makes it much more powerful, and I think that’s a really beautiful thing!
Can you share anything about where you are in pre-production and your intended production pipeline for this project?
Hoo boy, we are SO in production! It’s wild over here right now, in the best way.
Currently, we are gearing up to begin animation, which means that sets and puppets have been fabricating for a while! It’s my favorite time in a stop motion production, because it’s when the most crew is together in the studio. We’ll have the animation team, puppet team, sets team, camera and lighting team, and production team all working together to bring this film to life! The community that forms during the shoot is truly the best part of any project.
From a broader perspective, our overall pipeline looks like this:
1) Pre-production: This includes set designs, character designs (both the aesthetics and the mechanics, since we’re in stop motion), and the animatic, which is like a very VERY basic sketch of every shot all strung together and timed so we can get an initial idea of the visuals and flow of the story.
2) Voice Records and Fabrication: We record all the actors before we ever shoot a single frame. That way, the animators will have a solid emotional performance to inform their animation, and we won’t have to fuss with matching things later on – they’ll match from the start. Simultaneously, we start building our puppets and sets. It’s a lot of communication between departments, making sure things are in scale with each other, making sure puppets are finished at the same time as the sets they’re meant to be on, etc.
3) Tech Meeting: Once the animatic is finished, we do a tech meeting. This is when the heads of all the departments (production, puppets, sets, animation, camera/lighting, and post-production) get together and go over the film shot by shot and decide how we’re going to execute them. Every detail as small as “does this skirt need a wire so it can flap in the wind?” or as big as “Do we need to build this whole set or can we film the characters on green screen and add the set in digitally?”
4) Animation: Once the sets and puppets are built, camera and lighting get in and light the sets! We film one frame at a time, stringing together thousands of still photographs to create our living worlds. We use pretty basic Canon 80D cameras, and lights that are generally smaller than your usual live-action lights. The animators then come in and do their thing, pushing puppets one increment at a time until the film is done!
5) Post-Production: We generally give animation a week or so head start, and then our post team comes on board! They’ll process footage as it comes in – removing rigging, patching holes, adding specialty effects, and such. They’ll be working well after the rest of the teams have rolled off, and they’re truly the unsung heroes of our films.
PAPER DAUGHTER will be fully finished by the end of October this year. We’ll be shooting from now until mid-September, with post working hard until 11:59 PM on October 31st!
PAPER DAUGHTER production design by Joyce Lee
PAPER DAUGHTER production design by Kenny Leoncito
What do you feel will be your biggest challenge in terms of getting your script off the paper and onto the screen?
The biggest challenge will be keeping all the teams coordinated. It’s a lot to manage, and our production is very scrappy – I’m personally managing most of the day-to-day communication and execution of this film, so keeping everyone on the page and moving at the same pace is a never-ending task that lasts until the film is finished!
What are your aspirations for the film once it’s completed?
I would love to bring this film to festivals. I’ve always dreamed of going to Annecy, and in college I would often attend the Ottawa International Animation Festival, so it would be a dream come true to actually have a film in it. I really just want this film to get in front of people, so they can see what independent stop motion is capable of!
Of course, I’d love for this to lead to helping get the feature made (if any patrons of the arts out there like what you see, call me!!). And I’d also love to see this film end up in classrooms, helping to spread the story of Angel Island and the people who immigrated through it.
Do you have any advice for emerging screenwriters looking to direct and/or produce their own material?
JUST START MAKING IT. It’s the least sexy advice, ha ha, but I feel so strongly about it. So many people never start making their films, writing their scripts, because they’re waiting for the perfect story, the perfect conditions, etc. I often say, “I’d rather it exist than be perfect.” So just start making it.
Are there any lessons you’ve learned from your previous projects that will help you going forward with making your short film?
Definitely! Every project, every film, contributes to the next one. I’ve learned so much about how to lead a team, how to communicate what’s in my head into the brains of my team, how and when to compromise, etc. I think that might be the most important thing – learning how to compromise to make the film happen while preserving the soul of the story and the message. It’s a fine line, but I think that’s the mark of a good director – know how and when to correct course to ensure the film gets made while still preserving the creative and emotional intent.
Learn more about PAPER DAUGHTER and Cameron Kwan, and check out this Animation World Network article about the film! You can also follow on Instagram @camikwan and @apartmentdfilms!
CAMERON KWAN (she/they) is a Chinese American director specializing in stop motion animation. She draws on her experience growing up queer and mixed-race to create stories for young audiences that explore emotions, relationships, identity and culture. She loves stories where the abstracts of emotion and identity are made manifest through magical realism. (Bonus points for historical reimagining!) Kwan began her career on the Emmy-winning preschool series Tumble Leaf before joining forces with her business partners to found their independent animation studio Apartment D, where she collaborates with brands such as Monster High, American Girl and Sanrio to create stop motion animated series.
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The 2025 Fall Season of the Short Film Fund is now open! This season, we will be awarding a $15,000 cash production grant to one short script, and $4,000 in finishing funds to one short film in post-production. Learn more here.
