Independent Lens
The Grocery List Show
Host Chrissy Camba, former Top Chef contender, and guests visit international grocery stores across the U.S. and cook together, illustrating how cuisine can forge cultural connections.
Duration of Stay
Duration of Stay looks at the life and work of Guanyu Xu, a Chinese artist whose work critiques the limitations of global immigration systems through a diverse lens.
- Length
- 20 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Short-Form Open Call
Director
Hao Zhou
Hao Zhou is a director exploring queer stories in Asia and the Asian diaspora. Zhou has directed an independent narrative feature (The Night, 2014 Berlinale) and several shorts. In 2021, Zhou’s experimental documentary Frozen Out was a Student Academy Award Gold Medal winner and screened at BFI Flare, Frameline, Fribourg, and others.
Producer
Tyler Hill
Tyler Hill is a producer of nonfiction and narrative films, based largely in the rural U.S. Midwest. Hill has produced the short documentaries Frozen Out (2021), Here, Hopefully (2023, PBS; Doc10 Audience Award winner), and Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way (SXSW, 2024), and is in production on multiple projects.
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The Film
Duration of Stay traces the life and work of acclaimed artist Guanyu Xu. The film explores Xu’s path to immigration from Beijing to the U.S. Midwest. Now based in Chicago, he depicts the dreams and obstacles of fellow immigrants of color in an ongoing photographic project. Applying a maximalist aesthetic, he documents their temporary U.S. homes, incorporating imagery from their journeys to recreate their domestic spaces while integrating glimpses of joy and strength.
The film follows Xu’s creative process during visits to Iowa and Ohio. Collaborating with others, Xu explores themes of culture, motivation, sexuality, gender, nationality, and immigration status. He gives a talk at a university, advocating for art as a medium to address issues faced by queer immigrants. Xu’s work and the community’s pursuit of tolerance are counter to the xenophobia, racism, and transphobic policies present in the region, but the idea of returning home is complicated for Xu and others.
After an intensive creative process, Xu returns to Chicago and prepares his work for an exhibition in New York, remaining committed to strengthening support for queer immigrant communities.
