Screen/Society - "Drifting" (Lei He [MFA '27], 2026) + Q&A

Special screening and discussion of Duke MFA|EDA student Lei He's award-winning short film:

"Drifting"
(Lei He [MFA '27], 2026, 26 min, USA, B&W, DCP)

-- Winner of the Gold Prize in the Alternative/Experimental category at the 53rd Student Academy Awards; eligible for consideration at the 99th Academy Awards in March 2027

A miner and his sheep drift through the coal-mining landscapes of northern China. Blending observational documentary with poetic cinematic language, DRIFTING unfolds across three intertwined temporalities: geological time embedded in coal and mountains, bodily time shaped by labor and breath, and more-than-human time shared by humans, animals, and the landscape. Moving between reality and dreams, the film reflects on endurance, coexistence, and the different ways life inhabits time.

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About the filmmaker:

Lei He is a documentary filmmaker and a student in Duke University's MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts program.

Grounded in journalism, her work explores social realities, labor, time, and loneliness, with particular attention to people and communities often overlooked or unheard. Her projects span the lives of coal miners and fishermen, as well as the production of Buddhist statues, examining dignity and the relationships between people, their work, and their environments.

Through observational documentary, visual experimentation, and poetic storytelling, she explores the intersection of social issues and cinematic language, expanding the possibilities of nonfiction filmmaking.