Stanford alumni and students at True/False
True/False have released their 2023 program and the feature-length lineup includes the world premiere of alumna Leslie Tai's (MFA '11) How to Have an American Baby:
Maternity hotels across Southern California house expecting Chinese mothers who have traveled to the U.S. on birthing vacations…in order to give birth and obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. In How to Have an American Baby, director Leslie Tai creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of this shadow economy, tracing the line from Beijing and Shanghai to Los Angeles. These women spend months in America preparing for birth, oftentimes making significant sacrifices such as living alone in a foreign country where they are unable to speak the language. Tai weaves together observational footage of the women’s lives as well as the industry surrounding them to demonstrate the complexity and restrictions of borders as families seek a better life for their children.
How to Have an American Baby is co-produced and co-edited by another alumna of our program, Elivia Shaw (MFA '16).
The shorts lineup includes the U.S. premiere of Alpha Kings by current second-year MFA students Faye Tsakas and Enrique Pedraza Botero:
Through intimate, observational moments, Alpha Kings follows a group of young men seeking quick wealth on OnlyFans.
