In 2020, as Jiang Xiaoxuan, a ’22 alumna of the Interactive Media Arts Low Residency (IMA Low Res) Master’s Program, was traveling to a friend’s home in Inner Mongolia, she came across the carcass of a horse. As she captured the scene with her camera, she realized it was a female horse that had died of a miscarriage, beside her a lifeless fetus frozen stiff on the ground.
That poignant image became the inspiration for Xiaoxuan’s short film, the award-winning Graveyard of Horses, released in 2022—a story that explores the relationship between femininity, animals, nature, and mysticism.
Two years after releasing Graveyard of Horses, Xiaoxuan presented her first feature film, To Kill a Mongolian Horse, at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. The film’s world premiere received a five-minute standing ovation and earned Xiaoxuan the prestigious Authors Under 40 Award for Best Directing and Screenwriting at Venice.
Born and raised in Inner Mongolia, Xiaoxuan’s two greatest passions as a child were writing and horseback riding. After her undergraduate years at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, she began merging these interests—starting with short films and documentaries about horses. Over the years, this passion led her onto a career path as an award-winning director.
From the outside, her profession might seem glamorous, her career path a seamless journey. But the reality was far from easy. Along the way, Xiaoxuan encountered hardships, self-doubt, and moments of uncertainty. Like many young professionals starting out, she grappled with finding her path and rediscovering her purpose.
What led you to enroll in the IMA Low Res Master’s program jointly offered by NYU Shanghai & NYU Tisch? What was your experience like?
When I graduated from Tisch in 2020, I was job-hunting at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. New York was in lockdown, and I couldn’t even finish my thesis project as planned.
I didn’t want to stay in New York for another few meaningless months, confined to my room, waiting for a job that didn’t excite me. So I decided to return home to Inner Mongolia—to seek inspiration for my thesis and rediscover something new. It turned out to be the right decision. While filming a short documentary project there, I encountered the scene that later inspired Graveyard of Horses.
That experience changed my perception of filmmaking, making me rethink what kind of master’s program I wanted. I needed something that built on my undergraduate studies but also gave me the flexibility to work on my own projects while being part of a supportive cohort. That’s when I discovered the IMA program, which had just launched a year prior. I became part of its second cohort.
Many of my classmates came from different backgrounds, but we all shared a common drive: to explore something new through IMA. Looking back, I think the program was structured in a very logical way. It introduced us to a broad range of interactive technologies through research-based projects. Our instructors provided only the fundamentals—we had to choose our tools, learn on our own, and execute projects through self-directed research. That training taught me an important lesson: even the most complex subjects can be understood if you’re willing to invest the time and effort.
To complete those projects, I did a lot of research and self-learning, which was valuable to me. I believe the program was not about teaching us how to use a tool or how to set up an interactive device—those things can be easily learned from online resources nowadays—but rather about understanding the relationship between advanced technology and its users, conducting cross-disciplinary research, and designing projects in interactive and meaningful ways. IMA didn’t suddenly turn me into someone who incorporates high-tech elements into films, instead, it had a gradual and subtle influence on my understanding of technology and interaction, which I believe is an essential skill in today’s ever-changing world.
Was it a smooth journey to becoming a director?
In 2020, as I was graduating from Tisch, I applied for at least 20 jobs and got a few callbacks. But all the available positions were low-paying, entry-level jobs that would lead to nowhere. That was far from what I wanted. I wanted to not only stay in the film industry, but also to take on an active, creative role. So, I stopped and chose to focus on my own documentary and later enrolled in IMA.
The same thing happened when I graduated from IMA. Watching my classmates job-hunt, feeling the societal pressure to secure a position, I naturally joined in. I even received an offer to work as an exhibition planner for a Beijing-based company. But just before signing the contract, I asked myself: Was this what I truly wanted? How about those films in my mind that will never get made?
At that moment, I realized I had something I cannot step away from. I desperately needed to create something of my own. Luckily, that was when my short film finally started to gain recognition. It was first selected for Tallinn Black Night Film Festival’s international shorts competition, and later it went on to win at many other festivals such as the NETPAC Award at the Busan International Short Film Festival. Those wins at that time was the sign for me that I was on the right path. I didn’t have a clear roadmap, but I felt for the first time that maybe I could actually be a film director.
Looking back, I see my journey as a chain reaction—one thing led to another, and eventually, I ended up doing what I truly wanted. At every moment of doubt, something—a piece of good news, a new inspiration—pushed me forward. In that sense, perhaps it was a smooth journey.
Do you have any advice for young people aspiring to enter the film industry?
Filmmaking isn’t something you can fully grasp by just taking courses—you have to get your hands dirty.
I realized this fully after graduation when I was shooting my short documentary in Inner Mongolia. Despite studying film for years, I found myself struggling anew when I am on set trying to figure out what is going to be the storyline of the short doc.
Another piece of advice: treat university like a library. Don’t confine yourself to your major, but explore everything that interests you. Take courses outside your field, read widely, absorb as much as you can, and try to learn from the people around you.
Because in the end, film is just a medium—it has to be about something. You have to tell a story. And the ultimate question is: What story do you want to tell?