Tribeca Film Festival: The Beauty of Passing Things: Ephemera Director, Shan Jiang, on the Fleeting Moments That Shape Us
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
Premiering at the 2026 Tribeca Festival, Ephemera marks a striking feature from writer-director Shan Jiang, who crafts an intimate portrait of the fleeting moments that can alter the course of one's life. Set in post-pandemic Shanghai, the film follows 23-year-old Asher, who is preparing to leave the city and return to Los Angeles. On one of her final nights before departure, she asks her hip-hop dance instructor, Tori, to meet for coffee. What begins as a seemingly casual outing unfolds into a night-long journey through the city, as the two women wander Shanghai's streets, share stories, and gradually discover an unexpected emotional connection. Against the backdrop of the city's former French Concession, Jiang transforms Shanghai into more than a setting: it becomes an active participant in the story, mirroring the intense feelings that accompany the possibility of new love.
Rather than focusing on grand declarations or dramatic plot twists, Ephemera is interested in the fragile space between strangers becoming something more. As Asher and Tori grow closer, the approaching dawn serves as a constant reminder that their time together is limited, creating a poignant tension between the desire to hold onto the moment and the inevitability of letting it pass. Drawing comparisons to the romantic wanderings of Richard Linklater's Before trilogy and the atmospheric urban melancholy of Wong Kar-wai, Jiang creates a queer love story that feels at once contemporary and timeless. The film explores how brief encounters can carry profound emotional weight, asking whether the value of a relationship is determined by its duration or by the depth of feeling it inspires. Ephemera ultimately becomes a meditation on transience itself, the different elements that enter our lives for only an instant, yet leave a lasting imprint long after they have disappeared.
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
The title Ephemera suggests objects are temporary yet deeply meaningful, what drew you to the idea of impermanence and why did you feel like it was important to build an entire film around a relationship that only exists in such a limited time frame?
Its really interesting, by the time we were developing the film, Shanghai as a city was still in the long shadow of the 2020 long lockdown, so at the time the familiarity is kind of in the air, especially among younger people. Ive always felt that way, because I live this kind of split life between China and the US, and going back and staying there and any sort of relationships felt temporary to me. But there's always the lure of the potential of something meaningful and joyful- so those two elements together I think is the film.
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
What do you hope audiences carry with them as the film ends, especially those who have maybe experienced a connection that was meaningful because it was temporary?
The ending song of the film is called "some things linger, some things fade', its by my super talented friend, who's artist name is Lightning Bug; she watched the film and wrote the song. And I couldn't put it better, that should be the takeaway.
If Ephemera is ultimately a film about the moments we cannot hold onto, what is one fleeting memory from your own life that you feel continues the influence the way you see the world and the way you make your art?
Oooh, this is hard. I would say just the making of the film because we really had the best summer ever. And, this is obviously something I will keep reminiscing about, but it is by nature fleeting, as its over.
Article by Emma Green, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Daniel López, Art Director, PhotoBook Magazine
*Images Courtesy of Ephemera + Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
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