Movie poster for 'My Dear', directed by Aragon Yao, featuring a person standing near water with a lantern, against a mountainous, cloudy sky.

Aragon Yao

A young man with short black hair, wearing a red plaid button-up shirt, standing with arms crossed against a plain gray background.

My Dear,

My Dear, is a self-reflective documentary about the will of a young Chinese director to express his own sexual identity in Europe.

A quiet sense of impending change threads together scenes from director Aragon Yao’s own life. Calls from his parents in China inquiring after his marital status blend with calls from his boyfriend asking about his job prospects, each underscoring the reality that the student visa that brought him to Europe will soon end. With time running out, Yao faces tough questions about his relationship with his family, culture, and his sense of self. Seeking release, he turns to drag. Shifting between observational footage, paper puppetry, and poetic symbolism, Yao explores expressions of sexual identity in this essay about queerness, immigration, and performance.

July 11, 2025
1-2:30 PM

Court Square Theater
44-02 23rd St, Long Island City

A Shanghai Film Academy graduate in Film & TV Art and Technology, Aragon Yao began his career as a cinematographer, colorist, and editor. After crewing on Mauro Andrizzi’s A Shanghai Bride, he left China to pursue a Doc Nomads Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Documentary Filmmaking. My Dear, is his first film and premiered at the 65th San Francisco Film Festival.

Close-up of a person's face showing the left eye, nose, and part of the forehead. The skin appears smooth and slightly shiny.
A person stands on a beach at night, holding a lantern that illuminates their face and hand. The scene is framed by trees on either side, with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.
A young man in a white t-shirt standing by an open window, looking out at a blue evening sky over rooftops with flowers in the foreground.