Calexico
is a short film set in a california border town about a tough goodbye among two drifted souls. it was written and directed by jingwen felix qiang and serves as the proof of concept for the calexico feature. it is an official selection of the 2026 warsaw film festival.
14min / mexico, usa / english, spanish, cantonese / drama
logline
a tough goodbye on the border.
synopsis
twenty-eight-year-old ash, a chinese american and rebellious aspiring artist, flees her family’s expectations. she finds herself in calexico, a california border town, where she forms a close bond with lo, a mexican student who crosses the border to deliver flowers to her uncle’s flower shop in the united states. both are caught in limbo—adrift in a foreign country, they must confront social pressures, family expectations, and questions of identity. on their last day together, they are forced to define their relationship.
it is jingwen's first short film.
the filmmaker
Jingwen Felix Qiang
jingwen felix qiang (she/they) is a made-in-china, new york–based screenwriter and director with a background in photography and a 10+ year career in software engineering. a graduate of bryn mawr college and the university of pennsylvania, she explores human emotions and relationships across cultures and languages.
her first short film, calexico, is a proof of concept for her feature of the same name. it received fiscal sponsorship from film independent and is an official selection of the 2026 warsaw film festival. admitted with highest distinction to columbia university’s film mfa program, she is now deepening her practice as a writer and director.
To request a screener:
Please reach out to Yishu and Jingwen.
Calexico is being developed into a feature film
for feature development inquiries, contact jingwen at jingwen@mermaid.works
