About

Jo Li is an artist, filmmaker, and writer based in Charlottesville, Virginia pursuing a degree in Studio Art and English at the University of Virginia. Whether personal or fictive, Li finds herself searching for the threads that connect us to one another across places, generations, and memories. Her work in film is an ongoing dialogue between the visible and invisible forces that shape identity—our inheritance, our choices, and the spaces we inhabit. Through narrative and form, she returns to the question: how do we make sense of the stories we carry? Her approach is always considering the relationships between the camera, gaze, and power—how visual framing reinforces dynamics of vulnerability and agency. Through camera movements, blocking, and mise-en-scène, Li invites the audience to engage intimately with relationship dynamics. At the heart of her work, Li aims to capture the trials of diaspora, navigating the interplay between tradition and modernity, kinship and displacement, both in communities and within individuals.