Michael Cong: Windy Days
The experimental short film confronts the racism and economic struggles the Asian community faced during the pandemic.
Windy Days still, courtesy of Michael Cong
COVID-19 was a difficult time for everyone. However, it especially took a toll on the Asian community. Michael Cong’s short film Windy Days portrays the daily life of people in the Asian community and how they faced racism, economic struggles in their businesses, and misinformation. And these issues were near and dear to Cong. In this unscripted film, characters go through a turbulent time of loneliness, isolation, and victimization similar to that of Cong’s friends and family. It doesn’t follow a sequential storyline but follows the natural lives of two characters living in New York City during the pandemic.
The film was achieved by their actor and production designer, Yutong, to live in Manhattan’s Chinatown temporarily. Yutong stayed at the apartment for a week before filming. However, this temporary stay turned into a much more personal venture.
“During her stay, she developed a unique daily routine closely tied to the space, which ultimately became our documented material,” Cong says. “Playing the role of Leo was my dear friend Arthur, a filmmaker who had recently relocated to New York. We spent countless afternoons strolling through the streets of Chinatown, occasionally stumbling upon places that triggered our personal recollections, prompting us to share stories from our past experiences.”
Most of Windy Days was filmed in one take. Cong wanted each event in the film to unfold naturally, as most events during the pandemic were sudden, unexpected, and realistic, with unpredictable outcomes.
“During filming, we revisited these locations, not to replicate the exact scenarios but to reconnect with those fragments of our memories within the present context,” he says. “The resulting shots resemble fragments of memories, their connection to each other not governed by logic but deeply rooted in emotion. It's challenging to express in words, but something profound occurred behind the camera—something that compelled me to hit the record button and preserve this moment.”
Aside from isolation and loneliness, the COVID-19 pandemic also meant dealing with grief, financial instability, lack of assurance and security, burnout, and forgetting how to socialize. Throughout the making of the film, they constantly turned the camera on and off to rely on their intuitions rather than overthink the film.
The Thai film Mysterious Object at Noon inspired Cong. Despite dozing off during certain scenes, his conscience reacted differently.
“I began to dream about that boy's house, the wooden furniture, the curtains swaying in the wind, and the sunlight streaming in,” Cong says. “Gradually, the image of the boy's house started blending with my own childhood memories of the house I grew up in. Several months later, I revisited that film and managed to stay awake this time. However, my mind kept wandering away from the on-screen story, and I found myself thinking about the people in my life who the characters in the film reminded me of. My hope is that Windy Days can achieve a similar effect on its audience. I want the film to trigger memories of their loved ones, to remind them of what it's like to love someone deeply or too long for someone who is dearly missed.”
