An in-depth conversation with filmmaker and artist Lei Lei, whose distinctive practice brings together animation, experimental cinema, music, and video installation. Working between China and the United States, Lei Lei experiments with both analogue and digital techniques through drawing, collage, and found footage. Constantly reinventing his methods, he creates multilayered works that challenge conventional approaches to animation and storytelling. His films move between personal and collective histories, weaving family memories and Chinese history into unexpected and always playful forms. Since Recycled (2013), for which Lei Lei scanned thousands of 35mm negatives found in a landfill to create a cinematic collage, archival research and found footage have become central to his artistic practice. Images found in private and public archives take on new meanings through juxtaposition and experimentation, in a constant play with reality and fiction. 

This conversation is moderated by Kong Rithdee, film critic and executive member of the Thai Film Foundation.

This Filmmaker Talk accompanies a screening of Vertigo Garden (2026). For tickets to the film screening, click here.