Tough

4/3/2026

Filmmaker Jennifer Zheng was brought up in Belfast with English as her first language. Here she embarks on an animation-supported conversation with her mum about just how they both arrived at their current situation. The elder lady recalls how, at four years old, the cultural revolution in China saw her parents sent to re-education camps and them brought up in a Communist regime about which she has fairly fond memories. Moving to the UK opened up quite a few gaps between mother and daughter, not least linguistically as Jennifer speaks very little Chinese and her parent not much more English. Using a slew of fairly identifiable, colourful and often quite striking artwork, we follow their journey from Chairman Mao to British suburbia whilst the continuing narration explores, exposes and trie