Interview with Jordan Robert Schulz
Director of Chrysalis – Cannes Film Festival
What was your first emotional reaction when you discovered Daniel Winn’s story?
What stayed with me most was the relationship between Daniel and his grandmother. Beneath the larger backdrop of the war in Vietnam and immigration, it felt deeply personal and human. My grandmother played a major role in raising me and my sister during some of our formative childhood years, so I immediately connected to the idea of a grandmother becoming an emotional anchor in a child’s life. That emotional perspective is what pulled me into the story.
Why did you feel this story needed to be told now?
Because I think we are living in a moment where many people are questioning what “home” really means. Immigration stories are often reduced to politics or survival, but this story is really about memory, family, displacement, and the emotional cost of reinvention. Those feelings are timeless. I also felt there was something important about telling this story through a Vietnamese perspective with intimacy and restraint rather than spectacle.
Chrysalis deals heavily with trauma and healing. How did you balance darkness with hope?
I never wanted the film to feel cynical or emotionally exploitative. Even during painful periods of life, people still search for connection, beauty, humor, and love. That felt honest to me. The hope in the film comes largely through Ba Noi and the innocence of childhood. Children continue dreaming and loving even when surrounded by instability. That emotional resilience became a guiding principle for the film.
The film presents art as a form of survival. What message do you hope audiences take from that idea?
I believe art can preserve parts of ourselves that might otherwise disappear. For Daniel, creativity becomes a way of processing grief, memory, guilt, and identity. It gives shape to emotions that are difficult to articulate. I hope audiences walk away understanding that art is not always about recognition or success. Sometimes it is simply about survival. About trying to understand yourself and hold onto the people and memories that shaped you.
How important was authenticity in recreating 1970s Vietnam?
Authenticity was essential to every part of the process. We filmed on location in Vietnam with a predominantly Vietnamese cast and crew, and many creative decisions came from conversations with people who lived through that period or carried memories passed down through family. We wanted the world to feel lived in and emotionally truthful, not like a stylized Hollywood version of Vietnam. The goal was always to approach the story with honesty, care, and respect for the people connected to that history.
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