Baby Don't Cry premiered during Fantasia Film Festival

Jesse Dvorak directs a script by actress and filmmaker Zita Bai,. The film made its world premiere during the Fantasia Film Festival this month.

Baby, Don’t Cry, follows the character Baby played by actress Zita Bai, a 17-year-old Chinese immigrant who dreams of one day becoming a filmmaker and moving to Los Angeles. However, life is all too real for the young teenager on the cusp of adulthood.

When she is not in school, she is taking care of her abusive mother. Both are dealing with grief after the death of Baby’s father, a death that lingers heavily as both try to cope with life without him. Baby’s mother lingers around in a state of grief and lashes out every now and then. Baby’s grief manifests in other ways, with a fixation on dead things as well as finding new ways to capture the life as she sees it around her.

One day, however, she meets a 20-year-old bad boy named Fox, who pushes Baby down a path that no one could have foreseen. A tale of toxic love, self-discovery, and more awaits viewers in this film.

Through Baby’s eyes, viewers can see the isolation she endures from all around her. She endures subtle and non-subtle racism and abuse from the people outside her home. School is no escape and neither is work.

Once she gets back home to her mother, it’s no sense of protection, mostly just uncertainty. It makes it all the more understanding when Baby falls in love with Fox, a 20-year-old man that all but screams no good. But with no one to guide her and think about her well being, Baby’s path makes complete sense given all of the different stressors she endures.