LA SHORTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! Heartbreak often shows up long before the goodbye, and that’s exactly where director Lisa Ranran Hu takes us in Heading to the East.
Jinna (Michelle Jones Lee) can’t find the map. She and her partner, Alex (Arnold Setiadi), pull out of the parking lot and head to the desert east of Los Angeles. The map leads them back to the oasis where they first fell in love. It’s their last night together, as Alex heads on a long trip the following day.
As the drive begins, we already notice their relationship has been cold for some time. The problem is that only Jinna knows it. This trip has meaning, as Jinna brings her camera. Alex asks why she only takes pictures of things by the lake, like a fishing pole, instead of the lake itself.
Jinna and Alex share a quiet, fireside moment together in Heading to the East.
“The map leads them back to the oasis where they first fell in love.”
When they finally reach the spot, the oasis is gone. The ground is cracked and dry. Is this a sign of things to come?
Heading to the East is a deeply emotional story about a relationship fading away. Yet, rather than watching it slowly unravel, we sort of know right from the start, and there are glimmers of hope for our pair, but ultimately they prove fleeting.
Filmmaker Lisa Ranran Hu beautifully conveys so much emotion in Heading to the East, without the aid of a single piece of dialogue, from Jinna watching a young woman send off her man in a rideshare to Jinna arriving at the desert just as a moment is about to occur, only to have Alex look at his phone. Lee and Setiadi deliver great performances under Hu’s deliberate direction.
Heading to the East screened at the 2026 LA Shorts International Film Festival.
"…Heartbreak often shows up long before the goodbye…"
