Last Ship East

Synopsis

As World War II looms, 8-year-old Hannah and her parents flee the Nazis, embarking on a Japanese luxury liner bound for Shanghai. Despite losing everything, Hannah sees the voyage as a thrilling adventure. Her friendship with Emiko, a Japanese girl on board, blossoms amidst their shared innocence and curiosity. 

Amidst playful days on the ship, tragedy strikes when Hannah trades her family’s Kiddush cup with Emiko for a cherished Japanese toy. As Passover approaches, a painful reality is unveiled – Emiko’s family turned in the cup to the Nazi authorities and reports their smuggling, leading to a raid and Hannah’s family losing their few possessions. 

Isolated and heartbroken, Hannah witnesses the depths of prejudice as the Nazi officer callously reinforces her inferior place as a Jew. The Seder, now incomplete without the cup, becomes a poignant lesson in resilience and parallels the Exodus story. 

In a quiet moment of despair, Hannah transforms the toy into an Elijah’s cup, yearning for a sense of home. The ocean’s vastness reflects her longing for belonging amid the harsh realities of displacement, forging a haunting yet resilient narrative of loss, betrayal, and the enduring hope for redemption amidst adversity. 

About the Director

Eris Qian is a writer/director/producer based in New York City and considers herself a global nomad. Born and raised in China, she leverages her diasporic experience to tell stories about women who defy the norms in finding their place in the world. And her background in documentary feeds into the grounded world-building in her narrative work. Eris’s debut short film MOTHER TONGUE premiered at CAAMFest and screened at 15 prestigious festivals globally. Her first feature PULLING SEEDLINGS was selected for Sundance x Women In Film Financing Strategy Intensive and the Mubi Wscripted Cannes Screenplay List. Her upcoming short LAST SHIP EAST won screenplay awards at LA Shorts and HollyShorts. Eris is also a member of BAFTA Newcomers and the Stars Collective. As a natural multi-hyphenate, Eris holds MBA/MFA dual degrees from NYU’s Stern and Tisch. 

Artist Statement

When the Japanese military broke into Nanjing and massacred 300,000 innocent civilians, my grandmother was a six-year-old girl. She and her father fled the city, traveled across half of China to Hong Kong en route from Wuhan, and boarded a steamship that eventually docked in the only sanctuary during the Japanese invasion – Shanghai. 

Apart from Chinese citizens like my grandmother, my hometown Shanghai also provided sanctuary to 20,000 Holocaust refugees. Between 1938 and 1940, Japanese and Italian cruises carried them across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and arrived at the free port in the East.  

LAST SHIP EAST brings light to this unique aspect of the Holocaust history in which I see significant connections between the Jewish refugees’ experience and my grandmother’s. It follows two little girls, one Jewish, one Japanese, who befriend each other on board a luxury cruise liner leaving Nazi Germany for Shanghai. Their radiant bubble of childhood innocence comes up against the harsh reality of war.