Penn’s Graduate School of Education may not be the most obvious place to spot a prize-winning filmmaker, but that is exactly where you’ll find Li Jiang. Her 13-minute VR documentary, Dreams of Blindness, about the inner worlds of the visually impaired, recently screened at and was celebrated by the 2026 Beijing International Film Festival, earning the Best Immersive Narrative award.
“I was so surprised to get the award,” said Jiang, a Learning Sciences and Technologies master’s student from Hangzhou, China. “I’m so happy and excited.”
As busy as she is with her studies at Penn GSE—she will graduate in December—she was unable to go to Beijing to accept her prize in person. Luckily, the film has been selected for several additional upcoming festivals in Philadelphia, Italy, and beyond, so she will still have many opportunities watch it with festival audiences in person.
Dreams of Blindness, which Jiang made last year as part of a documentary production class in China, is her first film as a director, but not her first time working on a film—or even being selected for a major international film festival. She began her career in front of the camera, as an actor, starring in 2018’s Vanishing Days, which screened over 30 international film festivals, including the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, the 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival, and the 23rd Busan International Film Festival.
“That was the starting point of my arts journey,” said Jiang. “I was in middle school and my teacher recognized my passion for performance and recommended me to his son, a director, who invited me to be the main actress in his film. Three years later, I received word that that film was selected for these really famous international festivals.”
Dreams of Blindness, however, is a documentary, inspired by Jiang’s interest in the dreamlife of the visually impaired, featuring five stories drawn from more than 20 interviews with visually impaired participants. Jiang told these stories (in Mandarin with English subtitles) through immersive sound and VR environments, bolstered with AI-generated content—all technologies she had to learn how to create from scratch.
“I did not have any VR background before, but I could still make a really good VR film,” she said.
Though she made Dreams of Blindness before coming to Penn GSE, learning the technologies she needed to invite viewers into the shared dreamscape of her film was, she realizes now, the first steps towards her current path, amplifying more voices through technology.
“I don't think I really have an aspiration to be a famous director in the future,” she said. “I just want to try to use different technology to connect people creatively.”
At Penn GSE, she is doing so as a member of the AI in Education (AIED) Lab and a graduate assistant in the School’s VR Lab, and she is looking forward to supporting more creative inquiry and expression through technology.
Her project has moved beyond the screen and now includes a participatory “dream book” that invites audiences to draw and reflect on their own dreams after screenings. The many pages of illustrations, improvised poems, and written reflections include surreal imagery, depictions of items from nature, and even personal family stories. Jiang thinks that, taken alongside the film, the book fosters a deep dialogue about what it means to be human.
“I really see the educational potential of my project,” she said. “I really think maybe it could create a ‘third space’—an informal educational setting—that could invite the public to think deeper and more creatively.”
For more on Jiang and her film: www.lijiangarts.com/dreams-of-blindness
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