She received her PhD in Cinema and Media Studies from UCLA, and her research interests include affect, gender, and contemporary film. Her recent scholarship appears in Journal of Chinese Cinemas and Celebrity Studies journal, with forthcoming chapters in edited volumes on Asian cinemas. As a narrative filmmaker, Zuo examines the serious and violent consumption of gendered and racialized bodies. Her short film Carnal Orient (2016) was an official selection in a dozen international film festivals and has exhibited nationally and internationally in theaters, galleries, and university classes.