Profile:
I have always had a strong interest in different art forms, and film is the art I am most fascinated with. After studying illustration and design at the Maryland Institute of Art, I decided to go on to study film at NYU. While studying at the Maryland Institute of Art, studying painting and art history helped me better understand the development of the image. Studying film at NYU not only helped me improve my filmmaking skills, but also allowed me to find the subject I wanted to express. I am pretty sure that I will make film a lifelong career, and I hope that through film I can speak for ordinary people, criticize society, and explore new film languages.
Question 1:
Ma’am Xiaoyi is a very hard-hitting film about domestic abuse. It’s a difficult subject to tackle in a film and you have made a moving and emotionally powerful film about the subject. What made you want to make a film about this topic?
Answer:
Ma’am Xiaoyi is adapted from my own real experience. I hope to express the tragedy of Qiqi's lack of love from her mother and her childhood trauma being healed by presenting the unrelated love between Auntie and Qiqi.
Question 2:
Is it difficult to deal with child actors when making a film like this? How did you deal with the young performer when tackling very adult themes in the film?
Answer:
Children's comprehension is no worse than that of adults, and I am more straightforward to tell her stories. I used an analogy to get her to put similar situations in her life into the play, and let the actors interact more to generate natural emotional responses.
Question 3:
Ma’am Xiaoyi’s director, Yu Mengfei, studied design in Baltimore and film in New York. What do film and art students gain from studying outside of their home country?
Answer:
I am a native of Beijing, and my family has no experience of overseas study, so I have been exposed to great cultural differences after coming to the United States.
Studying film at NYU is relatively free. There are no major division at the undergraduate level. I can choose the courses I am interested in, which allows me to slowly find the direction of the director I love.
Question 4:
What kinds of differences have you noticed in the independent film scene of China and that of the USA? Are there differences in techniques, attitudes and ideas? What do you think draws Indie film-makers worldwide together?
Answer:
Independent films give filmmakers a great opportunity to create their own style of film.
In the process of communicating with different filmmakers, we can find like-minded people and form a team to create films, which makes the whole creative process more emotional.
China now has more venture capital fairs or independent film festivals to give young directors opportunities, but China's film industry has not yet reached top level, and our generation of young filmmakers still has a long way to go.
Question 5:
You have specifcally mentioned that you wish to explore “social minority or the middle and low classes” in your film work. What kinds of films do you hope to make in the future? Are you working on any projects now?
Answer:
At the beginning of my career, I don't want to limit myself, but no matter what style of film it is. I am more concerned about how to speak up for ordinary people, how to film the lives of ordinary people, and how to fight for the rights and voices of those minority groups. I am currently writing the script for the next short film, and I want to create a story with the quarantine as the background.
Interviewed by: David James Bell
Edited by: Lisa TAO
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