November 12, 2020

The experiences of childhood and youth unfold in small moments. This collection of animated shorts in our program Small Moments, reflect the tense & tender, lonely & liberating, and embarrassing & empowering moments that shape our intimate selves and family relationships.  Some of the filmmakers from this program chatted with us about their films, their artistic roots, and their dreams. Yuan Yuan and the Hollow Monster Director: Catherine Chen Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. C. Chen: childhood, turtle, hurricane, redemption, surreal, heroic, cute Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? C. Chen: My favorite part is working on this with my close team, especially towards Post-Production when it became more collaborative. I met with my sound designer Alesia Williams and composers Aki Cao and Emiliano Mazzenga for months during post-production. We didn’t have the equipment necessary for the best work due to quarantine, but that didn’t faze us! The challenge was that I was trying to learn storytelling while making the film. So I spent most of my time in pre-production— storyboarding, writing, and development. I was adamant about getting better at it and as a result, production was squeezed into 4 months. I was able to complete the film because my team did a lot of the heavy lifting. During production, my animator Yuyuan Chen helped animate eight character acting shots, despite all of her class assignments. My mom, Donghui Shi learned watercolor painting specifically to help create the foundation for many backgrounds I needed and even recruited help from her friends. My sister Rosaline Chen, who was 9 at the time, voiced the main character and brought along her friend Raina as well. And a shout out to right-hand man, editor Diego Yanez, who spent tens of hours every week to make this project happen. That is 10 months of the entire year! Put simply, this film would not be complete without him. What do you hope to see in the future for the film industry? How do you see yourself and your work playing a role in this future? C. Chen: I hope to see the film industry completely changed, where people of every race and ethnicity are satisfied with their representation on screen. An industry like this would create an educated populace and humbling culture… where one day, our voice is no longer limited by our skin. Before this, I wanted to be one of the forerunners of Chinese American representation and voices in the entertainment industry. But I am not. And I see that many other minority Americans (Asian, Black, Hispanic, etc) have paved the way before me. Because of that, I can create freely by being myself, finding my voice, and not be limited by what is “Asian American”. I recognize that I am already standing on the shoulders of giants. But I will continue to push mainstream culture into a more inclusive direction. I will keep creating animation and stories that are authentic to me. By honing on my craft and uncovering my voice, I hope to break stereotypes and show that Asian Americans are not limited in the kind of stories that we tell. What’s next for you? C. Chen: I’m trying to make it as a writer for film and animation. I specialize in writing surreal family stories focused on children. That has been my focus. I’m also storyboarding a new 1-minute short film segment for the Yuan Yuan brand. The goal is to make it better than Yuan Yuan and the Hollow Monster in every way possible. In The Shadow of the Pines Director: Anne Koizumi Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. A. Koizumi: Childhood shame of having a working class immigrant father Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? A. Koizumi: Making the sets and props was probably one of my favourite memories of making this film. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I was re-creating actual objects from my childhood memories in miniature form. That process was challenging and cathartic for me because it allowed me to grieve for my father and also my lost identity. What do you hope to see in the future for the film industry? How do you see yourself and your work playing a role in this future? A. Koizumi: I hope for a more diverse representation in film. More BIPOC filmmakers and filmmakers from marginalized communities. Film is such an expensive medium to work in and it’s expensive to go to film and animation school.It’s hard to find funding to make film which makes it so much more inaccessible to those who don’t have money or networks which then leads to stories about marginalized communities being made by those outside of those communities. We just need to be asking who’s telling this story? I want to see more films made by working class people especially if they’re about working class people. What’s next for you? A. Koizumi: I would love to make another short animated film about my mother who was a huge fan of former NHL defenseman, Paul Coffey. But this is just a seed right now and I’m not sure how much my mom wants to participate in a doc. I’m interested in the relationship between sports and immigration. The Kitchlets Director: Clarisse Chua Without spoiling anything, describe your film in 7 words or less. C. Chua: Lonely old lady and three tiny guys. Do you have a favorite memory from making this film? Were there any challenges that you had to overcome? C. Chua: My favourite memory would be figuring out what the Kitchlets sound like. I made a few popping noises and increased the pitch by a bit and voila! It was a fun moment to finally see and hear the Kitchlets. Friends would stare at