(gentle music)
- I'll just say, to be totally honest,
I would not be at this table if it wasn't for
our small, independent studio,
'cause we got an offer at Sundance from A24,
and also got a much larger double offer
from a large streaming platform.
One thing we sometimes don't talk about
with some of these bigger streaming platforms is that
it's a different business model, it's not necessarily
about making money back, it's about brand.
They're building their brand, and when you're
an established filmmaker, you are a brand
that they want to partner with to help
build their own brand.
But with newer filmmakers, newer voices,
you don't have a brand, you need to build that brand.
And I know now, 'cause our film has been
in the theaters for four months.
For a film that's 75, 80% in Mandarin subtitled,
but is an American film (laughing)
To even, first of all, get that finance,
but then to have that play as an American film,
100% Asian, Asian-American cast,
to be seen as an American story and play in theaters
for four months, and then for me to be at this table,
I know for a fact that if I took that bigger,
the bigger money, that they wouldn't have the energy
to put behind someone like me, to build my brand.
- For so long, there was a sense from the studios that
it had to be, we're making films for a male audience.
Is that changing? - (laughing) Sorry.
- I mean, what's Hollywood, right?
(overlapping chatter)
It's different filmmakers.
If you have women tell our own stories, then it's changing,
'cause it's our perspective.
The way, and we were talking about this that
when people always ask, "what does it feel like
"to be a female director?"
It's like, I've never been anything else in my life.
I can't compare the two, I can't be like,
so, it's just a different perspective.
(gentle music)
- How complicated was it to shoot in China?
- It's funny, 'cause the film is about cultural differences,
and then there were culture differences on set.
The way that people talk to each other,
the hierarchy is different.
Getting to set, people also didn't call me by my name,
they just called me Director,
and you had to get used to that.
It's very strange, 'cause then we shot in New York
and I came back, and they were like, "what do you need,
"Lulu, what," like (laughing)
And they're just like, "Director, what can we get
"the director," and I had to learn a different language
because sometimes, my DP and I would be saying,
we'd just be talking to each other, and we'd say,
"I don't know, I love the shot, but that tree is not great,
"so should we move," and we're like,
"let's think about that."
We turn around, and we turn back around,
and somebody would be chopping down the tree.
And we were like, "what are you,"
they were like, "oh, well someone's heard you
"saying that"-- - That's right.
- And you're like, "but I didn't mean for"--
(laughing) Okay, well it's gone now, so let's get the shot.
And I had to be careful from that point on of what to say.
(gentle music)
What I love about productions, it is an act of faith.
Every day you show up on set, is it gonna rain,
is it gonna, what's gonna happen?
And then, if you know what you wanna say,
if the circumstances aren't what you expect,
you have to change what you were expecting,
and you have to make the best out of that situation.
And so many times,
when I look back in seeing the final film,
I think, "oh my gosh, this worked out so much better
"than what I could've planned."
For example, I shot in China at my grandfather's grave.
My grandfather died right after I left China,
I was six, I never saw him again.
And every time I went back, it was just to visit his grave.
And we shot a scene in the cemetery, and we
couldn't get permission to shoot at anyone else's grave,
so I said, "let's shoot at my grandfather's grave."
So we were there.
And we were tech scouting.
And storm clouds are coming in, and I stepped away,
and I saw that people, my producers, and this whole crew
standing around my grandfather's grave.
And he always wanted to be a writer
and never got to be one, and he passed away very young.
And so, being there in that moment
of all these non-Chinese people who've never been
to China before are now at my grandfather's grave,
feel that electricity.
That's why I'm a filmmaker.
Is it fiction, is it autobiographical?
It kind of blends, and it's just magical.
(gentle music)