Film Rage at CIFF with Director Yuqi Kang

[00:00:13] Welcome to Film Rage at the Calgary International Film Festival.

[00:00:17] Today we are talking with a word-winning director of 7 Beats per minute and the short film

[00:00:23] Thorn, Yuqi Kang, hello Yuqi and welcome to Film Rage.

[00:00:28] Hi, thank you for having me here.

[00:00:31] We could not be more excited.

[00:00:36] Visually your film is just so beautiful, just so, so beautiful.

[00:00:41] I think people could probably just turn off the sound and just watch it for its beauty.

[00:00:47] So yes, thank you for joining us.

[00:00:49] We can't thank you enough.

[00:00:52] One of the things we like to do to keep our directors loose and free and not stressed about these interviews,

[00:00:59] because I'm sure you do a hundred million of them every day all the time.

[00:01:03] Is we do this thing called OR.

[00:01:05] So I'm going to ask you questions and all you've got to do, and you can answer it however you want with the one thing I ask you or the other.

[00:01:17] Okay, you ready?

[00:01:19] There's the first few are pretty easy.

[00:01:22] So, okay, call it, I guess I am.

[00:01:24] Yeah, coffee or tea.

[00:01:29] All right.

[00:01:30] Same mechanism for you.

[00:01:33] New York or LA.

[00:01:36] New York.

[00:01:37] Okay, oh wait.

[00:01:38] Yeah, that's also me.

[00:01:40] So okay, free diving or scuba diving.

[00:01:46] Great diving.

[00:01:48] Okay, heartbeat.

[00:01:49] All right, we're going to hear more about that in a minute.

[00:01:53] Now, being a local Calgaryen, this will definitely define where you hang out more.

[00:01:59] The Plaza or the Globe.

[00:02:04] The Globe.

[00:02:05] Okay, that's also where we hang out most times.

[00:02:08] So we'll probably see definitely a lot more there.

[00:02:11] This one, these are both, if you for listeners, if you're not aware, these are both documentary filmmakers.

[00:02:17] Render Hertzog or Wang Bing.

[00:02:23] When are Hurtock?

[00:02:24] I'm Hurtock.

[00:02:26] Yes.

[00:02:27] So did we.

[00:02:29] We have him currently is undoubted on our list of undoubted directors.

[00:02:34] So yeah, but I had just out of line with one being in the drink to.

[00:02:39] Oh, no, I just did this.

[00:02:41] He might not listen to this.

[00:02:42] He doesn't listen to us.

[00:02:44] Don't worry about it.

[00:02:44] He won't be a second.

[00:02:47] But I don't think we're going to hear Hurtock listen to his either.

[00:02:53] All right.

[00:02:55] So let's just jump right in.

[00:02:57] Where did you meet Jessie?

[00:02:58] And what drove you to make this documentary?

[00:03:02] Yes.

[00:03:03] So I am a, I'm a turf free driver.

[00:03:06] I train in pre-diving and just getting like a security of the sports to my personal

[00:03:13] instances.

[00:03:14] And as I was learning free diving, you know, like there are only like a handful of world champions around the world.

[00:03:21] And Jessie was like, like at that time the most noticeable like champion Chinese female free diving athlete.

[00:03:30] She has a huge role or in China.

[00:03:33] So I just kind of reached out her also to meet yes and then the conversation got rolling.

[00:03:39] I saw her next few days in another city.

[00:03:43] And we got connected that way.

[00:03:45] Nice.

[00:03:47] And sounds like you're pretty fast friends.

[00:03:50] Yes.

[00:03:52] I mean, once that I actually replied me over the social media, she said,

[00:03:56] hey, I'm going to be in Shanghai.

[00:03:57] I was in Beijing.

[00:03:58] I said, oh, great.

[00:03:59] I'm going to buy a train ticket and I dropped on the overnight train.

[00:04:03] And the next day I'm in Shanghai and we were going to grab a coffee.

[00:04:08] But we talked until the stores are all closed.

[00:04:11] The street are all dark.

[00:04:13] And really like, which is like, get along.

[00:04:16] I think as we close the instantly and there was something interesting for me.

[00:04:22] Like, I know I'm really excited to tell her story.

[00:04:25] Nice.

[00:04:26] So obviously this doc was a boat Jessie, but how hard was the decision to involve yourself is a kind of a subject in her story?

[00:04:36] It was a really hard event at this stage knowing like sharing the film that's also included a little my journey in there as well.

[00:04:47] But I really just realized it is necessary.

[00:04:51] My old ways that want to be a observer of somebody's life, trying to be as behind the lens as possible.

[00:05:00] But with this film, ultimately we filmed over the course of six years.

[00:05:06] And there were a lot of times just me following her by myself.

[00:05:10] And I realized that my participation filming the documentary in her life takes the courses of changes in her life.

[00:05:20] And also she influenced me in my personal lives and in my growth as well.

[00:05:25] So ultimately, I have to come to the truth and be part of her this story in seven beats.

[00:05:32] Yeah, and you kind of talk a little bit about that in the film.

[00:05:35] Like it's kind of injected in there a little bit so that people get a real.

[00:05:41] Because I imagine our people have people last year this before, has has, you know, has this sort of come up again and it's a little bit or.

[00:05:51] Definitely.

[00:05:51] I think this is like a very unique dynamic.

[00:05:56] I remember like a very good friend of my programmer for 20 years said it's like a very unique to see this kind of dynamic happening when you're filming somebody else.

[00:06:08] I mean, that can vary about somebody else usually they see this kind of dynamic in Sam's, you know, when you're making a film about your family members.

[00:06:19] And I think that's true like a Jesse and I are both single child.

[00:06:24] So we don't have brothers sisters and being in this like a wearable adult but just like sharing this kind of an extensive like, you know,

[00:06:35] lifetime together really made us become like almost like family.

[00:06:40] So I think that question comes out about a lot and this is that it's a relation why eventually I become part of the Jesse story.

[00:06:51] Yeah, and it's almost like, yeah, you didn't we're born with this sister but apparently you've got no, got a chosen one.

[00:06:59] So after seeing Thorne and seven beats a minute, I sense that family is playing a huge, huge part in your creative process.

[00:07:12] Can you tell us a little bit about that because both of them it's like it's family like it it breathes family.

[00:07:19] I think like the the the inspiration from story is really from the six years working with Jesse and reflecting on how family and the like, you know,

[00:07:34] your parents and the initial like childhood experience shapes people and that becomes something I really want to glory in my next film.

[00:07:44] That's why I at pitch to like Canadian film centers and the re wrote a script on a mother daughter dynamics.

[00:07:55] And I don't know like what's the same in my work?

[00:07:59] I just like always need to do whatever most interested at the time.

[00:08:04] So this time like I just really want to get deep with families and know with a like a, you know parent, parent children relationship.

[00:08:14] That's funny how it manifests is the horror film in the short dog.

[00:08:21] So that's well done.

[00:08:24] Yeah, I mean my dream is it's a wild dream but I want to make horror films one day just like many, many horror films that are very scary.

[00:08:35] Oh, why not do a short on a horror?

[00:08:38] You're going to be guaranteed to have us as followers for life then absolutely.

[00:08:42] Our two favorite genres well three is horror films documentaries and international film so.

[00:08:53] Wow, that's my cherry.

[00:08:55] Yeah, you know, you're not our favorite director so keep going.

[00:09:00] Okay.

[00:09:01] Thank you.

[00:09:03] So you say that you've, you've been free diving.

[00:09:06] How deep did you go?

[00:09:09] I think when I was training continuously for a period of time that the date is that when it's 32 meters.

[00:09:18] That sounds impressive to me.

[00:09:20] Yeah.

[00:09:21] Well and like obviously we saw the numbers in the film but what is now the deepest, you know, you're up to date on what, like as if this

[00:09:31] morning what is the deepest anyone has ever gone?

[00:09:35] I think like there are different, Facebook and shows like there.

[00:09:41] There are free diverse using different devices when down to 200 meters in the past but they have like a elevation kind of a device.

[00:09:53] So device takes them down and there's an air balloon taking them out.

[00:09:57] Those are extremely dangerous in the past days people start to dive so that discipline has been completely, you know,

[00:10:06] squashed from the competitive towards right now with one single breath code.

[00:10:11] I think a 132 or 33 meters is the current word record which is very, very deep.

[00:10:21] Wow.

[00:10:22] That just blows my mind actually.

[00:10:24] It just literally does.

[00:10:26] Wow.

[00:10:27] And it is, humanly into so, so hard to imagine you know they can't do that without taking any extra oxygen and so on.

[00:10:39] Wow.

[00:10:40] That's that's incredible.

[00:10:41] So obviously there's a lot of emotional feelings that go through this film as as Jesse is going through her spiritual awakening through this talk.

[00:10:51] What you know we talked a little bit about the family dynamic but what impact did it have on you and your spiritual awakening, I guess as being a participant.

[00:11:03] That's really I think, um, Jesse's experience is not a singular experience.

[00:11:10] It's very much a common amount like us, the kids grow up in my generation.

[00:11:17] You know, either verbal or physical violence as also are just how parents researches up.

[00:11:24] So before I met Jesse, I never knew those things were, or harmful for us.

[00:11:31] I never, you know, even took the chance to look at my childhood experience.

[00:11:37] So because she had that awakening through her accident, she keeps talking about and make me to think over those experiences.

[00:11:46] What has that down to me, you know, and what does that mean for my future?

[00:11:52] Do those things still impact my day-to-day life and that's really open it up another like a conversation even go back to my parents and stuff.

[00:12:03] I think that was just a gift that Jesse had to me and to many other audiences.

[00:12:11] Yeah, for sure. It does put the feels into you for sure, absolutely.

[00:12:19] So what exactly are the responsibility involved in being one safety buddy and free diving?

[00:12:27] Yes, so being Jesse is being a safety buddy for a free diving, meaning I have to guide her safely back to the water.

[00:12:39] So when Jesse told me a step she's going to go down, I need to come to the time when I'm going to meet her usually like one third of the way of her entire dive.

[00:12:53] And the defenders usually with free divers happens around the service. Like around like to 20 meters where, you know, when they body comes up the pressure starts really your long starts to open up and then that's when it's a long suddenly tells you there's no more oxygen people pass out that way.

[00:13:15] So every time I dive which Jesse had caught a little bit of her dive time, I need to grab on hold the ropes in case of any accidents, you know, there won't be vibrations.

[00:13:27] That's when, you know, if I continuously don't see her come up that have to release a counterbalance that's a weight will pull her up from deeper, you know, that's.

[00:13:38] I always dive down around 25 meters and around there at way and I will see her slowly come up and I will look into her eyes face to face just checking if she's not having any size to pass out.

[00:13:52] And then when she comes out of the water, she pan eye on the divers until they really start to awakening from the whole diving experience.

[00:14:03] Wow, yeah, there's got to be closeness there.

[00:14:06] Intense.

[00:14:08] It there are a lot of things happening during those dive.

[00:14:14] You see all kind of things going wrong or, you know, people pass out or they need a like of you

[00:14:20] resuscitated.

[00:14:21] It's very common but I think that as a job of safety diver, you really need to be there.

[00:14:32] My voice, it's not welcoming I'm yelling screaming her name. She probably wouldn't wake up.

[00:14:38] We need to be as supportive as calm in those moments of handling those like situations where the divers.

[00:14:45] Nice. The question that I was going to ask you, you kind of already asked but like,

[00:14:53] how did horror come from like, what as your first narrative film to do a horror film, you know,

[00:15:02] is it your love of horror from the past or how did you fall in love with horror, I guess.

[00:15:10] I grow up watching a lot of the,

[00:15:13] hey, you know, from films like that because in China,

[00:15:18] like a lot of free time that had internet wasn't like a big thing.

[00:15:23] So there was like a DVD shop and I just, they're like, this owner,

[00:15:29] I love horror and just keep a, you know, recommending me different horror films and I thought

[00:15:35] it's like addicted to it and my tolerance grow bigger and bigger. So that's the first thing I really love

[00:15:42] us child horror films and mostly like either Japanese, Korea and Hong Kong horror.

[00:15:52] Yes. Those are our favorites as well.

[00:15:55] What's your gateway film? Like what, what was the film that you went, oh my God, why am I not watching this?

[00:16:03] Anyway, you mean like a, like, you know, the one that really stick with me?

[00:16:10] Yeah, from your, from your early, you know, like for me, I can tell you my first horror film that I fell in love with

[00:16:17] is Donna the Dad the original and, uh, for me that like it kind of built the basis for my

[00:16:23] love of body or horror. So I'm gonna price was yours, your favorite as a kid.

[00:16:31] Mmm, yeah. I don't know.

[00:16:33] Is it Friday the 13th? You was a slasher fan.

[00:16:37] Yeah, what I was a kid. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:16:40] Yeah. But do you have one?

[00:16:41] Do you have one that was like, I was the one that you remembered loving the first time?

[00:16:47] I think like it's a rain.

[00:16:50] Okay. Yeah. And then I read the, all the like novel for 12.

[00:16:56] That was a ghost story.

[00:16:59] Our my favorite.

[00:17:01] Yeah.

[00:17:02] I'm creating and Japanese ghost stories are definitely the best.

[00:17:06] They do it right.

[00:17:06] And I guess for clarity for our listeners, when you say the rain, I'm assuming you mean ring you, not the ring

[00:17:13] as in the American version of ring you.

[00:17:16] No, no, no, no, no, no, the Japanese version.

[00:17:20] Okay, thanks.

[00:17:21] That's the correct answer right there.

[00:17:25] It really kept me like a sailway.

[00:17:29] As the, for many years having,

[00:17:31] Yes.

[00:17:33] So do you have any plans for a feature length narrative at some point?

[00:17:39] Yes.

[00:17:39] Actually I'm getting into development with my producing partner from

[00:17:47] King Kinom sum, Caldery production company.

[00:17:51] Excellent.

[00:17:52] We're going to get into development.

[00:17:54] Nice. So you've got a script, you've got plans or you even, you know what it's going to be about.

[00:17:59] I mean, obviously, you can't, obviously probably share with us, but you're ready to go.

[00:18:02] Like we're going to get this for next festival, right?

[00:18:06] Hopefully.

[00:18:08] I mean, you always start with idea how it will make the film next year and the back years later.

[00:18:13] It's not that happens.

[00:18:15] You know, six years later you've become a free diver and you're living in Hawaii.

[00:18:22] Yes, at some point I thought about it.

[00:18:24] Maybe I should become a real character going to the world.

[00:18:29] Nice.

[00:18:29] How did you get connected to NFB?

[00:18:33] On NFB, I, I, after I finished my first film, so I already connected with an NFB producer.

[00:18:42] So when I was working on this film, I really thought I could have bring this film to NFB.

[00:18:48] And that time I needed to leave as in Toronto, office and somebody brought the film to her.

[00:18:55] And she's a really groundbreaking producer.

[00:18:58] And that she really believed in the story.

[00:19:02] And it made that how she brought me into the NFB, bring this story to NFB.

[00:19:08] And yeah, well, you know, as a Canadian NFB is just it's so important to our culture, right?

[00:19:17] Like it's just, it just really is.

[00:19:19] Films that a lot of us grew up on wouldn't be there without NFB.

[00:19:24] So, we're thankful that you guys met for sure.

[00:19:27] Yeah, so I'm saying like when I first integrated into Canada, everything was new, everything was boring.

[00:19:35] And I started to watch a lot of Canadian films.

[00:19:38] And I started to notice that I ball logo in NFB.

[00:19:42] I don't know what that is, but I started to recognize, was that logo that it's always a good film?

[00:19:48] A good, like, a indie film or animation.

[00:19:52] Now I know it's NFB, but that was like my first experience, like, a recognized Canadian culture.

[00:19:58] Yeah, it's a pretty iconic logo, right?

[00:20:00] Like you think of internationally known that logo is just so cool.

[00:20:07] Yes, that's a, I love that, and that's the logo.

[00:20:12] So this one's a little bit of a tongue and cheek question.

[00:20:16] But is, is Thor in a little bit of a self portrait of you and your mom?

[00:20:21] I think as great of every film that I do, even my documentary,

[00:20:26] like my first one about a little happier old mom lives in a monastery in Nepal.

[00:20:33] It always had a something personal in me, that's why I chose the subject matter.

[00:20:38] Definitely in form.

[00:20:40] There's a lot of reflection on mother and daughters.

[00:20:44] I would say there's a lot of my understanding in mother's daughter relationship that it reflected in the film.

[00:20:49] But there's also a lot of the imaginations and the taking from all the cases studies that's going to get expanded in the future

[00:20:58] and going to a very, very crazy and wild ending.

[00:21:03] Yeah, the ending is brilliant, by the way.

[00:21:07] I thought the ending was just fantastic.

[00:21:10] Thank you.

[00:21:12] It was a really, I wrote a script into it.

[00:21:16] And I thought I wanted something a little wild.

[00:21:21] Well, failed it.

[00:21:24] So this is like it's a huge feat to have two films playing at any film festival.

[00:21:31] So we're glad that we're so heavily involved in Sift and they're coming.

[00:21:37] But are you planning on bringing three films?

[00:21:40] Are you going to do three films next year at SIF?

[00:21:44] Or is four maybe four?

[00:21:46] Can you double what you did this year?

[00:21:50] Wow, I wish.

[00:21:52] I think I'm at a place where I read it.

[00:21:56] It was a bad idea.

[00:21:57] I was last year.

[00:21:58] They truly doing so and doing something to another another documentary.

[00:22:04] I realized, you know, as a creator, you do need a space.

[00:22:08] You need to set aside that you can't do this at the never.

[00:22:12] I think I will be one film at a time.

[00:22:16] Yeah, seven projects running at the same time with different shooting skills.

[00:22:20] You basically sleep two hours a day.

[00:22:26] And yeah.

[00:22:28] No, go.

[00:22:29] What are you going to say?

[00:22:31] No, it's just saying like a type or a song.

[00:22:33] I'm probably more any of the films finished.

[00:22:39] So is there anything that we have an ask you that maybe you're burning to tell our listeners and people for SIF?

[00:22:47] I know, but I just really want to thank Jesse to be able to, you know, to trust me in that, to a hand-to-story to the word of audiences.

[00:23:00] She always asked me, like, how do I guarantee you know when the film release the word will love her?

[00:23:07] And I told her I cannot guarantee anything like that for her.

[00:23:11] But it's a really a process for her to travel to film festival and see how people respond to it.

[00:23:18] Unfortunately, she cannot come to power great.

[00:23:21] She's selling her house and moving and yet another city.

[00:23:26] But it's really great to see how people respond to her stories when we can travel together.

[00:23:33] I want to send her.

[00:23:34] Thank her.

[00:23:35] Oh wow, yeah, that's beautiful.

[00:23:37] I think you should stand outside of the cinema once you go to the screening and just have a questionnaire on a level of 1 to 10.

[00:23:44] How much do you love Jesse?

[00:23:45] And then you can just take that data back to her and say, you know what?

[00:23:49] You scored a 8.4.

[00:23:54] That's great.

[00:23:56] Yeah.

[00:23:56] But if it's below 5, then don't give her the data.

[00:23:59] You said, you know what?

[00:24:00] I didn't know.

[00:24:02] You know, it's like kind of new but anything better.

[00:24:05] I don't know the bag.

[00:24:07] Oh, the data.

[00:24:08] We're going to corrupt it, you know, USB, whatever.

[00:24:13] Okay, so can you tell our listeners where they can find you and where they can worship you from a far like we do here at film.

[00:24:22] Right?

[00:24:24] They can't find me on my personal website, why you QI, KING, G, dot com, E, KING, dot com.

[00:24:31] And also my Instagram is the U.K.

[00:24:36] They can't find me on Instagram as well.

[00:24:39] Yeah, we'll post those links in our episode.

[00:24:44] So thank you.

[00:24:46] Like so much for joining us.

[00:24:48] We're glad to see Calgary films making it into these festivals and just keeping content moving.

[00:24:55] Your film is shot beautifully.

[00:24:57] Both films are shot beautifully and we're so happy that you're going to be doing this for years to come.

[00:25:03] We can switch what you're doing.

[00:25:05] So thanks, Ragers for listening.

[00:25:07] Tickets are available for seven beats a minute at SIF.

[00:25:12] Per minute?

[00:25:12] Yeah, but if I say a minute, I keep thinking.

[00:25:15] I don't know why a minute.

[00:25:16] It's seven beats per minute at SIF.

[00:25:19] And SIF is found at sIFcalgary.ca.

[00:25:23] So the first showing is Saturday, September 21st at 615 PM at contemporary Calgary

[00:25:29] Dom.

[00:25:30] The second showing is Friday, September 27th at 5pm at Chinook, theater 15.

[00:25:37] And for Thorne wanting to see some horror and the future of Yuki Saturday, September 21st,

[00:25:45] is part of a package at 9pm playing a contemporary Calgary Dom.

[00:25:51] Part of the shorts package called dirty spelled D-I-R-R-T-Y shorts.

[00:25:56] And then this is something kind of new and creative.

[00:25:59] It's going to be available for streaming starting September 26th through to the 29th on their stream online.

[00:26:06] Oh, yeah.

[00:26:07] So, wow, great thing.

[00:26:08] Yeah, I'm super excited too.

[00:26:10] I want to go see it now after the festival or later in the festival when we got time,

[00:26:13] we're going to go in and start streaming, I'll bunch of stuff.

[00:26:16] Find us on social media at both Facebook, Twitter, Instagram at filmragey.

[00:26:21] We see you check out everything filmrage at filmrageyys.com.

[00:26:24] Please comment, like and subscribe and send us emails to filmragecaltgary.

[00:26:28] At gmail.com, this has been a super, super special filmrage episode during SIFcalgary.

[00:26:36] Where you can find everything at the festival at sIFcalgary.ca.

[00:26:41] Until next time, rayjong.

[00:26:43] Rayjong.

[00:26:43] Thank you very much, Yuki.

[00:26:45] Rayjong.