Pleased to share this awesome opportunity I had to illustrate my journey as a woman film director in this feature on SisterMotion.com!
Coming up in the industry wasn’t easy for me – a 4’11” asian woman entering this (still) heavily white male dominated film industry. Guys used to tell me to my face that I’d never make it – things like, “I just can’t imagine someone like you as a director!” or “You’re brilliant as an assistant. But directing is not for you!”
And honestly, I believed them.
Because at the time I entered the industry, I had never seen a filmmaker who looked like me making it big in Hollywood before. There were plenty of white male directors. My film buff friends would rave about Tarantino, Wes Anderson, David Lynch, and the like. When people thought of the title “director” it conjured the visage of an ornery, white, masculine persona with a deep voice and barking orders… NOT me.
Plus, being a transracially/interracially adopted girl who grew up in a white family in the glaringly white American suburbs of Upstate NY, my only references for what an asian person was like or what an asian person could do in the world came from Hollywood media. From TV shows, commercials, and movies that depicted asians as either kung fu masters or the butt of jokes, if they were depicted at all.
Check out the link to see more of my story, crafted by Sister Motion’s wonderful Shannon Denny.
Sister Motion is a fully female lead production company based in UK with collaborators around the world. They specialize in commercial production for women-focused brands, with the belief that having women and individuals from under-represented groups behind the camera creates authentic, innovative content that resonates with modern audiences.