quick cuts

quick cuts with filmmaker haohao yan

Interview by Iris Chan

1. At the heart of this film are three young girls who all feel as if they’ve been pushed to grow up early and come to terms with the awkwardness and reality of adulthood, within the looming fear of SARS. Especially after the year and a half or so that we’ve been through the COVID-19 pandemic, what sort of message do you hope audiences take away from these three stories?

The film was shot in May of 2019, before the pandemic, so it was a pure coincidence that it turns out to be timely. My original desire was to share a strong childhood memory I had, and document the special circumstances that I thought would never happen again in my lifetime. I wish my audience would echo with the film and hopefully recall a similar situation where they reach a moment of realization at an earlier stage of life that changes them.

2. What were your original inspirations for telling these three seemingly different stories with separate protagonists? These three young girls share the setting of the boarding school under lockdown, but could you share other similarities you wanted to establish in these stories?

The original inspirations come from my childhood memories. I grew up in a boarding school where I spent more time with children my age than my family. So I was closer to my friends than my family. And because we spent all the time together, their experiences became mine as well. Perhaps this kind of collective living lifestyle led to the multiple character narrative in the movie, but it wasn't intentional. In the beginning of the development it was only Zhenzhen's story. It was in the development that we decided to expand it into three different children.

3. The experience of living through a pandemic has been starkly different between the restrictions that have been set in China and the US. Especially with the rising racial tensions and what it means to be Asian in America, how do you feel about bringing this personal story to be screened in New York?

I'm very happy to have this opportunity to share with more people this very personal story, and also to have an in person screening! I think for me, this film is purely something I want to have as a document of my experiences and existence. If people like it, great, but if not, it's okay too.