{"id":112129,"date":"2021-04-08T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecreativeindependent.com\/people\/filmmaker-sandi-tan-on-finding-resources-in-the-most-unexpected-places"},"modified":"2021-04-08T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T07:00:00","slug":"filmmaker-sandi-tan-on-finding-resources-in-unexpected-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/08\/filmmaker-sandi-tan-on-finding-resources-in-unexpected-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Sandi Tan on finding resources in unexpected places"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you were 16 years old you had an enormous creative curiosity. At that time you lived in Singapore, where the environment was rigid, but you found a way to write scripts and discover foreign movies. You also found a community with the same interests as you. Do you think that the environment and circumstances are important when you are determined to create something?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I think it\u2019s so important to use everything to your own advantage, to do the mental Jiu-jitsu to take all the negatives and all the things that you\u2019re lacking and turn them into positives.<\/span> I grew up in a family that was not very happy, so I was left to my own devices and my own imagination. I was surrounded with grownups who were going through all sorts of things and I started to find that fascinating. I find people fascinating. Even before I knew I was interested in storytelling I began to become a storyteller, an observer. A lot of those things\u2014like having a creative environment in terms of encouraging teachers or peers, or having access to a great abundance of inspiring people\u2014are not the only option. If you\u2019re open to ideas, or at least you\u2019re interested in finding a way of surviving your environment, you can find great resources in the most unexpected places, and that\u2019s often within things and situations that might not be ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

A lot of the greatest writers, filmmakers, and storytellers I admire come from backgrounds that aren\u2019t perfect. When you come from the perfect background you won\u2019t have a unique take on the world. I think it\u2019s very encouraging for everybody out there to know that your unique background, which you might think is a disadvantage, is actually your advantage because that\u2019s the thing that makes you unique.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"SHIRKERS_RR2.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Since you were a teenager you knew that you wanted to make films, however your path was not linear. You made a film first, later you became a film critic, and after that, you attended film school. Would you change anything about these choices?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It really wasn\u2019t a matter of choice. In my case, there was no such thing as just making films. I felt like I had my one shot when I was making Shirkers<\/em> as a teenager\u2014and that failed\u2014so I had to find my way again, and it wasn\u2019t easy. So the closest I could get to movies was writing about them. In the \u201990s when I was in film school, indie films were dying because they weren\u2019t viable. So I had to find other ways. I wrote screenplays, but the kinds of stories I wanted to tell were kind of epic and involved some special effects. They were going to be so expensive that I knew there was no way I could make them, so instead I wrote a novel in 2012 called The Black Isle.<\/em><\/a> This was another way of just keeping my stories going. I think you have to be very nimble and, if you\u2019re a storyteller, you need to find different formats in which you can tell your stories. As long as you keep your storytelling muscles strong and if you\u2019re nimble and can adapt yourself to the situation, you\u2019re in a good place.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Everybody should find their own path. Don\u2019t expect it to be linear. Interesting paths are interesting paths, and if you\u2019re patient and persistent enough and if you keep pursuing your goal you will reach it. The linear path is often the least interesting. You never know what your path is going to be because there are so many factors at play. It\u2019s not just about your talent, it\u2019s not just about luck. There are so many other things in the air, and you just have to keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Something that I really appreciate from your film Shirkers<\/em> is that it catches the audience from so many angles. It\u2019s for film lovers, for any creative person who has trouble with finishing something or who had something taken away from them. Were you hoping to approach a particular angle with your film?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

No, I wanted to tell all of it. I had such an ambitious scope for it. I just wanted to tell the chronological story of what actually happened. I wanted to solve the central mystery of my life.<\/span> And in solving this puzzle, I had to explain all the other bits with all the clues, and in aligning all the clues on the map, once I was kind of building up, the entire treasure map of Shirkers<\/em> appeared. The film could not exist without all these parts.<\/p>\n\n

\"SHIRKERS_Vertical_RGB_POST.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n

When we\u2019re teenagers it\u2019s so natural to be driven, determined, and open to the possibilities that imagination can bring. The risk of failing doesn\u2019t seem so absolute. Do you think you\u2019re the same film enthusiast you were as a teenager, or have some feelings faded away as you have gotten to know the film industry better?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Of course I\u2019m the same film enthusiast! Making this film has reacquainted me with my former self, and I feel that this is actually me, and making the film is like me singing a duet with my teenage self.<\/span> I\u2019m empowered and strengthened by the youthful me. The fearless, optimistic, adventurous, younger version of me is very much a part of me now. I want everybody who watches the film to realize that you can be all your different selves. You don\u2019t have to be like this grownup self versus the na\u00efve, innocent self. It\u2019s not that. They are all part of you still going forward. It\u2019s up to you if you want to take these former selves with you on your journey.<\/p>\n\n

Your documentary Shirkers<\/em> tells quite a remarkable story\u2014it\u2019s so impressive and hard to believe. How were you able to find funding and support? A lot of funding opportunities for documentaries go to films that focus on politics or social justice issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Getting funding is extremely challenging.<\/span> You have to find the right kind of nonprofit partners. Sundance invited me to be part of their documentary fellowship program in 2016 and I took several meetings with a lot of people that became valuable partners to know for the future. Also, a lot of this process of making a documentary is about pitching, because most docs don\u2019t even have a script. You don\u2019t have anything. If you\u2019re going to go out and try to make things real to people, you have to be a very convincing talker, and you have to be very confident in talking about yourself and your project because if you\u2019re not confident about your project you can\u2019t expect anyone else to be confident in it.<\/span> So that fellowship program was a game-changer for me because I met a lot of people that I wound up then either working with or just knowing as colleagues in the industry.<\/p>\n\n

I also applied to the Sundance Documentary Program<\/a> for a development grant, and once I had the footage I put together a trailer and some music. I spent a lot of time writing out the proposal, and they gave me a development grant. Once you get that grant from Sundance it\u2019s a lot easier to get other things. I also had support from Cinereach<\/a> which has a good track record of investing in interesting projects. They\u2019ve invested in Sorry to Bother You, We the Animals<\/em>, and in some interesting documentaries like Dina<\/em> as well.<\/p>\n\n

\"NURSE<\/p>\n\n

NURSE WITH DOG MASTER, STILL<\/em><\/p>\n\n

When you\u2019re developing a project, is it a good strategy to share the idea as it starts to emerge, or is it better to keep it to yourself and share it after it starts taking shape?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Sometimes when you talk too much about something that\u2019s not even ready to be talked about you\u2019re kind of destroying the magic of it.<\/span> It will disintegrate before your eyes. Maybe I\u2019m superstitious, but I don\u2019t believe in talking about things that aren\u2019t ready to be talked about because you\u2019re jinxing it. I think it\u2019s better to talk about something when it\u2019s concrete rather than speculative.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

You were forced to abandon the first Shirkers<\/em> film. What made you decide it was worth going back and rescuing it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It was like being given both a gift and a curse. When this footage was returned to me it was like a call to adventure. It was the traditional hero\u2019s narrative: Was I going to answer the call to adventure or was I going to say no? When this opportunity came to my door, how could I say no? I had to embark on it and be open to whatever it brings.<\/span> I knew it was going to take me down a rabbit hole for at least three years, but that\u2019s why I had to get ready for it. So, I took another three years after the boxes arrived to fortify myself before I began dealing with it.<\/p>\n\n

\"SHIRKERS_R1_15.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n

I was at the panel where you participated in last year\u2019s DOC NYC<\/a>, and you mentioned that a film is as good as the collaboration between the people involved. What do you look for in your collaborators?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

With Shirkers<\/em>, it was my vision, so they had to be very open to working with me. I was looking for people who were not the usual suspects, who didn\u2019t go by the usual routes.<\/span> For example, my composer Ishai Adar is self-taught, he didn\u2019t go to music school. He had a band that was a cult band. Like Joy Division, but in Israel in the \u201990s or \u201980s. He\u2019s from that kind of background, but he makes self-taught electronica. I like people who are more open and creative, who will be much more free, open, and willing to go with me and try out things. I think it\u2019s very important to have collaborators who listen to you, who have time, who aren\u2019t just doing it for the money, and not doing it in a hurry. People who are willing to experiment and try new things. That\u2019s the only way you can create interesting results if you are willing to try.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019re going to make a film that no one\u2019s done before, then the disadvantage is that it\u2019s going to be very hard to convince people to come and be your producer or to give you money. But the advantage is that you have complete freedom and you can figure it out on your own. If you\u2019re going to try something and do something new, then you have to be brave enough to know that you have to make your own rules. It\u2019s going to feel more challenging because you won\u2019t have guidance, but if you\u2019re lucky and you work hard enough then the results will make it worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

In the documentary Shirkers<\/em>, you showed the dynamic and complexity between you and your friends by also including times when you disagreed or even disliked each other. Did you show that with a particular intention?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I wanted to reflect what it was like to be friends with people over a long time and what a creative rupture does to friendships. This is authentically how we talked. I think a lot of people have friends and friendships like that. And very often what we see in documentaries is not real. What we see in TV shows or movies about friendships is not real, and doesn\u2019t feel real.<\/span> I wanted this film to really capture what these relationships are like. Iris NG, the DP that I hired and who also shot Sarah Polley\u2019s Stories We Tell<\/em><\/a>, she kind of vanished into the background when she was shooting my conversations with my friends so it was as if she wasn\u2019t there. You feel like you\u2019re watching me and my friends talk as if nobody was there. This is what it really is like. I wanted everyone who has friends like that, to know that they\u2019re not alone and to know that this is still<\/em> friendship. It\u2019s just that friendship is defined very broadly.<\/p>\n\n

\"SHIRKERS_R1_04.jpg\"<\/p>\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n

When I was reading about your film, the word \u201cclosure\u201d appeared frequently. Is closure something that we need in order to move on, or can other positive things emerge from the uncertainty or loose ends of an unfinished project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

You find closure in different ways, and I don\u2019t think things necessarily need to be closed. There are so many ways of moving on. You can just feel inspired to move on because you want to keep searching for answers. Closure is a very hard thing to define for everyone. I don\u2019t like the word closure because it\u2019s so definitive, it seems like the final nail in the coffin, it blocks things.<\/span> I don\u2019t like blockages, I don\u2019t like endings, I don\u2019t like things that just say, \u201cGoodbye. The end.\u201d I like things that are a bit more open, not just for interpretation, but for you to open up new avenues and new ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Sandi Tan recommends:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n