Written by:
Jenny Miyasaki
Thanks to Alice Wu, being an Asian-American lesbian just became a little hotter — or so she’s been told by at least one endearing fan. Since the theatrical debut of Saving Face at the Toronto Film Festival last year, however, director Alice Wu has discovered that love knows no boundaries, and she believes there’s a little something for everyone in her Asian-American lesbian love story. Saving Face will be released on DVD on October 18 and, luckily for those of us who couldn’t get enough of Wu’s apple-cheeked Asian heroines, the DVD is packed with extra features, including a Sundance Film Festival diary. The release of Wu’s first feature film on DVD is sure to woo those who missed Saving Face in the theaters, and it will also give those of us who were smitten with it the first time around a chance to fall in love all over again.
Now that Saving Face is being released on DVD, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the experience of your first theatrical release?
It was interesting for me because it’s my first film, so really … it was my first time going through it. And with this film, in particular, because it is so personal. … The plot is all fictional, but emotionally it’s very real, and certainly as an Asian-American lesbian, there is a place where it’s a little scary to imagine standing in front of hundreds of people watching a film where it feels like your own personal coming-out party.
At least in my case, I didn’t really think anyone was ever going to see this. You know, this is really something that I wrote very personally as a … sort of a love letter to my mother. It really wasn’t until the very first time I was at Toronto, actually, a year ago … [that] it really hit me: that this meant a lot of people who I’ve never even met before — or knew existed — were all going to be watching my film. And what amazes me was how well-received it has been in the sense that — I guess secretly I always kind of believed that no matter who you are — no matter what your ethnicity, whether you’re Asian or you’re white or you’re black, or whether you’re gay or you’re straight — basically, I think people pretty much want the same things in life.
I mean I think we want work that satisfies us and we want people that we care about and a sense of community, and we want to fall in love. There is something very gratifying about watching an audience of, frankly, primarily straight Caucasian people … just embrace the film. So many people came up to me afterwards and were like, “I went into it thinking that I was going to be watching a Chinese film, or a lesbian film, and within 10 or 15 minutes I completely forgot that the people were Chinese or gay. They just became characters I cared about, and then I started to relate to them.”
It was great for me because, in a weird way, it made me feel maybe not so alone. I mean I think on some level, I imagine if you’re — certainly if you’re gay — and then also if you’re an artist of any sort, I think that you grow up secretly thinking that maybe you are a freak. There’s something so gratifying about just seeing people across different demographics all laughing at the exact same jokes. I didn’t experience a difference between gay audiences watching it and straight audiences watching it, or Asian audiences watching it. They really all laughed and cried at the same moments. It establishes something that personally actually meant a great deal to me.
When you were making Saving Face, did you realize that you were breaking ground?
To be honest, I didn’t realize it until Sundance when an interviewer asked me, “Do you realize that this is probably the first Asian-American lesbian film?” And I hadn’t until she said that. I thought about it, and I was like, “Wow. I guess that’s true.” And then she said, “And you’re probably the first out Asian-American lesbian director,” which is also something I hadn’t thought about, and I was like, “Really?”
It’s funny because on the one hand, the film is very specific, so in that sense I’m obviously very proud of being Asian-American and being lesbian. But I also don’t feel like I made a purely Asian-American lesbian film. I am not really an edgy filmmaker; I always prefer to be sort of quietly subversive. I love the idea of luring people into where they think they are going to see an Asian-American lesbian film, but then they actually really do identify with those characters, and for me, I think there’s something about that that creates a better understanding. I guess the best way I can explain it is that if you’ve ever seen someone get their heartbroken, it kinda doesn’t matter whether they’re gay or straight, Asian or non-Asian. If you’ve ever had your heartbroken, it’s very hard notto feel something for that person.
Not only is Saving Face about romantic relationships between women, but it is also very much about familial relationships between women. Was that something you were conscious of while writing the film?
As much as it’s an Asian-American film or a lesbian film, it’s also very much a mother-daughter film. I mean I think there are really three love stories: There’s the daughter’s love story, there’s the mother’s secret love story, but then there’s also the love story between the mother and the daughter, and that’s the one I think matters the most. I feel like that is one of those things that seems to reach across sexuality and across ethnicity.
Most of the people with whom I have discussed Saving Face are gay and Asian-American, and I have found that it’s really sort of a visibility thing for us. It’s about finally having our queer Asian identity validated, which has really never happened before. Have you experienced a similar reaction from Asian-American lesbians specifically?
You’re absolutely right. I’ve gone to a lot of Q&As at the end of [screenings of] the film, and it’s almost inevitable that at the end of every single screening, there will be the people who lurk afterwards to talk to me. Quite often there’s at least a few Asian-American lesbians. This seems to happen at almost every screening when, at some point, they will ask me about coming out to their parents, and they’ll say, “I haven’t yet or I don’t know how.” It’s incredibly poignant to me, actually.
It’s funny because I am so not an expert really. I mean I’m out to my family, but … I’ve just made this one film. My actors are always reading the blogs and forwarding the comments to me, and there’s this whole profusion of blog comments from people saying that as a result of seeing the film, they’ve now decided to come out to their parents. There was this one amazing blog entry someone sent that said something like after seeing the film they’ve finally decided to come out to themselves. And it really struck me because, again — in my case — I really write these things for myself, and you secretly hope that someone else will get something from it.
But it’s very humbling because the film is just so much bigger than you are, you know? A lot of heart went into this film, and I think that’s what translates. I sometimes think that’s what audiences are feeling.
Saving Face was your first feature film. Now what?
Oh that’s a great question. I was 28 before I decided to think about doing film, and I’m 35 now. And I really hope that I get to continue to make films because I hadn’t realized how much I loved it until I made this one.
You know, it’s funny. There’s no real set path for artists. Everyone is going to have advice. It’s been great for me to talk to directors I really respect or other people in the industry. There definitely seem to be opportunities for me, but you just never know what you’re going to fall in love with next. It takes so much out of you. Writing and then directing just takes so much out of you — in a good way — but you really do have to love the story because otherwise it’s really not worth it.
I have a couple of things that I'm writing on my own, and then there are some other things out there — we’ll see how they’ll play out. I’m quite hopeful about what can happen next, but I am also still kind of amazed that [this] film got made at all. I would love it if I could have another experience like this one. You know, 95 percent of the last five years was a lot of spinning my wheels and thinking this was never gonna happen. It was mostly an exercise in frustration, but the 5 percent when I could see myself making progress, or I could see things happening, was just sublime.
I also get a lot of people at the end of screenings coming up to ask me about [getting started in film]. It’s clear they have stories they are dying to tell, and I always love sort of letting them know about that part because I think it’s so worth it. On some level I hope that people go, “Wow, Alice Wu didn’t go to film school, and she some how managed to pursue this and maybe that gives me a shot at doing it too.”
I’m sure a lot of people who weren’t born with a camera in their hands have read up on you and realized that it’s possible to do stuff like this when you’re not 21, which I think is always a good thing for artists of any age.
I actually think that in film, especially, the older you are the better because the more experience you have. But also it just really comes down to loving your story — you [already] know how you want to compose your shots. It’s sort of weird, but if you truly love your story, you actually do have the answers to all those things. I truly believe that. Someone was saying something about writer’s block, and when that happens, I think those moments aren’t that you’re lacking talent, it’s just that in that moment you’ve just forgotten what it is that you want to say, but if you reconnect to what it is you are desperate to want to say, the other stuff actually comes.
I appreciate you speaking with us about Saving Face. I feel like sometimes when a film starts in the festival circuit, it might not get as much exposure as it might deserve, but I suspect that with the buzz surrounding Saving Face, it will take off amazingly on DVD.
I hope so. Thank you so much for taking the time and for your support. I just really loved seeing this film going through the theatrical release, and I’ll be really curious what will happen with it now. We’ll make them believe in love, and I don’t know what else.
Another funny thing that I’ve actually have heard people tell me that as a result of seeing the film, they’re really attracted to Asian lesbians.
Awesome. So the social lives of Asian-American lesbians everywhere are going to be much better thanks to Alice Wu.
That’s the ultimate goal, really.
|
