In your filmmaking career, which director has inspired you the most?

The film director that has influenced me a lot is a documentary director named Hao Zhou. He made many social documentaries in China. His documentary is always about the people of the bottom classes in Chinese society. After I watched his film, I realized the type of film I want to make in my career.

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What is the most profound plot in the film?

Actually it does not have many plots because it is a documentary film. After I shoot all of my footage, I start to think about the question. At the end of the film, Xiaojing takes care of her disabled dog. And it is a really peaceful time for her and the dog. She became a different person, compared to her previous behaviors. In the past, she was a really outgoing person, but now she enjoys a peaceful time and she keeps taking care of these dogs for three years.

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What is the biggest challenge in the process of making your first film?

Both shooting and editing are the challenges in the process of making the film. I did the shooting and editing all by myself. For editing, I did not know many technical skills, so I faced many technical issues in the process. For example, the voice recording is horrible and I don’t know how to repair it. There are so many frames that are unstable. During the shooting, I always think about how I am interfering with their lives and making their lives become different than usual.

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For your next film, which genre do you want to focus on?

For my next film, I still want to focus on documentary films. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I love documentary films and I enjoy making it and editing it. Secondly, making a documentary, we don’t need to have much commercial support. However, for narrative film, it needs a lot of money to support making it.

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Are there any famous directors that you want to work with?

There is one director that I want to work with is Jiachen Xu. She is not famous but I really want to work with her. She is also a documentary filmmaker and I do know her in the real world. She made three films about Chinese American immigrants. I really want to work with her.

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To review your own film, is there anything you think you could’ve done better?

There are so many things I think I could have done better. Actually, after the three-month editing, I reviewed my film again. I start to realize that Xiaojing is more like a news report rather than a film. So last month, I went to Xiaojing’s house again and asked her if she could shoot more footage with her. And I did shoot more and edit it again.

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The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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