Originally I was far away, without realizing it I spent an entire year in Canada. I couldn't bear sitting still, I wander the world as my home. The life in a big city is colorful, and with four girls living together who are all players, although they are of different nationalities and personalities, living in the same room is fate that brings us together.
During the weekdays I attend classes and do part-time work at the school, they work and study, and on weekends everyone's life is rich. It's not necessarily lavish, but just wandering around the student district, the flea market, visiting stores, and dancing social dances.
As a single city woman, I am guilt-free in this regard, and I can even say I'm living life to the fullest without wasting my youth.
People's environment and pursuits don't only have one path to follow, everyone has their own rhythm, and how you live is a life experience, without success or failure to speak of.
Having walked through a childhood of sadness and a youth of violence and recklessness, with a heart that's been broken several times, I can't keep count. Going through these storms again and again, I eventually made the determination to soar far away. Regardless of floating and falling, my body is like a boat without moorings, without a sheltered harbor. I turn over in outstretched arms, heal my wounds and continue on my journey.
The outside world may allow me to become more cheerful. In Canada's inclusive cultural environment, even though people have great differences, they can still bloom with beauty and move others within those differences.
I have chosen to study film to record the voices that belong to our time. To see what kind of joys and loves people have on different lands.
The school provides cameras, lights, studio, and other objects. On my first shoot of my documentary, I rushed to the stage of the drag queen with four members of my team, amazed at the scale of the performance and the enthusiasm of the audience. Together with my partners, I put the fatigue of shooting behind my mind. At that time, I hated my poverty and wanted to incorporate my inner feelings into the recording as a valuable memory of my life experience. Unlike words, the color and music that influence the presentation become a language. When I go to observe them again, I come back with new discoveries to satisfy my curiosity.
Opportunities often come when you break out of your comfort zone. Every project requires a pitch, where you sell your idea to teachers and classmates, and finally, three projects are selected by voting to form groups for participation. My drag queen project was approved with the highest vote and I received a lot of help as the director and producer.
The production took about 4 to 5 weeks, the interview questions were assisted by a teacher from an elective course, the shooting location was granted by a local bar, and the post-production editing received many suggestions from the mentor.
This job cannot be done alone, and the people working together share equally important tasks. Trust is crucial in cooperation. I learned that there is not much difference between people, and there are many classmates from India and South America. I only need to exchange cooperation and friendship, spend some time to understand others, and every life has a different story.
After many shootings outside of school, I learned that many job opportunities come from peers. By gradually gaining trust through freely helping others, I received more job opportunities.
Another day, we saw an advertisement for the 48 Hour Film Challenge (Toronto Smartphone Festival). As the name implies, writing the script, shooting, and editing must be completed within 48 hours. Fortunately, I found a few partners who are willing to participate in this project. The plan is to shoot on the first day and edit on the second day. Our team has a total of six people: director, cinematographer, sound designer, editor, actor, and assistant director.
Shooting was done on the weekend, starting at 7 PM on Friday. We all attended the project introduction together. The genre, props, and lines wouldn't be known until just before shooting started. We saw the other seven teams that were participating. The competition officially began at 9 PM with a brainstorming session, location selection, and content design. Then everyone went home, and I stayed up writing the script as the director until 4 AM. Shooting officially started at 8 AM.
The limitations of the 48 Hour Film Project are common in 99% of film shoots: tight budget, pressing deadline. But in fact, the most necessary skill is problem-solving, whether you're shooting an independent short film or a Hollywood feature film, there will always be surprises on the set. The 48 Hour Film Project requires filmmakers to be creative problem-solvers.
The final movie was shown at the cinema, with 7 participating teams, only 4 of which completed their projects within the specified time limit. As a director, I received gifts from the participants, and there was also a Q&A session with the audience. Before getting on stage, I was completely unprepared, and facing a series of questions made me embarrassed and extremely nervous.
"Did you have any technical problems during filming?"
"Where did your ideas as a director come from?"
"How did you choose the shooting location?"
After talking randomly, I realized that I had heard applause from the audience, took a deep breath, and passed this final stage.
"Will you participate in a 48-hour shoot again next time?" My classmates asked me on the way home, laughing.
"Yes, but not in the near future! Haha." My answer received a positive reply.
One day, walking on the road after participating in the competition for 10 and a half days, I was stopped by someone.
"Uh, did you film **?" A polite young man dressed neatly greeted me.
"Yes, how did you know?" I asked him, looking up.
"I am a member of another team, **, and I saw your film at the screening." He introduced himself shyly.
"What are you filming lately?" I realized this was a good opportunity for networking, as every time I see someone else's work, I am looking for potential collaborators.
"I am filming ***, let's exchange contact information!"
I kept thinking about the film's networking and finding my team all the way home. My life, joys and sorrows, and the connection between the film and the city, every street, alley, stream, carrying its passing guests and stories, coming and going, marking slow flowing years and months. Maybe it will be forgotten, but it will be passed down, and it will continue to be a part of the city's history.