5 Questions with Scarlett Li
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I was born and raised in a young coastal city in China. As a kid, I always wanna make stuff. But I never succeeded in finishing any assignments for our paper-folding class. One day a gleam of inspiration hit my daydreams, and I decided on filmmaking. Now I am pursuing my MFA in writing/directing at NYU Tisch.
2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?
The idea started when my boyfriend told me about his brief encounter with a Chinese woman who stopped him in the LA train station to ask for directions. From their conversation, he gradually realized that she's a mail-order-bride and doesn't speak English. She was lost in the confusing underground metro web of the city, on her way towards marriage with a strange foreign man. Besides a glimpse, what her life was like? What her life will be like? We will never know. This thought lingered, and Persimmon Night evolved from there.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?
It was tough to find Chinese actors in New York. But I got lucky, to find Tracy through my friend's audition. The easiest part is actually production, mainly because most of our cast and crew are friends and classmates. The atmosphere on set is warm and supportive.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
Two films I saw recently that left me deep impressions are Fellini's La Strada (1954) and City Dream (2019), a documentary by director Weijun Chen. In very different ways, they are both about people who want to live and love, inwardly or outwardly. And they either get crushed down by the world or compromise with the society and the institutions.
5) What’s next for you?
I made another short film called Double Happiness before the Christmas of 2019. We shot the film in Shenzhen, China, where I grew up. As for 2020, besides floating in time (which takes up the majority of my days), I'm writing another short film and my first feature.
