The Intimate Relationship Of Women: Xinyi Zhu On Her Short Film "Kindling"
Director Xinyi Zhu’s works is a narrative and documentary filmmaker. In her work, she aims to explore intimate relationships, genders, and topics about trans-corporeality and poststructuralism. Her latest short, Kindling, shares a story of estranged friends who are briefly reunited.
Two estranged childhood best friends confront each other about who they were and what they have become, when one drives the other to get an abortion.
The film was selected for the 2020 Palm Springs International ShortFest and won the Best Drama Award at the 2020 USC First Look Film Festival. We had the opportunity to chat with Xinyi about her film, creating believable relationships on screen, approaching a story visually, and much much more!
How did you become involved in the project?
I was chosen in a program where USC funds a few short films. I was in a shortlist of directors and we chose scripts to pitch from a pool. I read Kindling and was so surprised how similar the emotions were to what I have experienced.
Sheridan Watson’s script is full of complexity and emotion, but is there one particular aspect that resonated most with you personally?
I resonate the most with the ability and strength that women have to rebuild our relationships, emotions and lives.
How did you and cinematographer Fannong Li develop your visual approach to the film?
We were friends already when we decided to work together which was a good thing because we started throwing references and ideas at each other even a few months before pre-production started. Then I put together the lookbook and talked to him, but we were already pretty much on the same page.
The film’s success hinges on the chemistry of its performers. How did you find your two leads?
I was still in China producing a film when we started the casting process with a casting director. My only note for their looks was that I wanted them to look like sisters. Everything else was open. After the first round and after I came back to the U.S., we did two rounds of callbacks. When I saw Jill and Nicole together, their chemistry just totally drew me in.
The characters in the film were estranged friends. What were some of the ways you worked with the actors to create a relationship that felt lived in?
We spent lots of time talking about the characters’ background and memories because they need to be shared between and agreed on by both of them. It was important that all of us — Jill, Nicole and I — share our own experience with the characters.
What aspect of the story was more important to you as a storyteller?
The intimate relationship of women. I wanted to show it in a complicated way; a combination of friendship, sense of family, and romance but not labeled as any specific one.
What drew you to the visual arts? How did you get into directing?
I studied and practiced different kinds of drawing and painting since I was little. Mainly Chinese painting and sketching. I didn’t get into film until middle school because growing up I didn’t have the resources in a strict family. I studied psychology in college and wanted to become a therapist, but then figured it was not the route I wanted to take. I tried a few things in filmmaking, like producing and production design, but found out eventually I loved directing the most. It’s like being a psychologist in some way.
What films or filmmakers influence you and your approach to storytelling?
Lou Ye – Suzhou River. Tsai Ming-Liang – Goodbye, Dragon Inn. Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Lee Chang Dong, John Cassavetes, Michael Haneke.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film?
I hope this film helps normalize difficulties women have to face such as abortions. The intention of putting it in the context of a reconnection is to show that this is just normal as other accidents or medical procedures in life. It definitely shouldn’t be banned in reality or avoided in media portrayals of women. The difference is that it’s more sensitive and emotional than other procedures, which hopefully is shown in the movie through the two character’s intimate exchanges.
I also hope the audiences can see themselves in Piper and Celeste and recognize this way of confrontation and then acceptance is just a lesson of growing up that we all shouldn’t be afraid to face.
Do you have any future projects in the works that you can share with us?
I’m developing my first feature Nanzhou Brothers which is set in Southeastern China and is about a penniless DJ chasing after a privileged theater director by pretending to be what he’s not. I’d love to talk to people who are interested.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!