Kuang Lee is a Chinese-American filmmaker, whose work has gained wide recognition both nationally and internationally.
Kuang Lee is a Chinese-American filmmaker, whose work has gained wide recognition both nationally and internationally. Kuang's most recent film, EASTSIDE, is a 30-minute documentary on the phenomenon of skateboarding in Asia. Filmed on 16-millimeter and shot on location in China, EASTSIDE was a film-festival favorite in 2002, selected to screen in over twelve international film festivals. In the Spring of 2003, Los Angeles based Terra Entertainment gave EASTSIDE a nationwide DVD/Home Video release. Kuang's current project is LANGUAGE LESSONS, a feature-length love story set in Taipei, Taiwan.
Click here (http: //www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/050903/kuanglee.ram)for RealVideo interview.
April 23, 2003
Interviewed by Annisa Kau
Text transcription by Angie Kang and Annisa Kau
Annisa: What inspired the mystical storylines of your first films, “Heroes?and “Hae Lu?
Kuang: For the first film, “Heroes,?it's a story about this old comic book illustrator who kind of goes a little “wacko?and decides he has his own super powers. When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of comic books, “X-Men,?“Spiderman,?and “The Incredible Hulk.?Then when I went to college, I read more comic books, but more mature comic books, like “Sandman,?“Watchmen,?and “Dark Knights,?and I sort of wanted to do a tribute to those comic books that gave me so much inspiration as a kid. So that was my first film at Loyola. My second film at Loyola was “Hae Lu? In Chinese Mandarin, Hae Lu means “dark street.?When I was a kid, my parents would always take me to this area of Chinatown, which had these cool purple lanterns. There are some restaurants over there and I always thought that would be a great location to make a film. These dark lanterns and this old street would be a great location to make sort of a ghost story, and when I made my thesis at Loyola, I went back to that location and that's where I made that film.
Annisa: Why did you go from Chinese mythology to Asian American skateboarding?
Kuang: Yea, it's funny. It is kind of an interesting leap. I sort of ended up doing films about my circumstances and immediately after film school, I had moved to Orange County to work for an action sports, extreme sports television show called “Blue Torch.?While I was in Orange County working for that show, I met a lot of extreme sports athletes ?a lot of skateboarders, a lot of snowboarders ?and I was really inspired by their fearlessness as they would do their tricks, slide down mountains and jump. While I was in Orange County, I met this Asian American skateboarder named Kien Lieu, his nickname was “The Donger.?He's been around skateboarding forever and we would film tricks, hang out and we dreamed up an idea to do a skateboarding movie set in China. So we planned it, put our heads together, and that's what we did.
Annisa: What is “Eastside?about?
Kuang: “Eastside?is a documentary film shot on 16mm about this phenomenon of skateboarding in China. There are two sides of the story. One side is the actual kids in Asia, the kids in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, and how they sort of hybridize the sport of skateboarding into their own perspective. On the other side of the story are the personal stories of these athletes. Two Chinese-Americans and one Canadian who journey from North America to Asia to explore Asia, but also send their skateboarding message over to China.
Annisa: Is there any symbolism behind the ethnicity of the characters in Eastside?
Kuang: Not so much, it was more sort of a practical thing. I went on a few trips to Asia, one during the spring and one during the fall. The trip during the spring was pretty much just to document the Dynasty Skate Team Tour around Asia to Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The Dynasty Skate Team consisted of the first two skaters, the two Chinese people. While I was in Asia documenting this tour in Taipei, I ran into this Canadian guy who ended up living in Taiwan for a couple of years to escape his drug addiction in Canada. He ended up changing his life for the better and entering contests there. I thought that would be a great story to sort of end Eastside with, so I kind of happened upon his story.
Annisa: What has made Eastside an internationally recognized film?
Kuang: I don't know if it is great, but I think what people like about it is a couple of things. One is that I don't think anyone has seen something like this before; a documentary film taking place in Asia about skateboarding has not been seen before. It is sort of an Asian dog town in a way. But I think also, it is sort of the best of both worlds. You have the skateboarding tricks that all the skateboarders and all the kids like, but there are also the personal stories and the documentary type realism of these three characters which I think film fans in general and just fans of good literature or good films enjoy.
Annisa: How did the public in Taiwan respond towards the film compared to the public in the U.S.?
Kuang: I think it responded very favorably. Taiwanese kids love skateboarding and they get all the influence from the skateboard magazines and skateboard videos that come into Taiwan. So when we came there with pros, professional skateboarders, it was like seeing “Superman?or “Batman?live in the flesh. What made it even greater was the fact that two of them were Chinese American, because they saw someone that looked like them and could sort of speak their language, doing these huge tricks that they could only dream of. So that inspired them to go bigger, do bigger tricks, to try to do things that they wouldn't have done before.
Annisa: Do you feel a responsibility to present a more accurate portrayal of the East?
Kuang: I think my only responsibility when making Eastside was just to tell compelling stories, interesting stories. I think it sort of limits you when you have a duty to do something. So I didn't go out there trying to do any 20/20 expose on filmmaking. I just try to tell the most interesting stories I could and those interesting stories happen to be about two Chinese Americans, happen to be in Asia, and happen to be about skateboarding. I think the duty of a filmmaker is to try and tell interesting stories about people.
Annisa: As an Asian American filmmaker, what goal would you like to accomplish with your films?
Kuang: For one, I want them to be good. I don't really set out to achieve any Asian American specific goals, but I think, coincidentally, my next project is my first narrative feature and it is a love story that takes place in Taipei, Taiwan. It is a love story between a Chinese American photographer and this quirky pop singer. I don't think Americans have ever seen an Asian American male romantic lead, right? I think this will be the first and I think perhaps that will be a change because we haven't seen a character like this before. So maybe, coincidentally, this will be something different for Asian American cinema.
I'm also working on a documentary about hip-hop artists in Europe and in Taipei. Also I have a rock band and you can check out all these projects on my website www.kuanglee.net (http: //www.kuanglee.net).
Annisa: What types of obstacles do you think Asian Americans filmmakers face?
Kuang: Actually I think that as an Asian American filmmaker, there are a lot of advantages, because in basically every city in the country, there's an Asian American arts festival or an Asian American film festival that is there to support Asian American filmmakers and artists. The trick is getting distribution because these festivals are set up for you to show your work. But to get it to a wider audience, that is the challenge. So I feel very lucky that “Eastside?has just received distribution.
It is easy to get this network that supports us, but to get it to wider eyes, that is the challenge. I think the only way to do that is just making it good, you know. Making stories that everyone can relate to and not just your Asian audience, although that is a very important audience, is important to reach out to a universal audience.