Today we’d like to introduce you to Bofan Zhang.
Hi Bofan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a small village in rural China, where people barely talked about dreams. The days, especially in the harvest season, were labor-intensive, beginning well before sunrise and ending at sunset. A high proportion of my childhood memories were about walking barefoot on the muddy roads and pasturing cows in the water meadows, which have shaped my appreciation of films that depict the portrait of the original inhabitants in various cultures and my delicate emotions as a storyteller. During the days, under the subtle influence of my grandmother who was a victim of China’s Cultural Revolution and wasn’t able to pursue her dream to become an actress, I repeatedly watched a limited number of films. In this way, I fell in love with the way classic Chinese movies telling history via hero’s stories. After my College Entrance Examination, I chose to study film without hesitation and it has led me to my filmmaking career till today.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This journey has never been easy. As a film producer, I always need to solve lots of physical production problems, considering the overall situation; equipping myself with great time management skills; giving full support to my projects and collaborators, and so on.
However, the greatest challenge for me being a filmmaker is always struggling with creativity, trying to entertain people and engage social consciousness through my stories. I’ve been challenged to make movies about visually and hearing impaired children, women freezing eggs, the ethical struggles of an AI scientist, a New York legal immigrant who has to send her only child away, and more. In each project, I not only learned new skills in film producing but walked into the life of a new group of people as well.
Filmmaking is the love and career of my life, and to me, this journey is not smooth but has been full of fun!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a bilingual creative producer based in New York. I currently work as a producer on my first feature(in pre-production), in cooperation with a leading streaming platform in China. Meanwhile, I’m associate-producing the award-winning feature documentary Go through the Dark (DOC NYC world premiere) with the emerging director Yunhong Pu, lead-produced by the Emmy Award-winning editor Jean Tsien (76 Days). My goal in filmmaking is not only to entertain people but to engage social consciousness and impact communities through entertainment as well.
I’m a BAFTA Newcomer, the recipient of Katharina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant and GiGadgets Creative Foundation Award. Her films have been screened at the Oscar-qualified Foyle Film Festival, San Diego International Film Festival, DOC NYC, Asian American International Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival and Malibu Film Festival, etc.
I currently works as the producer on my first feature, YOUR GIFT (in pre-production), which was officially selected for the project forum of three prestigious Chinese film festivals. I’m in cooperation with a major film company and a leading streaming platform in China; the project has top-tier Chinese talents and award-winning filmmakers attached.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’ve been working with writers and directors. Especially my collaboration with directors always starts with the first creative draft of a screenplay. After working back and forth for many rounds for the screenplay, we would always do all location scouts together, trying to look for the best fit of the story.
According to my past experience, being respectful and responsible for my projects, directors and I would both enjoy this effective work mode and the director-producer relationship. I feel happy when we have the moment of being very much with each other while exchanging creative ideas. In this way of sharing tacit understanding, our collaboration can bring into full play the initiative and creativity for our stories.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bofazhang.com
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11795397/
