Today we’d like to introduce you to Lina Li. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Lina Yuchen Guan Li, an award-winning film director, was born in São Paulo, Brazil, grew up in Beijing, China, and is living in Los Angeles, the U.S. now. Her new film “Cranberry Chorus” is a real-life story of a choir of deaf children that takes place in the town of Cranberry in the American West coast. It tells the story of an autistic boy who joins a choir of deaf-mute children and discovers the secrets of the choir as he tries to fit in with the other children. The film not only exposes the special education but also gives a glimpse of the reality between the minority and mainstream groups.
“I started paying my attention to special education in the United States because for the past ten years I’ve watched my cousin who has been constantly fighting this imperfect system of special education for my autistic nephews in this system. Her experience gave me a lot of support for the background of this story. I later came in contact with a non-profit organization for deaf children, whose principal really put a lot of effort into bringing more attention to these deaf children by holding various activities, performances, and interest classes for them. Once I went to their singing training, I wondered what the children would think about standing there. Are they really happy? Do they really know what they’re doing? Because they can’t hear their own voices, it’s actually kind of hard to get them to open their mouths, and the unknown can make them shy, scared, and afraid. Because this is not the way, they express and express their emotions. It seems like a wonderful thing we did for them but there are many contradictions because there is no right or wrong. It’s a problem that is worth exploring because it exists not only in the deaf community but also in the special education system, which is the reality between the minority and the dominant group.“
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I started my movie life as a film critic since 2010. In 2015, I was accepted by the Cinema and Media studies MA program in the University of Southern California, Cinematic Arts School. In that period, I specialized in film encoding and decoding, which allows me to be familiar with audiences’ psychological cognition of a film. In 2017, I accepted by the Film Production, MFA program in the University of Southern California. In the same year, my short film “Waiting for the Wind,” earned Award of Recognition: Women Filmmakers in Best Shorts 2017 and was selected into Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner and Bechdel Film Festival. In 2019, my film “The concert of Life” got into FLICKFAIR Film Festival, Los Angeles Television, Script, and Film Festival, California Women’s Film Festival, LA Live Film Festival, Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, Tokyo Lift-Off Film Festival, LA Short International Film Festival, Cine Gear Expo Film Series, more than 15 film festivals, The film “Cranberry Chorus” starts distributing, and got into Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series, HollyShorts Film Festival won the Gold Remi Award in 55th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.
So when I look back, I can’t complain, it’s been easier than most people.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started my movie life as a film critic. My critical thinking provided me with a unique vision of being a film director. My motivation of being a director is deeply influenced by philosopher Roland Barthes and the Gestalt Psychology, which is an interdisciplinary between cognitive psychology and iconology, to construct a model to analyze how audiences decode a film. However, when I was looking for a story or creating a story, it didn’t sound so rational. Most of my movies are based on or inspired by a true story. My film “Waiting for the Wind” is under the context of 2017 California wildfires’ natural disaster. “The concert of Life” represents a group of artists’ status quo including herself who are living in a chaotic life but still insist on their dream and hope. My new movie Cranberry Chorus is about the deaf-mute community, which is a once true the existing choir which is made up of 10 deaf kids, the story takes place in a small town that produces cranberries.
In order to restore the truest stories and characters, I learned sign language for three months and visited more than 20 schools for the deaf and dumb and cranberry fields around the world in two years. Rejected, questioned, and opposed, I have encountered a lot of challenges, but I will treat these challenges as an experience. All of my main kid actors are casted from the deaf community, and they don’t have acting experience before. There are no performances in this movie, all of them are their truest reactions. I hope this film will not only let more people know the true story of the Cranberry Chorus but also these wonderful children! “Cranberry Chorus” will be shown in Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series in NY on 11/05/2022! Now, I am developing my new sci-fi TV series, “Black moon.”
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Film is just a language and a medium, and learning film is just a way to express a thought, a perception, an opinion through this medium. The prerequisite is that you have to have a field of thought and content to generate cognition and insight. Putting aside the film technicians, studying film is a cross-disciplinary subject that involves philosophy, psychology, anthropology, history, geography, technology, engineering, architecture, and art.
However, since everyone is different and has a different background, my advice is not to listen to other people’s advice.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.linastudioinc.com
- Instagram: lina_yuchen_guan_li
