Daily Inspiration: Meet Hongyu An

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hongyu An

Hi Hongyu, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I majored in sociology in college, and my main focus was rural China. After my first fieldwork during college, I wrote down the following paragraph in the epilogue of my field journal: “Life experiences of diverse interviewees sound like fiction to us at times, while the fact is that these are what epitomize many of contemporary Chinese people. We could see the ups and downs in people’s life, some of which correlate with historical changes and political events, some might be due to all sorts of accidental mishaps, while others are nothing but the outcomes of their previous actions. When people talk about these important life events, one word is repetitively mentioned. That word is “fate/destiny” (“Fate” and “Destiny” are the same word in Chinese.) What I could see clearly from these interview records is how people strive through their fate. The village is thus endowed with myriad possibilities.”

It was when I watched a film about a sexual assault case titled Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu, 2017) that I started to become interested in film and other types of drama. At that time, I was still a sociology-majored sophomore. When I watched the film, I could simultaneously feel its reflection of the reality of social issues and its artistic value as a form of cinema, and I was stunned by it. Until now, I’m still most attracted by films concerning social issues and humanistic values, which is partly due to my undergraduate experiences. Studying sociology and conducting field study in China, one of the biggest and most complex social experiment fields, makes it hard for people not to pay attention to all sorts of social issues.

Besides, I am also conscious of my female identity and am extremely willing to make full use of it in film. I always pay extra attention to female characters in a film. When I was pursuing my M.A. degree at Duke University, my main academic focus was film theory, gender studies and East Asian Studies. I could not help but notice how female characters created by female filmmakers are always different from those created by male filmmakers.

After obtaining my M.A. degree, I returned to China and started a job at a streaming platform in China as an associate producer. My basic responsibilities were sifting through project proposals, searching for literary works that are suitable for drama adaptation, offering advice on drama scripts and following up on projects in progress. To increase my on-set skills and to see if I can accumulate my experience in producing narrative films, I decided to pursue an MFA and fortunately got admitted into AFI as a producing fellow.

My first year at AFI has just ended. During the past year, I produced three cycle films, wrote one of the three scripts, and crewed on a lot of sets. After stepping into this industry and trying to participate in creating works myself, I am more determined that I am enthusiastic in what I am doing right now.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’m grateful that my family has always been supportive of my choices, but I can’t say it has always been a smooth road for me to choose film as my career, because I basically had zero experience and my educational background is unrelated to film as well before I stepped into this industry. To choose film is equivalent to a completely new starting point from scratch. Moreover, as a foreigner working in the film industry in Los Angeles, the cultural and language barriers are significant challenges. I need to put in extra effort to understand the cultural context and adapt to the storytelling patterns here. But I am not usually someone who finds facing challenges painful or difficult. I believe overcoming them is a way of taking responsibility for my choices, and it is something I am very willing and must do.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Due to my busy campus life and the format of the school’s curriculum, I’m mainly focused on producing short films now. Because of my educational and professional background, my main strength is in story development. I am confident in my ability to help develop a concept or story from its initial idea to its full form. Usually when I can understand the background and context of the story better, I do a better job. This is also why I often prioritize themes related to women and Asian/Chinese subjects. I am proud that I can bring these stories about traditionally marginalized and underrepresented topics in commercial cinema to a wider audience through film, allowing more people to see and empathize with them.

How do you think about happiness?
Work-wise, of course, the sense of accomplishment from completing a project brings me the greatest happiness. As a producer, you need to be involved from the script development stage all the way through to the post-production and even the promotion phase. This complete sense of involvement is important to me and is why I enjoy doing my current job.

In life, I am someone who definitely needs to fully immerse myself in something for a period of time—it could be a TV show, a kind of sports, or even a reality show—basically, I need to wholeheartedly invest my energy into something when I’m outside of work. My happiness comes from seeing characters I like experience positive developments, or from watching a favorite athlete win a match. It may seem simple, but truly finding something that you genuinely like and can devote your passion into isn’t always easy. And when I do find something, it’s the time that I can genuinely feel happy (or hurt sometimes, as well).

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/expectopatronm28?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr