Meet Yichen Ma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yichen Ma.

Hi Yichen, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in a small town in Hebei, China. Growing up, I was a little bookworm. After school, the kids in my neighborhood always gathered to play outside but I often sat by my window reading Sherlock Holmes or Express Wu‘s biography instead. There was one time that we had a small earthquake and everyone rushed out of their apartments. My mom couldn’t find me anywhere because I was busy reading Jin Yong’s The Legend of the Condor Heroes in the bathroom.

My father was my first film teacher. He worked overseas since I was born. There wasn’t much we could talk about when he was home after a three-month absence. One time I saw him watching Slumdog Millionaire. He saw that I was intrigued, so he shared his screen. We finished the film together and couldn’t stop discussing it. Ever since, he would send me films that he watched during his business trips as gifts. Later on, I was sent to boarding school for high school and I managed to smuggle an mp4 player. Every night after the bedtime bell, I would hide under the bedsheets watching a film.

I did not choose film as my major in the first place. I was a biochem student. During my sophomore year, I had a moment of crisis of not knowing what I want to do and what my life’s purpose is. One day I saw Peter Chan’s Dearest, which is about a real-life child abduction. The film was so influential that it brought the missing case to the attention of the whole nation. It hit me so hard that I felt selfish, focusing on my tiny crisis of loss. I want to make films that allow people to escape their dilemmas and regain the hope and energy to fight for a better world. Seven years later, while I was studying at American Film Institute, the kid in the news had been found.

Dearest is my lighthouse. Character-driven narratives have become my passion. When the characters are put in a situation without a simple right or wrong solution, their choices reflect on humanity. If the story is meaningful and well-told, humanity will extend from the screen to real life. And the world will respond to it.

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?
When I was about to graduate from UC San Diego, I decided to make a film. It wasn’t required for course credit but I wanted to direct a film as a souvenir of my college life. At that time, I had no proper knowledge of how to write, direct or produce a film. On the first day of the production, two hours after our call time, I was 40 miles away from the set, waiting to pick up a picture vehicle. Most of the shots I designed did not work because of space limitations. Half of our first-day footage had a C-stand in the frame. We were so behind that we had to shoot night for day, but we didn’t have adequate equipment to create daylight. Almost every aspect of the film went wrong. We barely slept for 96 hours to power through the shoot.  It was an awful but meaningful experience and I learned so much about how specific and detailed planning is needed in prep. Two months later, I produced a smaller scale short with a friend which went way smoother than the previous one. After that positive producing experience, I decide to apply to the American Film Institute producing program to sharpen my skills further.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a producer and I primarily focus on narrative films. I am really proud of my last short Tian Hei Hei. It’s a story about the “loss of innocence” of two kids growing up in a low-income and marginalized migrant workers’ community in Shanghai in 2003. It captures the epitome of Chinese developing society in the early 21st century and poses a question about parenthood. When we were children, it was unpredictable when the “growing-up” moments would come and so we were thrown into situations that forced us to be brave and strong before we were ready. These experiences build us into who we are today and the film is a powerful depiction of this growth process. Now the film is in a festival run. I’m very excited to see where it lands.

Recently, I produced an indie feature about an orthodox Jewish boy who finds peace with his homosexuality. I’m always looking for content that is rooted in social awareness. True-life-inspired narratives are the path I’d like to continue on. As a Chinese female filmmaker, I’m also very grateful for how Hollywood is starting to embrace Asian stories. Blending stories from my own culture with universal concepts to connect worldwide audiences is part of my mission statement.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risks always come before fortune. Fortune is not only monetary but also can be valuable lessons. I wouldn’t consider myself an active risk-taker, but I have been training myself to take risks when they come. The biggest part of risk-taking is to overcome the fear of uncertainty and possible failure. My trick is to always focus on what you could possibly gain rather than what you could possibly lose. Be prepared that there will be more obstacles after taking the initial risk, but also remember that every problem is solvable. To me, switching from biochem to film was a big risk but now here I am, a producer who just finished her first feature.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chenyi_m7/
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11644288/

Image Credits
Haohui Li