Rising Stars: Meet Dazhi Huang

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dazhi Huang.

Hi Dazhi, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My first cinema experience was at the movie theater next to my apartment in Shenzhen, China. I was seven, and my mom took me to watch Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour; even though now I hear a lot of bad reviews about this film, I was utterly amazed by the explosive illusion it provides, as well as the anti-war message it sends, and it became my favorite movie for a decade.

My first experience with video arts also happened in my hometown, around 2009- I was visiting the local Contemporary Arts Museum, and it was showcasing artworks from 30 emerging American artists, and many of the video installations deeply touched me and instigated my interests more to pursue in practicing moving images.

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?
It has never been a smooth road, there are lots of defeats and rejections, and that’s why it’s always essential that friends, family, and people who understand me are there for me through the hard times. Thus I’m lucky and privileged- I’ve been given enough support to have the courage to face what’s to come.

I have another struggle: the fear that my works couldn’t keep up with the time and very moment we live in, but eventually, I let go of such fear and believed in my gut when I was creating new works. When we take some time and look back at certain works, we will find them surprisingly timely, and I believe this will be how people see my pieces one day.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I mostly make narrative short films that combine documentary quality and mentality. I’ve been known for a hyper-realistic with melodrama approach among my filmmaking friends. In my opinion, many of our day-to-day behaviors do not match our preconceived logic. If we recreate our real-life behavior in a movie exactly as it is, the audiences will feel over-the-top and even slap-sticks (Look at Putin). And this is why melodrama is the best medium to reflect our state of mind in real life and society’s collective mentality.

Beyond that, the imagery is also a big part of my films. They are hyper-realistic, sensational, and, most importantly, opinionated. I like to carefully construct the elements in my framings to communicate my worldviews with others in an aesthetically-pleasing way. And I want every audience to feel the sensuality after watching my film, whether they like it or not.

A review from a film festival that has included my film in their program says: ’poignant tale of rueful love reborn – woozy, distant cinematography wonderfully captured the alienating facets of big city life.’ That also accurately describes the arts I make – an explosive power hidden under the big cities’ repressed nature.’ Such stylistic choice will connect even more deeply with an audience from the LGBTQ+ community – under the seemingly organized and oppressive urban spaces, you can always find corners full of energy and purely human. More than diving deep into the struggles, I like to explore each character by filming them moving around the urban spaces- how they interact with the city also manifest their worldviews and personalities.

How do you define success?
My definition of success is that people can feel how I feel through my work and find that click- which creates a collective memory that reflects the mentality of our time.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.dazhi-huang.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lsife/
• Youtube: https://vimeo.com/user17265324

Image Credits
1. Still from Xmas eve eve (2021, DP: Gianna Badiali; Cast: Christian Elan Ortiz, Javan Nelson) 2. Poster from Xmas eve eve (2021, DP: Gianna Badiali; Cast: Christian Elan Ortiz, Javan Nelson; Graphic Design: Dazhi Huang) 3. Still from Travel through the milky way (2021, Artist: Fifi Zhang; Animator: Leah Lin; DP: Dazhi Huang; After Effects Compositing: Dazhi Huang) 4. Still from Travel through the milky way (2021, Artist: Fifi Zhang; Animator: Leah Lin; DP: Dazhi Huang; After Effects Compositing: Dazhi Huang) 5. Still from Travel through the milky way (2021, Artist: Fifi Zhang; Animator: Leah Lin; DP: Dazhi Huang; After Effects Compositing: Dazhi Huang) 6. Still from Sunset Park, warehouse (2019; DP: Eloise Sherrid; Cast: Daniel Anthony Hildalgo) 7. Dazhi Huang photo