Peier "Tracy" Shen is a young writer and director from Wuxi, China, who has been studying, living, and creating films in the United States for a number of years now. As a child she wanted to become a pianist, but this slowly evolved into a passion for writing. During college she realized that film combined many artistic mediums, including music and writing, so over a summer break in Shanghai, she picked up a camera and decided to direct for the first time. Now, she is a graduate from American Film Institute and currently resides in Los Angeles with a number of completed short films under her belt.
Following our interview with Director Patricia Chica about Morning After, and upcoming feature Montréal Girls, it was announced today that she has been selected as one of the 10 Canadian directors to be part of the TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2018. The Filmmaker lab is a highly curated creative development program and will be held during the Toronto International Film Festival.
Part II—Past experiences and journeying on to the feature film
K: How has your experience with shorts prepared you for your first feature?
M: I think this is the right time for my first feature. I have been involved in many shorts and have been going through this process for years. I have also worked on my feature script for two years and I owe everything to the work I’ve done so far.… read more.
Director More Raça grew up in Kosovo and currently resides in Pristina. She has directed numerous well-received shorts such as “Home”, “Ajo”, and “Amel”, and continues to spread awareness about the social issues that affect fellow women in her country. In our two-part interview, she talks about how she started out in film, why she tells the stories of women's daily struggles, and where she is at with her first feature film.
“Life is a box of chocolates” is a phrase that has been spread far and wide since we heard it first from Forrest Gump’s mother. Put that box in the center of a welcome home party, replace ‘life’ with sexuality, add lots of French kissing, and here you have the start to Director Patricia Chica’s Morning After. The 15 minute short film plunges you into the deep end with its vast amount of kissing (and yes, there’s a lot of it).… read more.
I think back on the first film I ever worked on. It was directed by a woman, Ursula Ellis. At the time she was in the midst of her MFA at Columbia, and she already had some impressive projects under her belt in her production company name, Little Bear Pictures.
