AsianWeek

On the Other Side of the Camera
Actress Joan Chen moves easily into her new role as director

By Justin Lowe

For many actors, moving behind the camera can be tentative, awkward, even disastrous. But for Joan Chen, whose directorial debut Xiu Xiu premiered last year, the shift has been so smooth and successful as to seem almost a given.

Chen, known for her performances in The Last Emperor, Heaven and Earth and the TV series Twin Peaks is attending the International Film Financing Conference (IFFCON) today through Sunday in San Francisco in the hopes of securing funding for Fusang, a new feature film project about a late-19th century San Francisco Chinatown prostitute and a contemporary Chinese American novelist who attempts to come to terms with the difficult histories of her immigrant predecessors.

Chen raised more than $1 million for Xiu Xiu from overseas Chinese contributors and is hoping that similar support will help meet Fusang's anticipated $4 million budget.

In a recent interview at a Union Street cafe, Chen, 37, described her work as an attempt "to show the map of the human heart and create a diversity of vision in film."

The movie theater is "the church for the non-religious" she says. "I want to make pictures so people will feel the same as I do [about them]."

Fusang is Chen's second collaboration with Alameda writer Yan Geling, who authored the book of the same name as well as the story Tian Yu, which formed the basis forthe Xiu Xiu script. Chen clearly takes a personal interest in her film's principal characters, noting that as a Chinese immigrant to the United States, "I'm sort of the same person" as Fusang, an actual historical figure.

Xiu Xiu also drew on Chen's personal experience-examining a period of her youth growing up in Cultural Revolution-era China. Unlike many of her contemporaries and the character Xiu Xiu, she escaped being "sent down" to the countryside for re-education by going to the Shanghai Film Studio in 1975. As the story of a young woman exiled to the Tibetan countryside and her desperate descent into self-imposed prostitution in an attempt to return home, Xiu Xiu was Chen's way of commemorating the "last generation that came of age" during that tumultuous period.

Fusang will acknowledge a different Chinese generation-the first to settle in the United States. Chen hopes to begin shooting the film in San Francisco later this year, with an anticipated release date in late 2000. While no specific talent is attached to the project yet, actress Gong Li has reportedly read Yan's novel and David Henry Hwang has expressed interest in writing the screenplay.

Regardless of Fusang's final configuration, Chen remains one of the few Asian American women directing medium-budget movies. "I think there are more opportunities now than there were 10 years ago" to pursue filmmaking, Chen says, though she acknowledges that all women face obstacles in her profession. However, Chen shrugs the difficulties off as "just life," instead focusing on the strengths of Asian American women.

For instance, Chen says living in China and immigrating to the United States has given her the perspective to examine the two cultures with detachment.

"My life experience growing up in a different culture gave me an open mind and broadened my horizons," Chen observes. She contends that audiences have a "hunger" for that kind of variety-different cultures, colors and ideas. "I want to make those differences attractive."

Moviegoers worldwide will soon have a chance to see Chen's vision of cultural diversity for themselves-distribution rights for Xiu Xiu have been sold in 20 countries and the film will open nationwide this spring. Meanwhile, she will use her high-profile appearance at IFFCON, where Xiu Xiu will screen in the conference's second annual "Asian Directors Film Series," to seek funding for Fusang-and possibly generate some buzz among San Francisco's glitterati.

As for the future, Chen says "I definitely want to act again." But for the moment, she's not revealing whether she's reserving a role for herself in Fusang.

At 6:30 Saturday, Chen will introduce IFFCON's screening of Xiu Xiu, to be followed at 9:30 by 12 Storeys, a film from Singapore by Eric Khoo. For the full Asian Directors Film Series schedule, call 415-281-9777.

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