We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Jiang a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alex thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

As a filmmaker, it has always been easy for me to come up with an idea. What’s tough is to sit behind the desk and actually start to work on it, to bring it to life.

I envisioned my first feature script in 2021 during the pandemic. It was a script based on a true story, sparring from a casual conversation with my mom. Back then, I had only experiences with short films and working on a feature seemed to be an unaccomplishable mission. But I didn’t want to wait for the “right time” to come.

Since the story is a period piece happening in China, I spent a few weeks doing research and collecting enough historical anecdotes to support my writing. Then, for the next two months, I took advantage of my writing class at school and planned out the treatment, outline, and character bio for the script.

Writing was a difficult process, especially when it wasn’t a commissioned piece or a school assignment. I had to work on my own time with no one giving deadlines or supervision. I had to be my own writer, director, and producer at the same time, scrutinizing every character and storyline to make sure that the story is interesting enough while also financially producible.

The script was eventually completed by 2022 in English and entered multiple screenwriting competitions. However, this was never a guarantee for production. Because the story is set in China, it was relatively hard to find American funds. So the next step I took was translating the entire script into Chinese and sought for Chinese funding opportunities such as filmmakers’ labs and fellowships.

Then in 2023, I was chosen to participate in the Shanghai International Film Festival’s SIFF NEXT lab. There, I had the chance to meet amazing fellow filmmakers, including directors, producers, and screenwriters, and discuss my script with them. I also got to listen in to the pitching process for films seeking financial support and take master classes from established filmmakers to get insider perspectives on the industry.

Although the script is not yet going into production as of now, this process has been a valuable learning experience for me, for I now gain a more thorough understanding of the pre-production and production phases of a feature and can apply them to my future projects.

Alex, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Alex Jiang, a filmmaker born and raised in China. I am currently based in New York and spent five years living in Los Angeles before moving to New York. I earned my BFA Film & Television Production degree at University of Southern California and am now pursuing my Grad Film degree at New York University.

As of now, I am working as a freelancing screenwriter/director/producer. The films I made are mainly narrative and documentary short projects, but I am also currently producing a documentary feature titled Tashe, featuring the first Tibetan woman who openly shares her experience of living with HIV. Additionally, I am also developing several narrative feature concepts.

As an Asian queer woman, I mainly focus on topics of gender, race, and social issues. It has always been my drive to create contents that reflect a different side of Asian female stories. We are always the silent minority in the mainstream media, and it’s my wish to create a liberating representation of Asian women on screen, to present the audience with a Chinese woman marching her way, not elegantly but powerfully, through sweat and tear, to her own liberation.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There are multiple rewarding aspects of being a filmmaker. The first one is collaboration. I always consider myself an introvert, but when it comes to filmmaking, I really enjoy and even rely on the collaboration process for it continuously inspires and aspires me to seek more possibilities. Unlike many other art forms, film cannot be done alone. It requires all departments to communicate, brainstorm, and work together under a special chemistry to deliver the final vision. To that extent, the final production becomes a collective vision of the crew and cast, rather than the vision of the director alone.

Another rewarding aspect of being a filmmaker is the freedom in world-building. As someone who’s interested in genre films, I’m always excited to explore high-concept contents that require world-building elements. It is an immersive experience to start from scratch and construct an imaginary world that operates within its own realm but at the same time is succinct enough so the audiences can easily grasp it without much effort. Using elements of sound, music, visual imagery, and writing, I can build a world that exists not only within my imagination but also on the screen for more to see. That, to me, is the ultimate blessing as a filmmaker.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Before I dived into a deep search, I never realized how many filmmaker fellowships, workshops, grants, and labs are out there. There are many separate niche categories aiming at documentaries, narratives, short films, animations, APPI, and BIPOC filmmakers. Virtually everyone can find a fellowship that fits their project out there.

These fellowships and grants offer not only financial support but also educational and networking opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers. They can also expose new filmmakers to industry resources such as production and distribution companies and help them meet fellow creators that they can potentially work with on future projects.

Additionally, there are also numerous cultural organizations out there that might not be focusing on films but are willing to support low-budget film projects. These organizations had given me a lot of unconditional financial support and screening opportunities when I was producing my own projects, and I encourage new filmmakers like me to actively reach out and ask for help during the fundraising process.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alexjiang1999.com
• Instagram: this.is.alex.jiang