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

Wenqin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Without hesitation, the answer is, yes! I always enjoy being an artist. No matter whether it is in front of the camera or behind the camera. I love to create meaningful stories in a visual way, and I also enjoy exploring self confidence in front of the camera. Of course, enjoyment doesn’t mean it is easy. Oftentimes, it is very hard to maintain as an artist because we don’t have a static income. Usually, it is just project to project, freelance style. There might be times you get several projects at the same time. Crazy busy but also good income.

Sometimes, it is quiet and can be very stressful financially. More than that, if you are directing and producing your own project with a limited budget. Besides how stressful it is, it also depends on your networking. How many friends you have to support your artwork by either being free labor and aiming for film festival awards or funding the project or even a simple encouragement is very helpful to convert to motivation for me to keep moving on.
As a filmmaker, it is always hard and stressful before you get famous or weighted in the industry. I see many people give up in the middle and jump into a regular job or have a regular job and have filmmaking as a side hobby. For me, I believe, if you are really passionate about something, you should put 100% effort into it. It is not a hobby, it is not a once in a while thing but a dream you should consistently work on it. Of course, you won’t know when or if ever you will be successful with what you want to achieve but if you never work on it, it will never happen.

Yes, sometimes I do wonder what it would be like to have a regular job but that thought passes very quickly. I had a very high paid job for three years as an assistant for the chairman of a company. I lived a luxurious life but I lost happiness and passion. I felt everyday was the same day as a prisoner. So yeah, no matter how many times I have to choose, I would make the same decision, quit my well paid job and follow my heart. Pursuing arts as my main job. My dream is ambitious. I want to win an Oscar some day in the future and I will keep working hard on it, and never give up.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I wanted to pursue arts when I was a kid but the teacher told us, only the kid who failed all other subjects will pursue arts. I swalled my dreams down under the pressure of the culture. I used to be an obedient daughter who followed whatever my parents thought was best. I spent two years finishing a four year program as my first bachelor’s degree with the major my parents chose for me, economics. I had a well paid job that maintained a luxury life, I’m able to travel around the world freely. If you ask me, am I happy? No, I felt like a prisoner, three years later. I made the first decision by myself. I quit the job and went to the mountain region to be a volunteer teacher for half a year. I spent most of my savings to help these village people. Everyone thought I was crazy, my mother even told me, if I do it, I’m no longer her daughter. This time, I refused to be obedient and I didn’t feel guilty saying no anymore.

My second life changing decision was moving toward my dream, my heart and my soul, to be a storyteller. I came to the U.S. and started my second and third bachelor degrees in Film Media and Drama. Sometimes, I still have the obedient side that I have been raised that way. I’m still working on being a better version of myself, every day.

I want to be a successful female director in the future and prove to my culture, to my parents, to myself that people who pursue arts can be successful in every matter they want. I want to show whoever struggles or lives under either the judgment from the culture or others, your life is only once and what matters is to live every minute of your life for yourself, it’s the key to make yourself happy and your dreams come true.

Now, I’m a screenwriter, director, producer and production designer as a filmmaker. I have directed and produced several projects in a range of short films, commercials and music videos. I’m currently working on my first feature film script and hope to make it come true in the near future. I’m also a model and actress. Being in front of the camera not only contributes to self-confidence but also helps me to have a better understanding and communication with my actors.

Besides work, I’m a huge fan of nature and adventure activities. I love climbing, caving, canyoneering, scuba diving and dancing. Whenever I have free time, I’m always in nature to create memories. My favorite genre of film is psychological thriller, Black mirror is my favorite TV show of all time. I used to fear heights and scary movies so I encouraged myself to face my fear until they became my strength and even hobbies. I enjoy the journey to always learn more and keep improving myself in all the aspects.

In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think it will be great if there is a charity for independent filmmakers or artists, to create a pitch once every two weeks and select the top three projects to make it happen. From photo shoots to a feature film. Whoever wants to attend for the future sublimation has to contribute to other projects as a volunteer worker or to provide location or equipment. In that case, there will be more and more creative projects being made and more voices can be heard. Beneficial to everyone.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As a filmmaker, the most rewarding aspect is when your story either makes your audience laugh or cry. My goal is to keep making these stories that can make my audience feel something. No matter if it is negative or positive. The key is to stay real and have strong impact emotionally. Film is a journey we might not have experienced at all, but we always enjoy the ride of experience with the characters. As a model and actress, to use my knowledge from filmmaking either for lighting the scene to create stills or express the emotion to enhance the story, it is always rewarding to me to see how beautiful the work turns out to inspire more people to pursue art. There is no limitation for creativity, and it is always enjoyable to keep creating.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: melodytwotwo
• Facebook: Wenqin Ni

Image Credits
Credit by: Miguel Tafich, Zachary Lee