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

Xinhao, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

For me, the most meaningful project is the film “Red Man,” which I recently won the Best Experimental Film award for at the LA Shorts International Film Festival. Prior to this, I had never taken on such a significant challenge. My previous films did not involve such complex long shots, but I managed to achieve it this time. I have never collaborated so closely with a cinematographer as I did on this project. Because we needed to shoot a challenging long take, we spent a long time in pre-production and had numerous discussions, especially regarding actor scheduling.

For a director, receiving accolades at an international film festival is an immensely joyful experience. However, beyond that, this honor serves as a driving force for me to create better works. I am learning a great deal through this project. Particularly, I am learning how to efficiently coordinate between all departments, especially the cinematography and art departments, within an extremely tight timeframe. The collaboration between these two is the most crucial aspect for me and an indispensable part of my short film, “Red Man.”

Due to time constraints during our pre-production phase, we held two highly efficient meetings before shooting to discuss how to achieve the visual effects I desired and ensure that everything appearing in the frame was meaningful and contributed to the narrative. Although two meetings may seem insufficient, the first one helped us establish a general direction, and the second one allowed us to refine the details. We essentially completed our pre-production work.

During the shooting phase, our seamless cooperation was the result of effective communication without any misunderstandings. The most valuable lesson I have learned is that efficient and meaningful communication is essential, regardless of whom you are working with.

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 back background and context?

I am a film director. Prior to this, my professional background was in finance. Due to my boundless love for filmmaking, I overcame numerous challenges, self-taught myself filmmaking, and directed two films. Subsequently, I was admitted to the top-ranked film school in the United States, American Film Institute Conservatory. Now, I am about to graduate and have become a professional director. My filmmaking style is highly diverse, encompassing genres such as Drama, Family Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, and more. Among them, I excel in Family Drama and Comedy. Recently, I wrote and directed an award-winning short film, “Red Man,” which is a Dark Comedy.

I was born into a relatively traditional Chinese family, so we have typical Asian cultural values. Typically, my parents place a strong emphasis on family, which has deeply influenced my creative work. Especially when one of my family members entered prison five years ago, my mother and I leaned on each other and endured a challenging five years. This experience led me to observe my family in a more detailed manner. Naturally, my life experiences have greatly impacted my storytelling.

My upcoming graduation film tells the story of a single-parent family. It’s the project I am currently most proud of. My graduation film at the American Film Institute had a substantial budget, exceeding $70,000, and it’s the largest-scale short film I’ve ever shot. The preparation for this short film took over half a year, and we followed highly standardized industrial procedures during the shoot. I believe the final result of the film is excellent, and we are about to complete it for screening at film festivals.

The film portrays the journey of a professional off-road athlete as he grows amidst the pressures of competition and those around him. This film encompasses five different locations and was shot within a mere six days. Over 50 actors participated in the film, including a long take involving 40 extras that needed to be completed in under five takes. It was nearly impossible, but we accomplished it, and the result was quite satisfactory.

As a director, I believe my role is to continuously confront new challenges and find the best possible solutions in my own unique way. Simultaneously, I aim to convey my viewpoints through storytelling in a manner that is entirely my own. I hope to keep observing life, learning, and becoming a dedicated storyteller. What I aspire to most is that through my films, I can raise awareness about injustices happening in the world and contribute in some small way to making this vast world a better place.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that our daily lives are filled with all kinds of changes instead of being the same. Because we are constantly creating new things. And also, in this process, whether we like it or not, we need to keep learning about everything in the world.

Many of my friends around me lead a stagnant life, which, while stable, lacks excitement and hope. For me, as a film director, the ability to turn the exploration of the mysteries and philosophies of human life into my profession is incredibly fortunate. Every day, I strive to create new art.

As I continue to explore the forms of expression in film, I need to learn new things every day and understand different ways of life from various people. This way, the art I create remains fresh and meaningful.

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

I wish that I didn’t have more opportunities and resources to travel to different places around the world earlier. For me, experiencing and feeling the world is a crucial part of being a director. I believe that if I had traveled to more places in the past, I might have had a deeper understanding of the world and myself. In that case, I think the films I make would have more richness in layers and depth of thought.

As a film director, I sometimes feel that my experiences are limited, and my life experiences are not diverse enough. This can lead to a more narrow perspective when conceptualizing stories and a lack of abundant inspiration. If I had the chance to explore different aspects of the world more, I believe I would have more mature insights than I do now.

However, at the same time, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing because perhaps as I grow older, my perspective on the world will change. Traveling with new perspectives at that time, I believe I might be able to stand at a higher level and see a more comprehensive view of the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://xinhaovioletlu.com/
• Instagram: violetfilming__
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC__GnDL9nzAy-V3R4MXGHw
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user147794299