CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION
MOOD BOARD
WAIT FOR ME (AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) ‧ Haunted by a tragic past, a queer romance novelist finds solace in a mysterious woman at a seaside hotel. “Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Sea” is an elegy for love lost and a muted melodrama told in a seamless blending of real time, fantasy, and remembrance.
MISSION STATEMENT
As a queer Asian woman filmmaker, I strive to provide representations of my community beyond commonly portrayed stereotypes and themes. I hope by bringing this story to life, it will illustrate the universality of unprocessed trauma and its devastating impacts.
WHY ME/WHY THIS/WHY NOW
Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, I was always told as a girl to hide my emotions - "don't make a scene!" or "don't take up space!." When my mom started experiencing constant panic attacks in my teenage years, she was taken to an exorcist instead of a psychologist. I carried the tendency to repress any traumatic feelings and to feel gulity for existing well into my adulthood, resulting in anxiety disorder and depression.
The protagonist in Wait for Me (at The Bottom of The Sea) deals with unprocessed guilt and trauma by negating her own existence. A chance encounter with a mysterious, woeful young woman provides the catharsis she doesn’t realize she is looking for. The characters and story have been in my head for years. I hope by bringing this story to life, it will highlight the importance of emotional expressions and trauma processing, and it will be a cathartic experience for myself and those who are like me.
This film also exemplifies my pursuit of the transcendental style in film and my passion for blending real time, fantasy, and memory in storytelling. I want to make a visually striking film with a careful arrangement of narrative patterns and details that remain remote. Influenced by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Poetic Cinema, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s soulful humanism, and Tsai Ming-liang’s Contemplative Cinema, my films like to explore the metaphysical, random mysteries and paradoxes of the universe. I believe this is a great way to investigate a theme and issue without being didactic. It is my constant striving towards the ineffable and invisible.
INFLUENCES
THE TEAM