CWDW Interviews...Andrew Ahn

I'm super excited about today's interview because it features one of my best friends, Andrew Ahn.

Andrew is a filmmaker. He writes his films as well as directs them. He is another one of my crazy friends who studied one thing in college--Biology and English--and then went off and studied something completely different--Directing. Which is a good thing because his short film, Dol, made it into Sundance last year. I'm thinking he made the right decision to give up fruit flies for filmmaking. 

Andrew was the second person I knew in boarding school. He was friends with my roommate and his name came up even before any of us stepped foot on campus. We became acquaintances, having some classes together and mutual friends. As someone who worked on the school yearbook, Andrew is also the one responsible for every ridiculously bad photo of me in any of the yearbooks from high school. Thanks.

We then went to college together, where we became even better friends. It was in college that Andrew really started getting into filmmaking. Being his friend, an actress, and housemate senior year,  I was in a lot of his films in college. A lot. 

Basically Andrew has the largest collection of possible blackmail photos to use against me in the future. So he shall remain my BFF...not getting on his bad side! 

Anyway, Andrew is the bomb diggity.  So here is his interview:

Andrew Ahn

Filmmaker

CWDW: When did you decide you wanted to become a filmmaker?

Andrew: I feel like I’m still deciding! Filmmaking is difficult and the medium constantly challenges you. The medium is so expansive. What kind of films do I want to make? What kind of filmmaker do I want to be? These questions are really difficult to answer and it’s really easy to give up and find something else. But there’s something about the challenge that inspires me.

You often write the pieces you direct. How do you balance both roles as writer and director? How do they inform each other and/or work against each other?

It’s an interesting process, for sure. I remember when I directed my last film, I was on set speaking with the actors and the scene just wasn’t coming together. And I thought, “God, who wrote this crap?” Me.

Writing for the screen is tricky, because a screenplay is not a finished product. It’s simply a blueprint, an intermediate step. A screenplay is not precious. Also, writing and film are totally different mediums. It’s like trying to take a photograph based on a painting.

For writer/directors of film, I think there are two approaches. One is to write whatever the hell you want. And then you hand it over (to yourself), and you let the director interpret literary style into visual style. The other approach is to write with the visual medium in mind. It’s like taking dictation for the film playing in your head. I take the second approach because it feels simpler. I try to write only what I can see or hear on screen.

This can be limiting in some ways, because I think the conflict in translating literary to visual can bring up some great stuff. But it works for me, for now. I’d love to direct something I haven’t written. I think it’d be a lot of fun.

Your film, Dol, was an incredibly personal piece in many ways. Do you mind sharing why you made this film?

I made DOL to come out to my parents. I knew I wouldn't be able to tell them, to say the words "I'm gay." So I cast my family in the film, but never told them that it was about a gay Korean-American man. The filmmaking process both distracted from and prepared me for the inevitable -- that I would eventually have to show my parents the finished film.

I think there’s a lot to say about expressing yourself through your art. Sometimes situations are too hot to deal with directly. You burn yourself. And art is a way to communicate something with at least a little distance. You can put something in the way – a film, a novel, a painting.

If you could work with one famous director who would it be and why?

John Cassavetes. His films are messes! In the best and worst ways. I feel like my strength and weakness as a director is that I love to control and craft a moment from the very beginning to the end of the creative process. But when you watch a Cassavetes film, it always feels like Cassavetes was totally cool with letting go to find a moment. It feels like jazz, riffing off a melody.

If you’ve never seen a Cassavetes film, watch A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE and OPENING NIGHT. Right now.

What's next for you? What are you working on now?

I’m writing a few different feature film projects. I don’t think I’m quite ready to graduate from short films, but I figured I’d give it a shot. I love the short form, but it’s impossible to have a career as a filmmaker if you just make shorts.

One script is a coming of age story about a young gay teen. The second script is about a crazy Korean grandmother who kidnaps her grandchild from her gay son because she doesn’t approve of him raising the child.

Have you ever felt a little lost? If so, what helped/helps you find your way?

I always feel a little lost! I think in order to be creative, you have to feel like there are so many different options in front of you. Which path do you take?

The trick is to use this to your advantage and to not let it paralyze you. And that means having faith in the creative process. Just move forward without the fear that what you’re making is going to suck. Because a lot of the time, it will. And you have to be OK with that.

What delights you? Inspires you?

This is a cop-out, but I’m writing a list: Yasujiro Ozu, things out of my control, animals who can communicate with humans (Koko the Gorilla, Alex the African Grey Parrot, etc…), letterpress, passionate people, Raymond Carver, Jacques Pepin, and gingham. There’s more. There should always be more.

A little more about Andrew:

Andrew Ahn is a Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. His short film DOL (FIRST BIRTHDAY) premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and has screened at numerous other festivals and venues around the world, including Outfest, REDCAT, and the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film received the Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Short Film.

His short film ANDY screened at the Slamdance Film Festival, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and many others. ANDY won Best Narrative Short at the 2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival. He was a 2012 Film Independent Project:Involve fellow. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in English and received an MFA in Film Directing from the California Institute of the Arts. His website is AndrewAhnFilms.com