I was born in Poland, raised for the most part in America, and have worked around the world in different capacities and spent a considerable time in China. In this shifting geography, I have always been the other, and belonged nowhere. This has led me to make films that delve into characters who are not content with the status
quo or unable to express themselves freely because of societal or cultural barriers, but do so anyway and then get into trouble.
I find the idea of making a film in China about a Caucasian who is seemingly assimilated–a figure who very much exists in modern China but is rarely represented on screen–exhilarating. Exhilarating because this is a new representation, and because it is dangerous. The character of Fei Fei expresses the angst that comes with being the other. In her testing cultural taboos and in engaging in an affair with someone on the fringes of Chinese society, a blind man, Fei Fei’s behavior introduces challenges to the storyteller as much as it does the audience.
In creating the character of Fei Fei, I question whether her actions will be seen as those of a woman who is boxed in a second-tier city with a difficult family life, or as a foreigner misbehaving in China. Rather than simply entertaining the audience as much as possible, I want to engage them in this discussion. Why does it matter that she’s Caucasian? Or that Bai Yu is blind? Their sufferings and desires are universal and the moment a person judges them for what they are, not who they are then the film will have succeeded.