{"id":15961,"date":"2019-04-04T20:48:13","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T03:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=15961"},"modified":"2019-04-04T20:48:13","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T03:48:13","slug":"the-state-of-our-film-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=15961","title":{"rendered":"The State of Our Film Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bochen Zhang<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a term I learned when I first moved to the U.S. called \u201cMonday morning quarterbacking.\u201d It\u2019s something we do after football games, apparently. Every year it\u2019s something we do after the Oscars, too. This year was no exception.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each year, I wonder: who is making these choices? We know that the Academy is still 74% white and 69% male<\/a>. Of course, we need more diversity, but the Academy is making progress. Some wonder why this can\u2019t happen faster.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a woman of color in one of the most exciting film cultures in the world, I\u2019m starting to understand why. You see, our film nation works as both a democracy and a republic. We each get to make our own choices for how we spend our money at the movies and each one of those choices influences the market for the types of movies that will be greenlit. It\u2019s very democratic in that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, our movie nation is also like a republic, because someone has to make the choice for the kind of movies that are made and easily accessible to large audiences. Now that I am no longer simply a film-lover, but a filmmaker, I see that it\u2019s my small choices that help determine the landscape of the film universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quick example. Awhile back I was asked to read a script for a horror film. Horror films are entertaining, they\u2019re scary, people love them. Those are enough reasons for me to take on the project. However, this film seemed to add nothing more than gore and misery, so it wasn\u2019t for\u00a0me. It\u2019s hard to turn down work as a freelancer. Who knows when you\u2019ll get that chance again. But I had to make the choice based on what I think are important stories to tell and what content I want to help bring to life. It\u2019s a choice I am privileged to make, but it\u2019s also my responsibility. I am a reflection of the women and people of color who might one day watch what I make. My choices are a small drip in the ocean, but I want to do right by the people I\u2019m here representing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just two weeks after turning down the horror script, I got a call. Would I like to work on a European art house film with a director and cinematographer I\u2019ve stanned for years?\u00a0 Uh…yes, please.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after that I was invited to become a judge for a noteworthy film festival. My first thought was that I shouldn\u2019t be the one judging my peers and their incredible films. But then I realized, I am here as a representative of women, people of color and immigrants. I have a responsibility to choose on behalf of diverse audiences, whomever they may be. I might not get a chance to choose at the highest level, the Academy, but there are plenty more like\u00a0me. They are representatives of their communities, making small, everyday choices in the film world. As the years go on, we will have more and more opportunities to make bigger and bigger choices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just wait Oscars, we\u2019re coming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Author: Bochen Zhang is a Los Angeles-based producer. Her work has been broadcast on AMC, HBO, Disney Channel, Lifetime, and Bounce Network.<\/em><\/span> Bochen\u00a0serves as s film festival judge and has been a guest lecture at University of New Orleans Film Department since 2015. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute and is originally from Beijing, China. She will be a guest speaker at USC Cinematic Arts Talent Week Monday, April 8, 2019.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bochen Zhang There\u2019s a term...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15962,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15961\/revisions\/15962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}