Interview: Luis Tapia

Mexico-born, Texas-raised, Princeton-educated, Shanghai-based independent filmmaker Luis A. Tapia has been making films here for over 7 years. With a small team and an international network of collaborators he has managed to put out a hefty collection of films -- both corporate and indie. Most recently he has shot a documentary on the Shanghainese band Hard Queen, and his latest doc Human Flesh Search Engine Part I examines this latest Chinese online phenomenon. We chatted with Luis about his films, life in China, and the ups & downs of life as a filmmaker...

Check out his Shanghai-based video production outfit, Daedalum Films, here.

(Screen-shot from Club G Plus: DJ Johan Gielen)

So you didn't actually study to be a filmmaker (Luis has a degree in East Asian Studies from Princeton University), how did you come into this line of work?
It was always a dream of mine to work in video and film. I haven’t been to film school and only took a couple video and photography classes in college, but I was always making little films and reading books on film and film production, and watching films obsessively. Along the way I taught myself how to use most of the production equipment and editing software.

As far as how I actually got into it as a line of work... I pretty much just dove in. I was doing a lot of writing and dreaming up films in my free time and decided that I really just wanted to do it full time. So I buckled down for the next year, saved up some money, quit my job, and went for it.

And how does your educational background influence your work?
It certainly influences my Chinese projects, both documentary and fiction. I’d say it’s precisely that -- the background, the foundation of my still limited understanding of this country. I spent four years studying the history, politics, language, and culture of China and of course I feel like I’m nowhere near “understanding” this fascinating place. So in a way my films, particularly my documentaries, are attempts at getting closer to an understanding of China and its people, and sharing that with foreign audiences.


(Screen-shot from ECCO Seasonal Launch AW09)
One of the reasons I've taken an interest in your films is because many of them, in one way or another, focus on China's modernization and the population's relationship to this phenomenon. How exactly do you come to decide on the stories you want to tell?
I don’t necessarily approach stories with an overarching theme in mind. I’m motivated entirely by my own curiosity. I like to learn about people--who they identify as, what they aspire to, how they make a living--and to think about what they reflect about the larger Chinese society. Cotton, Up from the Underground, The Tour are examples. Sometimes phenomena catch my attention, like with Holdem China or Human Flesh Search Engine. Sometimes it’s as simple as hearing about an interesting place that people might not know about, like my really short Shanghai Memorial.

There are so many great stories out there--I have a list as long as my arm of documentaries I’d like to do. What I’ve found with documentaries is that access is a key element. Once I’m able to get access to the people or places I need to tell the story, I can begin to worry about whether I have enough time or money to make it. Although usually I don’t worry about the latter two--thankfully I’m able to produce my documentaries on a spartan budget, and I can always forego sleep if necessary to keep a project moving along. So at any given moment I’ve got a few documentaries in production. Right now I’ve got two I’m working on, although one may never see the light of day.

Daedalum Films has also worked with brands such as Nike, Intel, ECCO, GM, Tyco Electronics, and Shanghai Weekly. How does the local commercial environment compare to that of documentary and short films?
Well, I think the commercial environment and let’s call it the artistic environment are entirely different. In my own case, working on commercial projects allows me to earn the money I need to develop my artistic projects. And I think it’s a great way to earn a living. I love that I can support myself helping clients with their video projects. And it allows me to be constantly refining my production skills and plugged in to the production community in China.


(Screen-shot from Shanghai Weekly Commerical)
You're also tackling a new beast: Feature Films. How have your forays into this genre treated you?
It was actually a feature film project that got me started. I wrote a script called Furnaces about two brothers working on an ill-fated industrial land purchase in Chongqing that I adapted as a short film in 2007. I’m still refining the script and would love to direct that one day. For the last year and a half I’ve also been working on another feature script with my writing partner Mark Schoellkopf, about modern-day piracy in southeast Asia.

So I can’t really say I’ve done anything here yet, but I aspire to work in feature-length, and think I’m getting close to being able to direct a feature project, ideally in the next year or so.

You've been in China for quite sometime already. What have been some of the benefits of working as a filmmaker in China?
I love it here. I came straight out of college and fell in love with the place. That was more than seven years ago now. Speaking as a filmmaker, I’d have to say the number one benefit to me is the ability to keep my budgets down compared to what they’d likely be if I were doing similar projects at home in the US. There’s still the pressure to figure out how to finance projects, but it’s less of a concern for me here than it would be in most other places.

And the hardships?
I don’t really notice any hardships particular to China. Just the same hardships I’m sure any independent or aspiring filmmaker faces anywhere in the world. It’s cheaper here for me to produce small-scale video documentaries, but money remains the number one concern. I can’t yet claim to have figured out the secret to getting projects properly financed, which is why my own projects tend to come out of my own pocket!


(Screen-shot from Up from the Underground)
What were your conditions when you first got into film in Shanghai? What was your then arsenal of equipment like?
In the very beginning it was just me, my computer, and my ideas. A director friend of mine in New York (Andrew van den Houten, of ModernCine) put me in touch with Arnaud Kamphuis, who became my creative partner. He was in Tokyo at the time and we collaborated on scripts remotely for a while before he came out to Shanghai. He brought with him a borrowed Sony FX1 camera, and we went out to the Xietu Road photography market and Meiluocheng and got an assortment of indie video gear: tripod, light kit, reflectors, microphones, wheelchair (the “poor man’s dolly” haha). We used that and a rented DAT recorder to shoot the Furnaces short.

Arnaud moved back to Europe about a year ago, although we still collaborate frequently, and I have been upgrading the equipment ever since. I frequently rent equipment. Lately I’ve been using the Sony EX1 and EX3 quite a lot. My main camera is now a Sony V1U, which has been a great workhorse camera, but I’m ready to upgrade that as well. Like every other independent filmmaker, I’m taking a close look at the new Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D--I’m coming around to the idea of using an SLR for video. And I’m also very curious to see the RED Scarlet, if it ever comes out.

How do you feel about the film community here in Shanghai? How does it compare to Beijing's larger scene?
The scene here is small but collaborative. Beijing has a much larger community, there’s no question. The general rivalry between these two cities exists in their film communities as well, but I don’t pay much attention to it. I happen to be based in Shanghai, but travel to Beijing for projects occasionally and everyone over there is always very open and supportive. The filmmaking infrastructure over there is definitely more developed, but that just strikes me as an opportunity for Shanghai to continue to grow.




(Top: Screen-shots from The Tour; Bottom Left: Crowd at Screening; Bottom Right: Screen-shot from Up from the Underground)
And what's the market like for foreign filmmakers in China? How difficult is it for newcomers to establish themselves?
That’s a good question, and I’m not sure I know the answer. My own approach in the beginning was to make films for a foreign audience. I felt I was in a good position to tell thoughtful stories from a more informed perspective and relate them to a foreign audience in a hopefully entertaining way. I always felt that the stories I was telling might not be interesting to a local audience, and so I haven’t really pushed for distribution in China. But increasingly I’m hearing from Chinese outlets that there is an interest there, and I’m looking at the best way to address that. Interestingly enough it’s been a magazine, Oriental Outlook (东方周刊), that has been my first real distribution outlet here in China -- they have published transcripts of several of my documentaries which have been syndicated in Chinese news outlets.

Do you mind sharing some secrets about outlets for getting work out?
I think the best way for someone starting out is to get their stuff online. I’ve got my own website, www.daedalumfilms.com, and I upload to a variety of sites like Vimeo, YouTube, Tudou, Youku, and Current TV. We’ve also been lucky to be featured by websites like Shanghaiist and Danwei. I’ve also organized screenings of my last two films, which is a lot more work but also quite fun.

As far as getting broadcast or funding for a feature project, I’m still learning that process. I’m only now, after about three years, getting to the point where I am able to get meetings with distributors, networks, or producers with the authority to actually help green-light a proper production, and hopefully will be able to sell a pitch here soon!


(Flyer for Up from the Underground)
So, any advice for the aspiring filmmakers that wish to follow in your footsteps and become a filmmaker in China?
The only advice I’m qualified to give is simply to do it, to take action. Cliched as it may sound, I do believe it. Quit talking about that script you always wanted to write, and just write it. And seek continuous improvement.

What can we expect from Luis Tapia and Daedalum in the future?
I’m gearing up to shoot a music video, and also a short film I hope to enter into competition. Since I premiered Human Flesh Search Engine I’ve been focusing on paid work to replenish the project coffers, but I hope to get back to those creative projects before year’s end. And then I may just start going door-to-door begging for money to make that feature.

Human Flesh Search Engine TEASER from Daedalum Films on Vimeo.

See the whole movie, and others on Daedalum's website.