Blog posting by Kimberly Capehart, Documentary Studies and Production '16, FLEFF Intern, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 

I'm sitting in at what is arguably the most exciting FLEFF event: FLEFF Lab Friday!

Directors, producers, distributors, and scholars have been sitting in Park 220 all day long, speaking with students and amongst themselves about a wide variety of topics.

Right now, Yong Ki Jeong (film director, Couples, Once Upon a Time) and translator, Changhee Chun (Cinema, Ithaca College), Peter Miller (film director, AKA Doc Pommus), Carlos Gutierrez (Cinema Tropical), Bo Wang, (director, China Concerto), Kevin Lee, (dGenerate Films), Dominica Dipio (film director and film scholar), and Vanessa Domico (Outcast Films) are sitting together at the front of the room, waiting to share their secrets of the industry and answer questions.

Moderator Steve Gordon (TVR, Ithaca College) has each guest introduce himself or herself by sharing his or her own personal story. Their backgrounds are all extremely different; some guests started in film, others started with Physics degrees, and still others began their careers as activists.

What did they do to end up where they are? What advice do they have to offer to other people looking to pursue similar careers?

Here are some quotes from the conversation:

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Kevin Lee: "Whatever you do, do with a real sense of purpose. Don't do anything because you feel trapped or pressured into it."

Vanessa Domico: "I couldn't agree with Kevin more. Do what you're passionate about. This sounds like a cliche, but I really mean it: embrace the moment. You need to keep your eyes open to see all the opportunities."

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Peter Miller: "I had many breaks along the way. I basically apprenticed for a very long time with a lot of different people. Now I make my own films, but working with people who have done this for a while, who really know what they're doing, is so important. It's something I really think we have to do to learn how to tell the stories we want to tell."

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Kevin Lee: "A lot of students in the past have been really surprised that I had a day job for about ten years that was completely unrelated to film. If you're planning on going to Los Angeles or New York, looking for your big break, don't expect that things will just fall into place. You need to hustle and work hard."

"Pursue your passion any way you can and stay open to different things. Sometimes things just organically crystalize into opportunities that you never expected. Your life and your career are things that happen when you're busy working on other things." 

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The group discusses the power of social media, with Lee and Dipio referencing the Kony 2012 video as an example of a film that gained support through outlets like YouTube and Facebook.

Yong Ki Jeong:"Social networking allows films to reach larger, international audiences. Korean filmmakers get more support for international works than they do for domestic works."

Discussing activism, and film's ability to introduce activist notions in the minds of viewers, as well as playing off of Jeong's mentioning of Seoul, South Korea, Miller offers: "Go into a co-production with your soul, do something that means a lot to you." 

Peter Miller: "It's especially important, since you're young and trying to change the world, to get inside yourself and realize what you're trying to do. Just because you're trying to make money, doesn't mean you should do something. The world needs your talent to make things better."

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Vanessa Domico: "Know yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses. It's good to work with collaborators. A lot of the time you're going to have to assemble a team of people to work with who can fill in your gaps." 

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The panel is open to questions!

Q: Are there any outlets that are especially supportive of independent films?

Peter Miller: "There are some organizations that give money out to independent films, but the budgets are growing smaller and smaller. Sometimes individual people give money. When asking for money, you need to know two things:

1. Learn to write well. Being able to write about and explain your film is as important as your film itself.

2. Have a sample of your film to show."

Vanessa Domico: "There's also programs like Kickstarter and Indiegogo"

Carlos Gutierrez: "That's an open issue. Sometimes individual fundraising sites like that take away from a larger discussion of independent distribution and production. I think that we need to come together as a community of independent filmmakers to find more sources of funding."

The conversation continues about various sources of funding and questions about receiving and asking for grants. It opens up to a conversation about the need for a close film community with which to collaborate and on which to depend.

Q: If you have something you're very passionate about, but don't think that anyone would be interested in, do you still make it?

Kevin Lee: "That question is different in regards to Chinese film. In China, a lot of things can get banned or removed from the internet, but a lot of Chinese filmmakers are very persistent. Audience is very important, so filmmakers aren't making films just for themselves, they're making films on social issues that they want other people to see. 

Carlos Gutierrez: "Thinking about the audience can be tricky, because you're just projecting your own ideas on how the audience will react. I think it's more about the relevance of the film: social and economical relevance is most important."

Dominica Dipio: "Personally, a lot of the filmmakers in my country are independent and self-motivated, and a lot of things that motivate them are relevant social issues and the potential for change. So when I feel passionately about something, I am the first judge of its relevance. But sometimes it turns out to be what people want to hear and what they would like to reflect on."

Q: Do you think having a graduate education is beneficial or necessary in establishing yourself in a film-related career?

Peter Miller: "If you want to teach, you probably need an advanced degree. Teaching is one way that people subsidize their filmmaking habits."

Kevin Lee: "I'm pursuing a higher degree because I'm based in Chicago, and a lot of the community there is academia-based. That's just me, though. Sometimes you can learn more from collaboration or apprenticeship than you can learn in school." 

The conversation ends with the discussion of a need for a film community. Use FLEFF as your opportunity to start establishing YOUR own community of filmmakers, audience members, and professionals! 

Blog posting written by Erica Moriarty, Documentary Studies and Production '16, FLEFF Intern, Houston, Texas 

Hello FLEFFers! Can't make it to the FLEFF Lab in Park 220? No problem! I'm here live blogging to bring you the highlights!

And due to a last minute change, filmmaker Bo Wang, the first Chinese filmmaker to attend FLEFF, will be doing a presentation this hour.

Bo directed a film called China Concerto at 4PM and 9PM tomorrow at Cinemapolis. dGenerate films brings underground, new generation Chinese cinema out of China. This new generation of films emerged post-Tiananmen with a new, radical spin. 

"Set the stage for us and walk us through China," Dr. Patricia Zimmermann began the 

Bo described a brief history of China. After Mao died in 1976, the country began to adopt capitalism.

"It's been described as socialism with Chinese characters," said Bo. 

After 1989 and the incident at Tiananmen Square, a new movement emerged. It began with the avant-garde movement which was politically driven in the form of personal expression. However, many movies continued to be censored. In the 90s, many artist began making movies and used connections in the western world to distribute the Chinese independent filmmaking. 

In August, Bo attended a film festival in Beijing, one of the biggest in China. During this time, there was a significant party shift in Chinese government. 

Bo described the interruption by the government: "After a half hour of the festival beginning, the electricity was cut...There was a back and forth resistance from the festival, but eventually, the festival was shut down."

After the festival shut down, the films became even more independent, often being shown in artists' studios or houses. Therefore, Bo's film, China, was never shown in an actual festival.

Although he is very involved in Chinese filmmaking today, Bo did not begin college as a filmmaker. He originally planned to go into the sciences, but he felt that he could connect with people more through art and film. 

"Do you worry about censorship at all?" asked a member of the audience.

"I'm not attacking any specific person or authority," answered Bo. "I also did not expect this film to have a public showing in China. I think it should be okay. It should be safe." 

In all of east and southeast Asia, the film screened at only one shut down film festival. We're lucky enough to have it this week at FLEFF! Come to Cinemapolis Saturday at 4PM or 9PM to learn more.

Blog post written by Sarah Lockwood, Cinema & Photography '15, FLEFF Intern, Blairstown, New Jersey

Sunday, the final evening of FLEFF 2012, I found myself in theater number four at Cinemapolis, watching the film Beijing Besieged by Waste with two very special people.

To my right sat a fellow intern and friend, to the left sat my brother.

For the past eight months, my brother has lived and worked in China, this weekend being our first reunion since last July. It seemed only fitting that we should view a film about that very country.

Images of thousand-acre landfills and poverty-stricken citizens fill the screen. A small boy playing with items found in a trash bag, a man building a house among the garbage, ponds completely smothered by waste.

At one point, a middle-aged Chinese woman onscreen describes her life as a 'professional' garbage scavenger - a job her family does not know she holds.

She is cheerful but clearly impoverished, citing an amount of Chinese money and states that she is lucky - lucky - if she makes that much in a month. 

From beside me, my brother whispers, "That is forty-five American dollars."