For the first week of Queer Film Club, you voted for Christina Xing’s short film HOW THE MOON FELL FROM THE SKY AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICED. It was an incredibly sweet film about growing up Queer in a small town. With gorgeous art direction, creative flair, and musical sensibility, Ms. Xing’s film leaves a strong impression, but what’s most impressive about this project is that the entire cast and crew was comprised of high school students. Even the beautiful score was performed entirely by a high school orchestra. She was kind enough to join the Queer Film Club Facebook group to answer some of our questions.
Queer Film Club:
How did you secure funding for this film? Do you have any tips you’d like to give to fellow young filmmakers? What kind of equipment were you able to have access to?
Christina Xing:
So we actually only had about $3,000-$4,000 at the time of shooting. Half of it was through a grant from Seamless Strategy and the other half was through my friend’s production company. (beginning of the film)
I’d say my biggest tips for young filmmakers is to always think the opposite when it comes to creating things. don’t go to the places where most people will secure their funding, brainstorm places where no one has thought about securing funding before. same thing with the resources within the film (equipment, orchestra, dancers, etc) I went to an arts boarding school but most people only focused on the arts in their discipline. so I thought the opposite, what’s a way to utilize all the arts at my school?
We had access to the schools gear (c-stands, stingers, general gear) but had to get crafty with camera and camera setups due to lack of money and resources
QFC:
You seem to have a keen eye for art direction, what are some of your favourite set designs in film history? How about some favourite musicals?
Christina:
Thanks so much! I grew up watching musicals so I found myself taking a lot of interest and inspiration through there. THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, PIERROT LE FOU are some of the main films I pulled for inspiration on set designs (and some of my favs in history)
QFC:
Who are your biggest filmmaking role models? If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would you choose?
Christina:
My favorite filmmakers of all time are Fellini and Ozu. But if I could collaborate with anyone in the world, I would choose Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry because I think they are always bringing fresh concepts and perspectives to the table. they also come from the world of music video and commercial, which I appreciate.
QFC:
What were your main takeaways from the production of HOW THE MOON FELL FROM THE SKY AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICED? Did you learn any important lessons you’d like to share? If you were to make this film all over again, what might you have done differently?
Christina:
I think with that film, that was the first time I completely trusted myself and just made something I cared about with no focus on how it would be perceived or seen. It was also made with all my best friends and we had some of the best memories through creating that film together. My biggest take away is that if you aren’t creating a labor of genuine love with people you love, you’re not ready to be creating that project. It took so much love to make that film possible, I couldn’t have done it myself. I think often young filmmakers worry too much about making something that impresses others, wins awards or ‘changes their life’. The film I least expected to do that, ended up changing my life the most. If I could do it all over again, I would have probably focused more on sound. I cringe a lot when I think about the ADR and sound of the film. It’s a shame we didn’t find a way to funnel more money in to getting good lavs.
QFC:
Do you have any funny anecdotes from the set? What was your favourite part about working on this project?
Christina:
So much of the film was so grass roots. We stayed over night at my best friend Shane Bagwell’s house (he photographed the film) and had a big old spaghetti dinner together, most of the scenes “within the movie” were shot at his house. Shooting till the early morning and then we hit the movie theater the next day with little to no sleep at all. It really was like one big summer camp adventure with everyone I loved. but the difference was, we were counting down the days together because we were all seniors and high school and knew that this would be the last thing we could all make together in a very long time.
QFC:
What inspired the character of the man on the moon? What did he represent to you and the writer, Jack Fossett?
Christina:
Jack actually wrote a play that was about the man on the moon (i.e the film inside the movie that they were making was Jack’s original movie concept) but then I told him about my unrequitted love experiences and he ended up writing a beautiful story about growing up gay in the middle of nowhere. For me the man on the moon represents someone who will one day love you for you. Someone who will see you and you won’t have to compromise yourself for. There’s someone out there for everyone, even if it seems like they’re on the moon.
QFC:
That’s really sweet! As a member of the upcoming generation of filmmakers, what quality do you admire most among your peers? What do you see for the future of cinema?
Christina:
I think my class of filmmakers is fixed on telling authentic stories from their different background and cultures. We aren’t striving to fit any old traditional hollywood boxes any more. We’re building our own round table of filmmakers, whether hollywood likes it or not. We aren’t taking no for an answer. I see a bright future for cinema. I know we have so much more progress to make but the fact that I’m able to grow up in the era of THE FAREWELL and MOONLIGHT even existing is pretty cool.
QFC:
What was the initial spark that lit the flame for you to want to become a filmmaker? What were some of your early influences?
Christina:
I think honestly, I grew up in alabama as one of the only asian girls in my school. I was always obsessed with movies like JUNO and 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. Growing up and no one near me was interested in the same things. I loved the soundtracks and the honest sensibilities those films had. I had always wanted to make coming of age movies from my experiences, I just only recently realized I could make them from an Asian American perspective without shame. But I think like most young filmmakers, I really latched on to Wes Anderson’s work and my older films had a lot of his style and quirks. I grew out of that eventually, thankfully.
QFC:
What do you like to do when you’re not making movies?
Christina:
I’m a big fan of music! I feel like I’m listening to music 24/7. when I’m not making films, I’m almost always hanging out with my friends or chatting on the phone with them. I love spending quality time with people I love and the few days where I’m not swamped with work I love making them count.
QFC:
Finally, I checked out your latest short, THIS OLD DOG, and it brought me to tears. Do you have any exciting projects on your horizon that we can look forward to? What areas or topics would you like to explore as you continue your filmmaking journey? Do you have anything you would like to plug?
Christina:
Thank you for these lovely questions. I absolutely had a blast filling these out. They were great questions! Thank you for also watching THIS OLD DOG, I feel like that has been my most mature film I’ve made and I’m excited to explore more of that within myself as a creator. I have a new film called HAVE YOU EATEN YET coming out during the winter time. It’s like a part II to THIS OLD DOG, as it’s about my mother. I’d love to explore a coming of age feature next about my experiences growing up in Alabama. I’ve been working on it for a while now and would like to start securing funding for it this winter! If you guys like my narrative work, take a look at some of my music videos and things I think ya’ll will also enjoy them. Thank so much again
QFC:
Thank you so much for being here, I’ll be looking forward to your upcoming short!
Christina Xing’s short films THIS OLD DOG (2020) and HOW THE MOON FELL FROM THE SKY AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICED (2018) are available on YouTube.
You can view Christina’s music videos and commercial work at christinaxing.com.