Meet up-and-coming film director, Cadenza Zhao whose aim is to use her experiences growing up in different countries and cultures to make more diverse and multicultural movies that resonate with audiences.
‘In the polarised world of today, I aim to be a bridge between cultures’, says Cadenza Zhao, who is currently finishing her BFA film directing degree from the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf with her fourth film and graduation project, Ewigkeit in einem Traum (Eternity in a Dream), in post-production.
Cadenza was born in Monthey, Switzerland, in a Chinese immigrant family and has been living and studying in Berlin for nearly seven years. Her multicultural experience shapes her style of filmmaking to be more diverse.
“I direct, I write, sometimes I hold a camera, sometimes I’m in front of it. Roamed from a beautiful Swiss town of 6000 people all the way to Beijing, and now thriving in Berlin.”
We sat down with Cadenza to learn more about her approach to filmmaking and where she sees the place of herself and women in the industry.
Having an international background, what does that bring to your filmmaking?
That’s the question. I’m still answering that for myself as well. Since starting to get to know myself and processing a lot of things in my life and everything.
I am much more aware of how invaluable the chance that I got to be to have such a diverse background because it really gives me this specific perspective and understanding of different cultures so, namely the two countries that I was raised in which Chinese or Eastern Asian and central European culture, but I think beyond that it also helps in my approach when getting to know new cultures because I know the differences in clashes between the misunderstandings of two cultures. Therefore, I try to apply different tools or different mechanisms in approaching different cultures and things that are out of my knowledge.
So I think that really helps in my filmmaking because cinema is a lot about empathy. It’s about putting yourself into a character’s shoes and getting to know things that you had no idea about or a story from people with different cultures. Also, the way of expressing that on screen.
I think it also links to me wanting to become a bridge between cultures. I have this constant identity crisis. I’m not really Chinese, but I’m also not fully Swiss, but at the same time, I am both, to a certain extent. So I understand both sides very well, and I think, with this kind of in-between position that I have, I’m able to bridge these misunderstandings and the culture clashes between these two cultures and I chose to do this through film.
What would be your ultimate aim of trying to be a bridge between cultures?
My goal is really just to put on screen as many stories as I can that destigmatise the prejudice that we have.
I noticed that when I was trying to tell stories that are themed with cultural differences between Eastern and Western, I received some feedback that shows a cultural clash because they perceive some actions I wrote as non-realistic, not interesting or not dramatic enough. But those are the real characteristics based on real cultural differences. This is exactly why I need to put more stories up.
Someone with a different culture setting may perceive it as not interesting, but eventually, it’s important to still bring those stories with our perspective to screen because there is an audience out there that is going to resonate with it and, most importantly, the rest of the audience that doesn’t know this background would get to know how this other group of people in this world functions and things culturally their habits and all those things.
How are you engaged in supporting women in film?
I’m on the executive board of this association called SWAN — the Swiss Women’s and Audiovisual Network. The general work of the association is to fight for gender equality within the film industry in Switzerland. Awareness about the issue is quite well spread now and the goal is to get all these women in the field to be hired.
We have a database of women in film in Switzerland, so you can have your profile on it and all your contact informations. So whenever a production needs a new collaborator, you can just find all the women that are directors, writers, cinematographers, sound designers, editors, etc… and find the match for your project.
I felt great that there was an organisation that brings people who are less heard and seen and it just made me feel slightly less alone. Now that I’m able to actually do something with the organisation. I feel very empowered for the future!
There are many other organisations similar to SWAN everywhere and it is so moving to be surrounded by individuals who think similarly, with the same goal and with the same knowledge of struggles we’re facing and yet putting in the work to try to make a difference. I think that’s really beautiful.
What does directing mean to you?
If I were to put it into simple terms, it is like SiChuan hot pot. I love spicy food, but sometimes it gets so spicy that in the end, you get all snotty and teary, but you still enjoy the flavour and taste of it. It is like a very rewarding rush, full of emotions every step of the way.
What obstacles you have encountered, and how did you overcome them if you did?
There’s always an obstacle when you make a film. It’s just all about solving them. The bigger ones are to get funding, find the right people, the right teammates. The way I overcome those general practice obstacles is to try to think outside the box to loosen up my initial expectations and wishes for the project as much as I can while still maintaining the goal in mind and try to make it happen one way or the other.
When I try to look back as an overview of the whole timeline of the project, there are so many things that didn’t turn out the exact way. In the end it didn’t make such a big difference. It still led to the main goal being achieved. So the more that happens the more I’m able to be more loose and flexible and overcome problems.
What do you think of representation in films and the industry?
I grew up having this pressure of being accepted by my white peers. It was so horrible, but I’m so glad to have that experience and that perspective because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one, and hopefully, with the films and the right stories that are being produced nowadays with Asian representation, kids nowadays would grow up differently in a different way of thinking than I did.
I really think that being an Asian woman does add a layer of understanding and empathy to my approach to work, but I think it’s also important to mention that I’m not just an Asian woman, I’m also just a human.
I also have so many other things to tell that are outside of the scope of Asian stories or immigrant stories because that’s another thing that you can see a lot in the film is that if you’re in the intersectional spectrum and you start making stories that are very much linked to how you look and who you are, you kind of get stereotyped into those stories. After all, I’m also just a fellow human.
