An interview with the Director of An Occurrence, screening at the Mosaic World Film Festival.
A distant, culturally-mixed family attempts a ceremonial day together. Lifelong emotions surface through small gestures, while the world around them keeps changing and carries on.
1. What drew you to create this film?
We’re in a cultural moment with so many conversations on identity. I wanted to depict the quieter, private, and more ordinary experiences of an immigrant family — those private and lost moments beyond politics, discrimination, and policy. The film is also about the common experience of belonging to multiple cultures — something we can forget when talking about ethnicity. I also wanted to offer audiences a sensorial, understated, and meditative experience, since I find films so stimulating and explicit these days. I share MWFF’s appreciation for Tarkovsky!
2. What does filmmaking mean to you?
Film is an artform of many artforms: photography, acting, writing, directing, music, art direction, etc. Because of this, it’s the artform that excites and intrigues me most — to be able to work with so many elements.
3. What advice would you give to students or beginners who want to make films?
I hope new filmmakers will give themselves a lot of time to get good at it. I find a lot of people reach high form at middle age. It takes a good while to cultivate yourself in so many areas… writing, collaboration, themes, finding a sensibility, being technical, etc. And then you have to make films with few flaws — it takes a number of films to get there.
4. What films do you watch again and again?
Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieślowski), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Bi Gan), The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky), Pas de Deux (Norman McLaren), Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais and Marguerite Duras), A Separation (Asghar Farhadi), Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley), Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami).
Thank you Dien!
You can get tickets for the #2024mwff here: https://filmfreeway.com/MosaicWorldFilmFestival/tickets