MEILIN LUO

          Meilin Luo was born in Chengdu, China, in 1997. She received her BA from Beijing University in Chemical Engineering in 2019. She spent her fourth undergraduate year at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse, New York, studying bioprocessing as part of a joint program with Beijing University of Chemical Engineering. SUNY ESF shares its campus with Syracuse University and while she was there, she took a course in Transmedia in Syracuse University. Once back in China, Luo remained interested in filmmaking and took a class in scriptwriting. During the class, Luo met many of her friends who were interested in film too. At about that time, Luo experienced some incidents of sexual harassment and her grandmother passed away. Her grandmother had encouraged her to pursue her filmmaking career. Therefore she decided to make her first film about sexual harassment, in which a grandmother is a major character. Her short fiction film, Lost, was the result. Luo entered her film in several festivals in the United States and Europe, including Berlin Flash Film Festival, Indie Short Fest (Los Angeles), and Oniros Film Awards (New York City). In 2020, Luo was awarded a scholarship that enabled her to return to Syracuse University to start her graduate study in film and pursue her MFA. Filmmakers whom she admires include Hirokazu Koreeda and Edward Yang. Luo has made four films to date and is working on her MFA thesis film, Wild Weed, which is about despair and dignity among young people in these challenging times. She now lives and studies in Syracuse, New York.

I realized how stories are so powerful when my friend retold a Japanese film, Sky of Love (Netsuke Imai, 2007) to me in her own words, and I was so touched by the story itself. As I grew older, I got more anxious about what I wanted to study for a future career. I knew I could not continue to study biological engineering. I always knew I liked the arts. The turning point came when I made a short film with my classmates. I enjoyed spending time with everyone and creating something beautiful. I also made my best friend through making that film. We shared arts, music, films, and he made me believe that I have talent in telling stories. From studying drawing since I was little, I always loved art and music, and I’m sensitive to stories and emotions. So when the idea of studying film came to me, it was not surprising. It is the art form that I have always been looking for. From the experience of making film with my friends, I found myself really enjoying collaborating with people, brainstorming, exchanging ideas, and being supportive on set. It makes me not only want to be a filmmaker, but also a producer, who can help others accomplishing their projects. I believe that when everyone believes we are doing work that is worthwhile, the result will be worthwhile too. I want to bring my audience films that show love and movement in real lives, and make my audience look around their lives and feel a little bit different. In some way, every good memory I have about cinema—and every future hope—is also about relationship.

    On the other hand, the stories I want to tell have gradually changed as I’ve become clearer about my direction. My first film was based on my own experience, a girl’s struggle in the men’s world. After that, I made one film about women’s depression and stress. The most recent one focused on unspoken lesbian love. All my works are about women’s struggles and dilemmas. As I move forward, I found that my characters are becoming more and more mature. They want to speak for themselves instead of just presenting the dilemmas they are in. I always think women are powerful and tenacious. Their stories are about dreams, honor, love, sacrifice—no less than men. Therefore, I wish to make stories that express feminine power. To bring it to the next level, I want to show the inner light of all humanity in the future, not only women. I’m working on a story about a teenage “suicide squad.” In this story, a boy is going to make a choice between himself and his friends, his promise. It’s about the what the basic humanity in a person truly is.

As an artist, I trust my instinct on stories. I have to make sure that the story touches me before I can show it to others. I also value sincerity and passion. They are essential to finish a story. I always want to make my story more real, but recently I noticed that realism is not absolutely important for a fictional story. Realism is less important than shaping a good story. Being true to oneself is more important than making something realistic.