OCEAN CITY MONSTER BUILDING, 90min., USA, Crime/Mystery
Directed by Chris Lane
The year is 1984, in a small sleepy town in upstate New York. The former mayor of the city is found dead on the backseat of his car with a local 15 year old girl. In the aftermath, his wife of 30 years and his adopted daughter have to make sense of this difficult situation, while a detective from out of town is sent in to try to solve the case together with local law enforcement.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20200868/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
A futile and ephemeral attempt at trying to take back control of my life. No further explanations.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
11 months. (June 2021 begin writing, October 2021 production wrap, January 2022 picture lock, May 2022 final delivery.)

3. How would you describe your film in two words?
Intense. Cheeky.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Fighting against the intrusive thought of knowing one day after I complete the film and go on to try to promote it, I would be faced with such question as "What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?" and not having the slightest clue what my answer should be. All jokes aside, I really don't know what to say here. I mean we have obstacles, but you just work on it and solve it and move on, I was like one of those horses with the blinders on, I don't think I allowed myself to waste time to take in enough informations on the exact difficulty levels of the obstacles we were facing. Because secretly I think doing so would diminishes my belief in my ability to solve it. So I just do the work without making it too deep.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I really like the one lady who said she felt related to losing her wig. That was a highlight for me!

6. When did you realize that you wanted to be a director?
In 5th grade when I directed a student play at my elementary school's end of year ceremony, a play that was directed by the arts and music teacher the year before and the year after me.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
(Great question!) I think it's a tie between Chungking Express and Up in the Air. Both of them are actually not in my top 5 favorite films, but they are both so sleek and more importantly fun and lighthearted, with a touch of sadness, it's just such an easy watch. Films like In the Mood for Love, Stroszek, Taxi Driver, Paris,Texas, Yi Yi are my favorites but they are not so easy to watch comparatively, so I don't watch them as often. When I want to hear Mandarin Chinese dialogue I will watch Let the Bullets Fly, the lead actors in that film speak Chinese in an accent I find familiar. Another comfort film that I watch a lot is Crazy Stone, the lead actors in that film on the other hand speaks Chinese in an accent I need subtitles to understand. I remember watching it over and over again when I was a kid, so it still carries nostalgic value for me. I just watched it again a few months ago and it still holds up. That movie was largely shot on handheld DV with natural light just like our film Ocean City Monster Building. Although our film is a Dogme 95 film but looking back, Crazy Stone might have been a subconscious inspiration.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
I'm not sure it's necessarily a film festival's job to further the filmmakers' career, or do anything to satisfy me, I feel like it should always be about the filmgoers and what we can do together to make their experience better, it's the audience I care more about. One thing I do wish is for the festivals to actually watch every single submission and make a judgement on the work, because I know some of them don't. I also would like to know what percentage of each festival's lineup are actually blind submissions vs. known invitees. I think the number would shock people, because it's zero in some cases, and in those cases it's hard to not feel like the system is rigged. I'm not saying the invited films are not great, I'm saying if a festival has a year to year zero percent blind submissions in their lineup, it's hard to justify their submission page as anything but a scam.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
You know it's funny because the website FilmFreeway is actually owned by the same company who owns Backstage magazine. And back in January of 2014 I was an intern at Backstage's LA office for 3 month, they were very nice to me, very helpful, I had a positive experience there. I remember I signed a NDA as every single employee and intern does. I don't know if that NDA applies to this situation or not but I'm going to air on the side of caution and say no comment. Plus, my mother has always told me "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything."

10. What is your favorite meal?
(Wait what? Why is this a question?) I guess Chicken Katsu Curry with Miso Soup especially from Curry House. But they actually shut down that restaurant chain back in 2020, so life has just been meaningless since.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
Yes! I'm working on a new project call "the idiot who went bankrupt making his first feature film". It's a Docudrama series cinéma vérité style, right now the only challenge I face is I'm having a real hard time relating to the titular character. Once I'm able to accomplish that, we are a go, so do stay tuned please! (JK, I have no new projects.)