Panel discuss nature of film creation

Creativity, concepts and a love of film were among the many things discussed by the Hamilton film forum on Friday.

The forum, featuring director Roseanne Liang, TV director Tony Simpson, and producer Kerry Warkia, attended Spark week to confer with each other and the audience on the nature of film creation.

Roseanne Liang, who gained international recognition for her film “My Wedding and Other Secrets”, said the best material is produced simply by writing the truth.

“It’s getting a lot harder to reach your audience… there’s a lot of stuff out there now, and not all of it is good,” Roseanne said.

She said working out of a love of film, rather than the desire to create something popular, was a prime motivation.

“When people tell me to think of my audience, I get freaked out… that’s not why I make films.”

She recounted her experience with her film “My Wedding and Other Secrets,” loosely based on events in her own life, which tells the tale of a young Chinese woman who falls in love with a white man and must choose between leaving him or facing her parent’s disapproval.

“And of course, when the film premiered, my parents found out. It was a great experience as a filmmaker, but not so great as a daughter,” she laughed.

Tony Simpson, who has experience in directing both New Zealand television and Hollywood films, spoke about ideas and their origins.

“You have to believe in an idea to make it work. Everyone out there has an idea; it’s just a matter of having the motivation to turn it into something.”

“Everything starts with an idea,” added Kerry. “You don’t start, you aren’t on the road to creating something. You find out later if it’s good or bad.”