China’s Lin Jianjie Debuts Genre-Fluid ‘Brief History of a Family’ at Sundance: ‘Chinese Middle Classes Are Still New to This Identity’ (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief First-time mainland Chinese director Lin Jianjie (aka JJ Lin) makes a splash this weekend with the premiere of his “Brief History of a Family.” Asking questions about family in the era since the end of China’s ‘One Child Policy,’ while also borrowing genre tropes such as the idea of the intruder and blood, it is a polished and ultra-modern fable that sees a teenage schoolboy ingratiate himself into another boy’s family.Variety spoke to biologist-turned-filmmaker Lin on the eve of his Sundance debut.How did you get from zero to making your first feature?[After graduating in biology] I did two short films at film school.
I went to Tisch Asia, which had a campus in Singapore. We also had an exchange program with Tisch in New York. At school, you may have a lot of ideas, but not all stay with you.
This one did. Every once in a while, I went back to the idea and realized something new about it. Slowly it took shape. Did you use the project market and labs system that seems increasingly common in Asia these days? It took a few years.
In the beginning, I took to this idea to the Talents Tokyo lab, pitched it and got quite good feedback. Then I put it aside, to try to develop it a little bit more.
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