Sundance 2021: Sasha Lee
Filmmaker Sasha Lee chats to us about making Misery Loves Company, her animated short film about intrusive thoughts. She talks us through mental health, the potential of virtual film festivals, and the importance of getting feedback on your work.
What inspired you to make this film?
Depression and inferiority complex. I wanted to excavate my (and probably everyone’s) deepest and also intrusive desires, and they turned into the lyrics in my film: “Instead of living like this, I would like a meteorite to fall”.
When I was writing for Misery Loves Company, I was a senior at college. I was sad and worried about life, and it seemed like everyone around me was too. There was too much worry than what I could handle. Rather than explaining the details and the causes of depression, I decided to filter out everything besides the pure emotion. So you won’t be able to tell exactly why Seolgi wants to kill herself.
Did anything unexpected happen during the production of this? If so, how did you combat this effectively?
Covid-19 was a big unexpected matter of course. When my school closed and online classes begun in March 2020, I felt so unmotivated in my room and couldn’t care about my film anymore. I didn’t believe in the animation world.
Rather, I decided to be a famous YouTube star making simple and funny animation memes. Just as what I did in Misery Loves Company, I animated to random songs I composed. This plan didn’t work out very well (I have less than 100 subscribers), but you can still check out the videos that I created during this time period on this channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhh1W2qL878.
In the video there’s Seolgi, the snake and the cat that you can see in Misery Loves Company as well. The snake and the cat were based off my two roommates. They were watching my YouTube memes and told me that they liked it because it’s so weird. Due to my friends being near me, I’ve been able to keep creating so far.
Getting your film into Sundance is exciting! Do you have a favourite Sundance film?
There’re too many favourite Sundance films, as Sundance really is my dream festival. To name a few, I would say Hereditary, Swiss Army Man, and Tangerine. I’m excited for Minari upcoming in 2021 as well.
What was your first ever short film?
My first ever short film Don’t Lose Your Way was made in 2016 during my freshman year in college. I was in an intensive charcoal drawing class, and I decided to make a charcoal animation. I can’t remember why I made that decision. At that time I wanted to be an illustrator, not an animator, mostly because of its intensive workload. Now I find comfort in the animated film world.
To talk about my first film, there is a cat who kills himself, and he meets a bird who wants them to have a birthday party together. The cat is reluctant to do so, and the bird gives him a star from the night sky. He blows the candle and they have a birthday party. At the end, the cat follows his way with a star in his hand.
To look back from now, Misery Loves Company is very alike to Don’t Lose Your Way. The process of writing Don’t Lose Your Way was completely from my stream of consciousness. I didn’t know about storyboarding at all, so I simply kept making what I had in mind. Surprisingly, the themes in Don’t Lose Your Way surrounded suicide and spiritual journeys, which you can see in Misery Loves Company as well. Additionally, the soundtrack used in the film was also composed by me. Misery Loves Company might be a hard mode of Don’t Lose Your Way.
The pandemic has affected the industry in many ways, how have you keep motivated during the past year?
I just can’t live without creating something. When I try to stay away from the work, I usually spend time watching or reading stuff. And then there’s always a spark in my mind, saying, “I want to make something amazing like this.” I’ve kept making comics and animations, whether or not they offer me money or fame. I just feel like there’s a sort of obligation in me.
What are your thoughts on the transition to virtual film festivals?
I haven’t been to many film festivals yet, so I can’t say a lot.
When I was at offline film festivals, I simply liked being in a big theatre. I loved the presence of the audience around me who clap and laugh. I loved being overwhelmed by the magnificence of big screens and speakers. In virtual film festivals, they are all replaced by a few of my close friends and a 22-inch monitor in my room. It might be disappointing that I can’t travel around the world as a director, but also I like the little gatherings that could happen for the virtual film festivals. Nowadays, we’ve all got used to doing everything online. We’ll get used to online film festivals too.
I believe we—the filmmakers and the festival organisers—will be able to find a way to make virtual film festivals more enjoyable. Such as, we could think about how to make a composition relatively more effective in smaller screens, rather than the big ones at the theatre. This kind of transition or evolution will naturally happen to reach to the wider audience around the world. It’s pretty exciting.
Who has inspired you in your filmmaking journey?
My great instructor Gina Kamentsky was the biggest reason that I started making animation as a career. She draws, paints, bleaches, and does other crazy experiments on 35mm film stocks. At that time I wanted to be an experimental animator as well, just like her. And nowadays I’m making super digital, pretty non-experimental animated films. But a part of my heart still belongs in the experimental world, and her insights still provide me with great inspiration that YouTube tutorials do not possess. I’ll keep thinking about her and her work like a duckling just hatched from an egg.
More importantly, who has supported you in your career?
My career was possible because of great teachers and friends around me. Big thanks to Steve Subotnick and Amy Kravitz for convincing me to not give up creating. Also, Max Porter really helped me throughout my school life in almost everything, from refining my ideas for pre-production to compositing in complicated digital programs.
What do you hope audiences will take away from your film?
Solidarity of humans despite individual hardships. In the last part of Misery Loves Company, Seolgi’s friends casually wake her up in smiles at the end of the dramatic and vivid daydream. During the credit roll, there’s a little giggle. Seolgi will get back to her ordinary reality. Her friends might never understand why she's depressed. Their conversations after this night’s walk might simply all consist of small talk, never touching any kind of heavy subjects. However, I wish Seolgi understands that her friends are right beside her.
Honestly, in the pre-production process, Misery Loves Company started as a story of depression. But as I kept developing the characters and the theme, I got to believe that the depression shouldn’t be everything of the film. It’s because being depressed is not everything in our life. We’re still going to walk outside with friends, although we’ll watch YouTube alone in our rooms alone during some nights.
Tell us three goals you want to achieve in the next five years!
This might be a juvenile idea, but I want to create an admirable feature animation studio like Studio Ghibli. My lifelong goal is to be a feature animated film director. After finishing Misery Loves Company, I’ve been learning how to write stories by making comics (I’m the writer and the colourist, and my friend Harim Choi does the line art).
Writing for the long form was pretty different from the short form, and it was pretty challenging. Out of nowhere, I’m allowed to create and show much more detailed history, emotion, and desires of each characters. I’m learning how to use this tool, just like learning a new language. When I think I’m ready, I will begin making a feature. Until that time comes, I will keep creating comics and short animated films. I would never think that directing a feature film could happen in five years, but let’s hope for the best.
My other goal is to be a much more mature person. In Hayao Miyazaki’s films, he really cares about the happiness of children and the community. As a human being, he’s mentally so mature and wise. I always wonder how he can think like that and make songs and animations for others. The characters sing the song of the life, while my Seolgi sings the communal death. How can he love others this much? How can a person be so full of love? I can’t ever understand with this current mindset. I’m only able to admire. And I hope to reach his spiritual level someday.
Lastly, what are two pieces of advice you would give to young filmmakers starting out?
I’m young, too, so I’m afraid to give advice with great conviction. My ideas have rapidly changed in my life all this time, and after five years may think this advice doesn’t make sense. But, if you ask me, I can give you two pieces of very general filmmaking advice. They are really basic but also really important.
Pre-production matters. Pre-production has to be prioritised over anything, ever. It’s more than 80% of the film. Although the audience might be attracted to a great art style or smart character designs, what really makes them truly remember the work is the filmmaker’s idea. Keep thinking and smelt your idea. Sharpen it. Filter out the impurity. Think about what’s the essence. Never stop this process.
Don’t be afraid to show it to people. Get feedback from as many people as possible. People from different groups will say different things. Although your film won’t satisfy everyone, of course, as you hear feedback you’ll get to have a general sense of what kind of people will like or hate your film. Take or leave those various reactions selectively.
