What It’s Like Being an Independent Asian Filmmaker

Episode 3: “I moved out to LA, just to see… and after I fail, after I mess up, then I’ll find a real job...and somehow, I haven’t fell flat yet.” 
Wen Ren (@thewenren) is a Chinese-American filmmaker based between Los Angeles, California and Beijing, China.
His latest sci-fi feature film, The Last Sunrise, won the Best Film category at the Fantasporto Film Festival, the same award won by David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, and Danny Boyle in the past - but that’s just a glimpse of success for Wen in a field tries your passion, grit, and ability to persevere through failures again and again. In this episode of the Why You No Doctor Podcast, Wen speaks to his life journey - of moving to China, of going through the best highs and the worst lows, and ultimately - of the vulnerability it takes to really go after what you love.
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Show Notes
0:00 - Introducing our first guest, Wen Ren
1:10 - What got you into what you do, and what exactly do you do? Wen’s backstory: how the camera gave him a voice
2:35 - Film school choices? How to develop your voice and choose your path
5:30 - Moving to China, the ups and downs of working there, and how he pitched his feature film
10:11 - Why Wen’s motto is “Never Celebrate”
11:12 - Wen’s turning points in life and why he encourages you to move
12:23 - The Tribeca Film Festival, and how it empowered Wen to keep pushing through
13:40 - What Wen’s learned about film distribution
15:50 - The story of winning the Best Film Award at the Fantasporto Film Festival 
20:33 - The film in hindsight: how to utilize what makes you different to stand out
21:30 - How has being Asian positively or negatively affected your life? What being Asian American means to Wen Ren, and the in-between space
22:50 - Wen’s advice for college students, and harnessing privilege
25:22 - Wen’s worst and best habits: boba and grit
26:36 - The coffee shop stake
27:40 - The Last Sunrise summary and available shows


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