Night cap with She Runs

Interview with Qiu Yang, director of She Runs

Can you tell us a few words about Yu, the main character of She Runs?
Of course. Yu’s a young Chinese teenager girl who’s in her junior high. She’s part of the school’s aerobic dancing team but has been trying to get away from it.

What was the appeal in the subject matter?
It’s inspired by a true story that happened to me when I was in primary school. I was part of the school marching band but trying to quit was a huge problem. Looking back at that event so many years later, I think in a way, it shows an interesting contrast between how individualism and collectivism were introduced to youngsters in China.

You have been selected three times in Cannes with your films. Congratulations! Can you tell us a bit about you as a filmmaker and your ambitions for the future?
I’m working on a feature project at the moment, writing the project, more precisely.

Would you say that the short film format has given you any particular freedom?
Yes and no, because of the difference of the medium, it has its own sets of challenges. So you have some of the freedoms that feature films don’t have, but different difficulties too.

What do you consider your cinematographic references?
Paintings, especially from Edward Hopper; photographs from constructivism, I think that’s because my father is an architect and I have been reading a lot of his architecture books since a young age.

She Runs is part of International Competition I4.