The Sculpture
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Drama
The Sculpture is about Fei, a Chinese-American daughter, mourning for her late mother while tries to start a new life in Seattle. It’s not just for audience with immigrant background, but also those who have seen death and still mourn. It is about how we can remember and pass down our memories.
The Sculpture
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Drama
2 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $14,862 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
76 supporters | followers
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The Sculpture is about Fei, a Chinese-American daughter, mourning for her late mother while tries to start a new life in Seattle. It’s not just for audience with immigrant background, but also those who have seen death and still mourn. It is about how we can remember and pass down our memories.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
The Gas Work Park in Seattle is a big inspiration of The Sculpture.
Sculpture
After her mother's death, Fei (飛), a Chinese-American woman, moves to Seattle from New York to start a new life. Unexpectedly, a new space sheds light on her reconciliation with her loss and her relationship to her immigrant mother from the past.
The Sculpture looks into the subtle entanglement of the multiple identities inside the heart of immigrants through a mourning process of a daughter about her late mother.
The urge of making this film...
Ever since I lost my beloved grandmother in 2016, I see this world differnetly. You can say that this is normal, because it is a road where every single human being will walk down. But the impact is profound and no one ever told me mourning will be a life-long process. Now I see loss lurking in every corner, the finale behind every fleeting happiness.
In 2020, pandemic shook the world. For 3 years, I wasn't able to visit my parents who reached their 60s in life. There was a tremendous fear creeping in me: I might not see my parents again, and that the end had arrived before I knew it. I lived in the imagination of the sorrow of this ever-lasting seperation, of parents might pass away without seeing me ever again.
Luckily, the seperation came to an end. The travels and communication between China and the States seem to be back to there they used to be. But that fear, unsettledness and uncertainty about life have scared me:
What if Xi Jinping pushes things further?
What if a war between the States and China is coming up?
What if I am killed by some racist or homophobic on the street?
What if my dad got a stroke and...what if...
I can feel some emotions have been contained too long in my heart and they look for an exit desperately. And perhaps this is why I want to make The Sculpture so bad. It is perhaps my personal response to this past 3 years of life under pressure of pandemic, politics and wars.
It might seems to be a lot of negative feelings, but do not take it the wrong way. I believe these feelings very much roots in our deep love of this world, and the short life we have to experience it. I want to make The Sculpture, because I love living and I want to remember.
I made a documentary about my family during the beginning of the pandemic, March 2020.
It was published on New York Times Op-Docs. Link is here.
At that time I didn't realize the impact it would have on my views of world and life.
Inspiration
- Mother Tongue
Mother Tongue is a 12-min short documentation of a remarkable performance by Nancy Ma, our lead actress in The Sculpture, directed by me. In this perforamce Nancy inteprets a monologue from 'night Mother in both English and Hoisan, a Cantonese dialect she grew up with in Chinatown in New York. This breathtaking performance beautifully explores how languages affect the way people connects to their internal identities, and it has become foundation of The Sculpture. Mother Tongue is included in one of our incentives. Check it out by supporting our projects!
- Gas Work Park
I found inspiration of this film while I was visiting the Gas Work Park in Seattle. I was amazed by the transformation of the defunct factory space to a nowadays landmark. I saw the transcendence of a decaying physical form to something timeless in that space...Gas Work Park is the beginning and the core of The Sculpture.
Screenshot of Days by Tsai Ming-Liang. He is a big influence in my cinematic language.
- Asian slow cinema
This film draws inspiration from Asian slow cinema masters like Tsai Ming-liang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Director I am obsessed with the beauty in mundane life and making longer takes of the space for immersive ambience in films. The Sculpture will share such poetic and contemplating quality of slow cinema.
Creative Process, Production and budget
I started to conceive of this film a year ago, when I first saw the Gas Work Park in Seattle. For the whole past year, I worked on completing the concept and the structure of the film, while I worked on a few other short films projects. At the end, I brought together my other life experience, mostly about mid-life crisis and health, and other creative ideas, like in Mother Tongue, to perfect The Sculpture.
The production consists of two parts, the Seattle production and New York production. We plan to shoot in Seattle in late April, before summer 2024 to secure a moody outdoor look for the film. The New York production will start soon after and it will be on separate dates in May.
The funding of the film consists of this crowdfunding campaign and my personal funding. The fund raised by this campaign will be used to pay our cast (lead, supporting roles and extra), crew members (AC/cam op, AD, sound, producer, set designer etc.) and the transportation and accommodation cost during the production in Seattle.
Jun-ting Zhou (writer/director/DP), Nancy Ma (lead actress) and
Nikita Khripach (producer) in Filmshop Present 2023
Thank you for checking this project out!
It means the world to me to have your supports and love. I hope to see you in the cinema.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Round trip flights to Seattle
Costs $1,750
The stroy is inspired by the Gas Work Park in Seattle so almost the whole film takes place there.
Airbnb for Seattle production
Costs $1,000
We will need to find a place for a crew of 5 people in Seattle for 4 nights in Seattle.
Location fee for a dim sum restaurant space
Costs $800
Location fee for a dim sum restaurant scene in Seattle
Actors
Costs $3,750
This will be the compensation for the lead, supporting actress and extras.
Crew
Costs $7,800
This will be the compensation for crew members including assistant camera, assistant director, sound person, producer, set designer etc.
Equipment rental
Costs $1,500
The fee will be used to rent lens and lighting for the production.
Film Festivals fee
Costs $1,400
Submission fees can accumulate...
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Sculpture is a production roots in very tight-knit immigrant filmmakers community in New York City. The core members Jun-ting Zhou, Nancy Ma and Nikita Khripach are closed friends and working together for many short film projects. While they all share immigrants background, they are also a part of Filmshop, a filmmakers collective in New York City. Most of the rest of the crew are also from this extensive Filmshop community.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
The Gas Work Park in Seattle is a big inspiration of The Sculpture.
Sculpture
After her mother's death, Fei (飛), a Chinese-American woman, moves to Seattle from New York to start a new life. Unexpectedly, a new space sheds light on her reconciliation with her loss and her relationship to her immigrant mother from the past.
The Sculpture looks into the subtle entanglement of the multiple identities inside the heart of immigrants through a mourning process of a daughter about her late mother.
The urge of making this film...
Ever since I lost my beloved grandmother in 2016, I see this world differnetly. You can say that this is normal, because it is a road where every single human being will walk down. But the impact is profound and no one ever told me mourning will be a life-long process. Now I see loss lurking in every corner, the finale behind every fleeting happiness.
In 2020, pandemic shook the world. For 3 years, I wasn't able to visit my parents who reached their 60s in life. There was a tremendous fear creeping in me: I might not see my parents again, and that the end had arrived before I knew it. I lived in the imagination of the sorrow of this ever-lasting seperation, of parents might pass away without seeing me ever again.
Luckily, the seperation came to an end. The travels and communication between China and the States seem to be back to there they used to be. But that fear, unsettledness and uncertainty about life have scared me:
What if Xi Jinping pushes things further?
What if a war between the States and China is coming up?
What if I am killed by some racist or homophobic on the street?
What if my dad got a stroke and...what if...
I can feel some emotions have been contained too long in my heart and they look for an exit desperately. And perhaps this is why I want to make The Sculpture so bad. It is perhaps my personal response to this past 3 years of life under pressure of pandemic, politics and wars.
It might seems to be a lot of negative feelings, but do not take it the wrong way. I believe these feelings very much roots in our deep love of this world, and the short life we have to experience it. I want to make The Sculpture, because I love living and I want to remember.
I made a documentary about my family during the beginning of the pandemic, March 2020.
It was published on New York Times Op-Docs. Link is here.
At that time I didn't realize the impact it would have on my views of world and life.
Inspiration
- Mother Tongue
Mother Tongue is a 12-min short documentation of a remarkable performance by Nancy Ma, our lead actress in The Sculpture, directed by me. In this perforamce Nancy inteprets a monologue from 'night Mother in both English and Hoisan, a Cantonese dialect she grew up with in Chinatown in New York. This breathtaking performance beautifully explores how languages affect the way people connects to their internal identities, and it has become foundation of The Sculpture. Mother Tongue is included in one of our incentives. Check it out by supporting our projects!
- Gas Work Park
I found inspiration of this film while I was visiting the Gas Work Park in Seattle. I was amazed by the transformation of the defunct factory space to a nowadays landmark. I saw the transcendence of a decaying physical form to something timeless in that space...Gas Work Park is the beginning and the core of The Sculpture.
Screenshot of Days by Tsai Ming-Liang. He is a big influence in my cinematic language.
- Asian slow cinema
This film draws inspiration from Asian slow cinema masters like Tsai Ming-liang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Director I am obsessed with the beauty in mundane life and making longer takes of the space for immersive ambience in films. The Sculpture will share such poetic and contemplating quality of slow cinema.
Creative Process, Production and budget
I started to conceive of this film a year ago, when I first saw the Gas Work Park in Seattle. For the whole past year, I worked on completing the concept and the structure of the film, while I worked on a few other short films projects. At the end, I brought together my other life experience, mostly about mid-life crisis and health, and other creative ideas, like in Mother Tongue, to perfect The Sculpture.
The production consists of two parts, the Seattle production and New York production. We plan to shoot in Seattle in late April, before summer 2024 to secure a moody outdoor look for the film. The New York production will start soon after and it will be on separate dates in May.
The funding of the film consists of this crowdfunding campaign and my personal funding. The fund raised by this campaign will be used to pay our cast (lead, supporting roles and extra), crew members (AC/cam op, AD, sound, producer, set designer etc.) and the transportation and accommodation cost during the production in Seattle.
Jun-ting Zhou (writer/director/DP), Nancy Ma (lead actress) and
Nikita Khripach (producer) in Filmshop Present 2023
Thank you for checking this project out!
It means the world to me to have your supports and love. I hope to see you in the cinema.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Round trip flights to Seattle
Costs $1,750
The stroy is inspired by the Gas Work Park in Seattle so almost the whole film takes place there.
Airbnb for Seattle production
Costs $1,000
We will need to find a place for a crew of 5 people in Seattle for 4 nights in Seattle.
Location fee for a dim sum restaurant space
Costs $800
Location fee for a dim sum restaurant scene in Seattle
Actors
Costs $3,750
This will be the compensation for the lead, supporting actress and extras.
Crew
Costs $7,800
This will be the compensation for crew members including assistant camera, assistant director, sound person, producer, set designer etc.
Equipment rental
Costs $1,500
The fee will be used to rent lens and lighting for the production.
Film Festivals fee
Costs $1,400
Submission fees can accumulate...
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Sculpture is a production roots in very tight-knit immigrant filmmakers community in New York City. The core members Jun-ting Zhou, Nancy Ma and Nikita Khripach are closed friends and working together for many short film projects. While they all share immigrants background, they are also a part of Filmshop, a filmmakers collective in New York City. Most of the rest of the crew are also from this extensive Filmshop community.