Aisling Chin-Yee is an award-winning producer, writer, and director. She produced “Rhymes for Young Ghouls,” which was a TIFF Top 10 film and won Best Director at the Vancouver International Film Festival, as well as the award-winning feature documentary “Last Woman Standing.” She directed the multi-award winning documentary “Synesthesia,” which won Best Short Documentary at the International Crossroads Film Festival. In 2016, she co-founded the #AfterMeToo movement, which includes a fund, roundtable series, and report that brings to light the issue of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry.
“The Rest of Us” will premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
ACY: “The Rest of Us” is the story of a single mother, Cami, played by Heather Graham, who decides to take in her ex-husband’s bankrupt widow and child after he dies. Under one roof, these two sets of mothers and daughters try to process their grief while inevitably stepping on each other’s toes. It’s a film about messy relationships and loss. It’s also about unresolved pasts, secrets, friendships, and the reality of trying to move on or forward in life through complexities. “The Rest of Us” is about women navigating each other and the world’s expectations of us. At least, I hope that is what audiences see when they watch it.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
ACY: I loved Alanna Francis’ script. She wrote characters that I could relate to –flawed, funny, real women who are going through the confusion of life, but each from their own experience and perspective. From a precocious kid, to a petulant and angst-ridden teen, to a young lost widow, to a successful but lonely writer, the story felt truthful and moody. I connected with each of these characters very personally.
Major life changes and the pain of losing someone comes with so many complicated emotions and contradictory reactions. This family of women each try to cope and move forward in the ways they know how, and I saw myself in each of their actions and feelings of anger, joy, and pain. I connected deeply with each woman, but especially Cami, and how she tries to mask her feelings or vulnerabilities by being controlling and perfect in sometimes humorous ways that inevitably backfire on her.
The spirit of the film is anchored by the feeling of being alone around others, and the times that we let ourselves feel sadness, hurt, and sometimes shame. These characters felt like sisters to me, perspectives of real people that I know and care for. This film is clearly from the perspectives of women trying to get a handle on life, move forward, and deal with the past in the ways they know how.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
ACY: I hope that people will leave thinking about their own relationships with women. This film is a celebration of the bond that women share and the resilience that so many women that I know have to roll up their sleeves and get shit done. The film also shows the real support and capacity that women can cultivate to help each other up and out of difficult situations.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
ACY: To be honest, I had such wonderful ingredients — a strong and touching script, a fantastic cast, supportive producers, and a talented crew — it’s hard to think of any part of it as a “challenge.” It is an independent film; of course we had the challenges of any film with a limited budget has, but we were resourceful and creative when shooting a film in only 20 days.
In post-production, my co-editor and I kept working, editing, and trying new things in the cutting room to find the rhythm, pace, and heart of the film through these women’s evolving relationships. We challenged ourselves to keep digging down into the story, the scene, and the characters’ journeys, and luckily, we had the time and perseverance to do that.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
ACY: We had the support of the Canadian film funding resources. That includes NOHFC (The Northern Ontario Heritage Fund), Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, The Movie Network, Private Investment, Urban Post, and federal and provincial tax credits. Harold Greenberg provided funding across two stages of development.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
ACY: I have wanted to be a filmmaker and storyteller since I was a child. I have an active visual imagination and I loved watching films, listening to soundtracks, pretending to be my favorite characters. As a teenager, I would become so obsessed with certain films that I would record the films’ audio on tape. That way I could listen to the dialogue and soundscape of the film on my Walkman or stereo and “play” the film in my mind’s eye. Filmmaking and film watching is how I relate to others and the world. I find my thoughts and ideas, my flaws, and my point of view through this visual and audible language. Filmmaking has helped me make sense of person I am and interpret the world that we live in.
I have spent a significant amount of my career in film, mainly as a producer, exploring films that focus on racial identity and exposing racial or sexual discrimination. Identity and point of view drive my desire to make films. It is my foundation for storytelling. I gravitate towards different perspectives and dive deep into the perspectives that we think we already know to reveal new potentials.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
ACY: The best advice I have ever received would be to trust my instincts, be patient, and stay open and aware. That, and the reality that perspective is the key to emotion.
The worst advice I have ever received? There has been so much unsolicited advice given. I think this is a common experience for female filmmakers. I was shooting my short film, “Sound Asleep,” which is about the death of my brother, and during a very emotional funeral scene with the actors who played my family, an extra — I’ll say it: an old, white dude — came up to me to tell me I wasn’t doing my job correctly, and suggested that I yell “Action!” very loud so that people would know I was the director.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
ACY: The same that I received. Trust your instincts. Be responsible, agile, and respectful, but be firm and stand your ground when you know you are right.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
ACY: “Ratcatcher” by Lynne Ramsay is the ultimate film about coming of age, grief, and growing up. The way that she uses POV and a natural grittiness, as well as hyperbolic fantasy, is poetry. She does not shy away from complex human experiences or emotionally layering her characters and their relationships to each other. This film is so truthful, subtle, internal but confident, and patient, but never superfluous. I think she is a gem of a director and I return to this film constantly as a reference for my own process as a writer and director.
W&H: What differences have you noticed in the industry since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
ACY: There has been a dramatic cultural shift. This tidal wave of women’s voices has forced the entertainment industry – and other industries – to step up, make moves to be accountable, and make changes. These changes are slow, as the machine has many moving parts that need to work together to see any meaningful change for women and minorities in our field. This why Mia Kirshner, Freya Ravensbergen, and I founded the #AfterMeToo movement: in order to cultivate sustained, meaningful, systemic change that protects women and vulnerable members of society from oppressive and systematic power structures that keeps us out and/or muzzled.
There has been a push for more female filmmakers, but this change needs to be holistic and intersectional. Change has to be structural and inclusive to make a difference for all members of society, and in particular, minority groups and individuals whose stories are not being told.
